Back in March, Peter Wolf Crier came through town to play the Billiken Club with locals Cassie Morgan and the Lonely Pine and Thankful Tree.

What Dave, Julie, Annie, and I remember, though, is Peter Pisano and Brian Moen playing an opening set to a sold out crowd eagerly anticipating the Freelance Whales performance at Off Broadway almost a year earlier in June of 2010. People around us were looking back and forth at one another – “Who are these guys again?” “They’re kind of awesome.”

The duo sat flush across the stage, Moen punishing his kit in sleeve tattoos while Pisano appeared to exorcise personal demons by way of a guttural, growling vocal delivery. And Peter Wolf Crier was awesome, surprising the audience with their intensity and musical chops as much as FW surprised us with their greenness and charm.

I assume it was PWC and Freelance Whales’ first time in St. Louis, and both groups were equal parts shocked and humbled by the size and enthusiasm of the crowd. A couple songs in, Whales’ Judah Dudone, already covered in sweat, even smilingly asked us, “Where did you all come from?!”.

(I’ve listened to “Settling It Off” 17 times this week:)

On Monday Peter Wolf Crier returns to Off Broadway in promotion of their 2011 release Garden of Arms, this time as the headliner with our own Union Tree Review (last show until December!) and the Twin Cities’ No Bird Sing setting the tone for the evening.

SO WOULD YOU LIKE TO WIN A PAIR OF TICKETS TO THE CONCERT? BECAUSE WE WOULD LIKE YOU TO WIN A PAIR OF TICKETS TO THE CONCERT.

Just leave a comment down here, an @ reply on our Twitter, or a post on our Facebook page by 4p today. The winner will be selected at random.

(You can RSVP here.)