Interpol Concert Review (826 hits)
Category: Sound & MusicRating: 1.33 on 23 reviews (Rate this item) (V)
Submitted by Slypher (View user info) at 2005-02-16 19:31:53 EST
This Valentine's Day, one of my favorite bands, Interpol, put on a show at the Warfield in San Francisco. Needless to say, I immediately bought tickets and called up my good buddy Nic. We hop in the car at around 5, seeing as the concert started at 8, we thought we had plenty of time to drive into the city, grab a bite to eat, and be on our merry way. Little did we know that neither one of us had too firm a grasp on WHERE exactly the Warfield was. We go to dinner, eat, and proceed to start looking for the venue at around 7. 45 minutes later, we were freaking out, driving up and down 6th street, where we were SURE it was, frantically calling all our friends, asking for directions. Ten minutes till the show, and we finally swallow our pride and ask directions from this really hot Asian chick on the sidewalk. She tells us exactly where it is, and we rush in to find the opening band getting ready to launch into their first song.
It's a three-piece ensemble, consisting of a lanky guy on lead guitar, a mean-looking fellow on drums, and a Japanese girl on bass guitar/keyboard. Blonde Redhead was there name, and a quick search on LimeWire the night before turned up a lot of songs. I had liked the couple I downloaded, but man oh man, I wasn't prepared for the performance to come. The first two songs were mediocre, with the guy on lead singing in a monotonous voice, which is pretty perfect for a band opening for Interpol. But shit ramped up quickly as soon as they got to the meat of the songs. Apparently, Japanese girl sings most of the vocals, which I found out from some random guy I who had on a Blonde Redhead T-shirt. She has a simply amazing voice, akin to Karen O. of the YeahYeahYeahs, but a little softer. Most of the songs were surprisingly long, clocking in at around 5 minutes each at my count. But every one was pretty damn good, so it was all good. They played for around an hour, finished up with an operatic sounding finale, and left the stage. The roadies came out and set up for Interpol in about a half hour.
During that half hour, me and Nic discussed our doubts about Interpol. The band appeared on the map with an amazing debut album, "Turn Up The Bright Lights". Then they did something a little like Nirvana, as they re-recorded that album in a lower key and a subtler drumming scheme, titling it "The Black EP". Their sophomore album, "Antics", attracted a lot of criticism, with people saying they were one album wonders. Personally, I think these arguments are a little ridiculous. "Antics" is a perfectly good album. Not up to par with TUTBL, but close. We also reminisced about the previous Interpol performances we'd seen, complaining that they weren't actually that good live. The lights dimmed and the band walked out on stage.
All our doubts were quickly put to rest as soon as the band, consisting of Paul Banks, Daniel Kessler, Sam Fogarino, and Carlos D, launched into a stirring rendition of PDA. Paul Bank's voice is very distinct, and he hits almost all the notes perfectly, while his simple guitar work intertwines well with Daniel Kessler on rhythm guitar. The two trade places between lead and rhythm often, which makes for an exciting show. Carlos D. is one cool motherfucker on bass guitar, strolling across the stage with an ever-present cigarette hanging from his lips, his black Fender Jazz hanging almost to his knees. He took quite a few solos, all of which were pretty awesome. Daniel and Paul's guitars, an Epiphone ES-330 and a Gibson Custom Les Paul, respectively, were put through there paces on Monday. Both of them get so caught up in the music that they snapped around five strings between them. Sam Fogarino is VERY good on drums, with a lot of syncopated beats thrown in.
The thing about this show that I really liked is the fact that Interpol finally realized that a concert isn't simply a band coming on stage and playing one of their albums, it's a band coming on stage and exploring new paths through their songs. They played around with songs, new and old, almost the entire concert. The lighting alone was worth the price of admission. Generous use of white strobes and red spotlights helped to intensify the whole "Interpol" vibe.
On a sad note, though, they didn't play either one of my two favorite songs, Stella and Obstacle 1. I know, that's more me just bitching than a valid problem. Meh.
So in conclusion, if you like Interpol, see them live, if you've never heard of Interpol, buy a CD, and if you just don't like Interpol, STFU!
User Reviews
Submitted by HZRD (user info) at 2005-02-18 12:42:01 EST (#)
Ranking: -1
and i'm sorry i don't read pitchfork media every day *tears*
Submitted by HZRD (user info) at 2005-02-18 12:40:57 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
oh well, they suck like they're from england.
i'll check out that other band
Submitted by Danger_Ranger (user info) at 2005-02-18 04:47:56 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
"how come england doesn't rock anymore? no motorhead, black sabbath, kinks, stones, byrds... what the hell?"
Knobbie Williams is what the hell. Click below, I'm doing you a favour...
http://www.elevenmagazine.com/special/bdo/bdo_wm.html
Submitted by Slypher (user info) at 2005-02-18 00:38:51 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
Jesus fucking Christ, HZRD, are you retarded?
All the members of Interpol are NYC natives.
Submitted by HZRD (user info) at 2005-02-17 14:20:13 EST (#)
Ranking: -2
i just threw up in my mouth a little.
how come england doesn't rock anymore? no motorhead, black sabbath, kinks, stones, byrds... what the hell?
at least Muse rocks a little bit, these guys are panty-wastes.
