Parquet Courts headlined at the Henry Fonda in Los Angeles on a Friday night last week. Worth noting, The Fonda (as it’s called) has three times the capacity of The Echo — the site of their last LA appearance in January, 2013. Parquet Courts’ buzz has certainly magnified in this last year and the venue upgrade suited them well, the group had no issues covering the larger room.

My personal taste often leans away from ‘jam’ bands, who can sometimes put me to sleep when they stray too far from course. Not the case with Parquet Courts, who really know the right way to stretch out a song. There’s not a whole lot of showbiz at their gigs. The guys basically stand up and play, which is something they do very well. For this set, the band featured a new drummer who played his third show with the band, and he nailed his beats. The crowd devoured Parquet Courts nicely and better-known songs such as “Borrowed Time” and “You’ve Got Me Wondering Now” brought some added energy and enthusiasm to the house. As the band alternated between fast and mid-tempo, there was a bit of a lull about two-thrids of the way in (where a cover song or change of pace might have helped), but the energy returned with a blistering version of “The More It Works”.

The most popular Parquet Courts song to date has to be “Stoned and Starving”. The band were wise enough to play it on David Letterman recently, even though it’s from their Light Up Gold album as opposed to newer Tally All The Things You Broke EP release. Crowd members started calling out for it as early as two songs into the set… yet they did not play the song at all! When Parquet Courts’ hour-long set concluded, it was assumed that an encore was in store, but instead the lights came on right away. The perplexed crowd quizzically looked at their neighbors. Most people hung around and it was a few minutes before the house music began to play, creating abandonment of any hope. Were there technical issues? It’s doubtful that the venue was shutting them down due to time limitations. It’s one thing to leave the audience wanting more, but you never want leave them disappointed. By Bruce Rave

Parquet Courts (Facebook)

Hear Bruce’s “Go Deep With Bruce Rave” weekly new music show on Indie1031/Los Angeles and WSUM-FM/Madison. Details and archived shows can be found on his blog and be sure follow Bruce on Twitter too!