Interpol

Here's a write up on last week's Interpol show (from Beat magazine). Quite a flattering piece, and generally I second the emotion, although it's a bit heavy on the rock&roll metaphors:

". . .Enter the coolest New York band to come to our fair shores since, well, since the last time they were here. Interpol are a band very much in control of what they are doing at a time when both the quality of their creative output and their global popularity seem destined to rise to the giddiest of heights. Not that the boys themselves looked too excited about things. Impeccably dressed as usual and typically stoic, they eased into proceedings with their second album opener, ‘Next Exit’, and were predictably met with screams of enthusiasm that barely waned for the rest of the night. Paul Banks’ vocals were confident yet vulnerable, his strength of melody and resonant lyrics proving once again that operatic range isn’t everything. Daniel Kessler was awesome, working his guitar until the melodies dripped and glistened like the sweat on the sardine necks packed around me. The notorious Carlos D managed to hold his permanent sneer almost as well as he managed to hold faultless time with exquisitely talented drummer Samuel Fogarino. Complemented by part-time global cop Frederic Blasco on keyboards, Interpol again showed themselves to be impressively tight live performers.

Both the Interpol albums are full of such strong material that they could have pretty much chosen to play anything and it would be closer to a highlight than not. Best for my mind on the night were Public Pervert, Evil and Stella was a diver and she was always down, the latter sending most of the crowd into the bends of joy. The boys rounded off their initial set with the hyper-anthemic PDA (complete with a trademark-extended-pause) before returning for an immensely satisfying three song encore.

The only slight disappointment was the omission of The New, an absolute jaw-dropping highlight of their visit last time around. Still I managed to drunkenly sing part of it with a stranger on the tram on the way home so I still went to bed feeling like I definitely got my money’s worth, which is more than I can say for my fellow tram passengers."

FARNO LASZCZUK