Submitted by Danger_Ranger (user info) at 2005-02-17 10:05:06 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
Submitted by rock_music (user info) at 2005-02-16 21:48:42 (#)
Ranking: -2
Listen to good music, nigger.
http://www.ubersite.com/m/56474
---------------------------------
Hey fuck-knuckle, listen to Interpol's PDA and tell me you don't like it. Saw your list, poor cock_musack, so set in his/her ways..
While you're at it try Magic Dirt, The Avenues, You Am I, Tumbleweed, Wolfmother, Spiderbait, 78 Saab, Shihad, blah, blah, blah, blah. It's a start..
Submitted by Danger_Ranger (user info) at 2005-02-17 09:28:41 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
Interpol are my band of choice at the moment - although mtv are fucking murdering "Evil". For the record, I don't watch mtv, they play it ALL day at work, it's kinda hard to avoid. Fuck The Killers and Dogs Die In Hot Cars, Interpol are rungs up the ladder.
Submitted by wookie (user info) at 2005-02-17 08:51:40 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
Blonde Redhead rocks.
Submitted by Katastrofadark (user info) at 2005-02-17 01:23:22 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
My boyfriend went and saw that too. He loved every minute.
Submitted by Shagabah_Jones (user info) at 2005-02-17 00:58:54 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
Stella was a diver is my favorite song too...
I liked their first album better. They are playing that same line up in LA too.
Submitted by Shagabah_Jones (user info) at 2005-02-17 00:58:19 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
Stella was a diver is my favorite song too...
Althought I liked their first album better.
Submitted by Sassmasterr (user info) at 2005-02-17 00:34:18 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
i bought Antics by word of mouth. my buddy asked to borrow it that day. he's still got it and i've never heard a single one of their songs. bastard.
Submitted by electrictoothsyndrome (user info) at 2005-02-17 00:08:10 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
I have a Les Paul for sale if anyone wants to buy it.
Haven't heard this band. I'll check them out.
Submitted by rock_music (user info) at 2005-02-16 21:48:42 EST (#)
Ranking: -2
Listen to good music, nigger.
http://www.ubersite.com/m/56474
Submitted by checkyourmail (user info) at 2005-02-16 21:40:25 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
They played at the Roseland in Portland on the 13th and were freakin awesome. I got tons of digital pictures despite the tight security, any interest?
Submitted by diadima (user info) at 2005-02-16 21:33:52 EST (#)
Ranking: 1
interpol, yum. i saw them at the docks in toronto and they were glorious.
Submitted by tinactin (user info) at 2005-02-16 21:25:19 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
I like both Blonde Redhead and Interpol. They're coming here soon. I may see them
Submitted by Slypher (user info) at 2005-02-16 20:54:13 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
Jesus, I hate it when wanna-be musicians rail on bands because they haven't struck it big yet. Whiny little bitches.
First point of CoreaPeekay sucking: So breaking strings during a set is a measure of skill or talent? Right, find me a musician that'll agree with that. They had thin strings, with a lot of back-up guitars, so shut it.
Second point of CoreaPeekay sucking: Gibson fanboy? Did I say that that's all they play? No. It was simply the guitar Paul wanted to play that night. Daniel, in fact, played an EPIPHONE, which you would have KNOWN if you had bothered to READ the review. Oh, and the amps? Fenders. And just because you can't play a guitar low slung doesn't mean that NOBODY should play a guitar low slung.
Third point of CoreaPeekay sucking: You can't even keep the same format when you're berating things? Get with the program, man.
Again, did I say it was hard to switch between lead and rythm? No. I just said it was a cool little thing to have Daniel and Paul switch back and forth between guitar parts. And no, I could put up an example of a tab that shows a CLEARLY defined rythm section and a CLEARLY defined lead section.
And please, oh great master of English, tell me what terms I misused exactly?
Submitted by BrittInToledo (user info) at 2005-02-16 20:41:52 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
"Rosemary..."
+2 because Evil rocks my socks off.
Submitted by CoreaPeekay (user info) at 2005-02-16 20:32:41 EST (#)
Ranking: 0
I was going to give you a two for effort then I looked up the band and realized how much they sucked.
First point of sucking: breaking a half-dozen strings in ONE set. I have NEVER broke a string during a set. Did they have backup guitars or did they re-string? If they re-strung then they sucked at life.
Second: Gibson fanboys are horrible. I bet they were using marshalls too? Or Mesa/Boogies, maybe. Either way its all suck. Gogo Fender jazz bass, die because its around the kneeds.
I looked up some of their music and I don't see the difference between a 'lead' and a 'rythm' and how it would be so difficult to switch between them. You could probably play both the lead and the rythm at the same time as one chord for some of their songs, actually. Thats another big point of LOSS. I hate when people say 'lead' and they mean 'secondary rythm guitar because neither of us could play a lead over our rythms are so complex that they would make a theory wizard cream his pants' or ' SRGNCPALORACTWTWCP' or just 'suck' for short.
so a nice even zero will do fine because you misused terms and it sounds like it wasnt that great to begin with.
Submitted by Rope (user info) at 2005-02-16 20:27:26 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
Stick with Antics, it's a grower.
I saw them in Manchester in Dec. Some fucking drunk guy fainted on me during 'Roland'.
Submitted by Slighty_Obnoxious (user info) at 2005-02-16 20:05:29 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
I like that song Stella quite a bit.
Well, beside the french part at the end.
Submitted by FunnyAsCancer (user info) at 2005-02-16 19:44:14 EST (#)
Ranking: 2
When they played KROQ's Almost Acoustic Christmas in L.A. last December, I thought they were great. Only topped by Franz and Muse.