Interpol: turn off the bright lights!

So I saw Interpol this Wednesday. They played the Austin Music Hall, which is not my most favorite venue. They charged $29, which is not my most favorite price. However, my friend Travis won tickets on the radio, so I was all about it.

We showed up a bit late, missing the opener (Blonde Redhead) as well as the first few songs of Interpol's set. I have to say that while they played the songs that were not "Evil" and "Narc" (off Antics), I was worried about the possibility of having missed these favorites of mine. All this fretting only to have them play "Evil" right into "Narc" a bit later in the show.

They played a great set all in all, though some of their songs tend to run together after a while (same tempo, too similar sound). As is the case with most shows I attend, I found myself way more into the stuff I was familiar with (primarily the things off of Antics) than the other stuff... which was ok. Their live show sounds nearly identical to their records, and would probably sound exactly identical if I had big enough speakers at my house.

It's hard to complain about a band playing their songs exactly as they sound on the record, when they sound so good. Such a thing tends to leave me a little disappointed though; I'd appreciate an extended outro (or intro) here or there, maybe some different lyrics, even just a cover. Interpol just seemed like they were going through the motions a bit too much, even if they were good motions.

As far as the visuals, they played the part of hipster-appealers quite well. Dressed just well enough to show that they tried, few words between songs, really bright lights (and strobes) that tended to illuminate the crowd more than themselves. I'll give them mysterious, as that seemed to be what they were going for.

The crowd was a lot older than I expected. Lots of late 20's early 30's types. The ticket price could have had something to do with this, or maybe the Interpol sound just slants towards these age ears. Crowd energy seemed to be pretty typical: cheers and headbobbing closely following the degree of popularity of the song being played. The Antics material seemed better recieved all in all than all but a few things off of Turn on the Bright Lights.

Interpol on tour... all together a good show, even if (or maybe because) it felt like I was just listening to their two albums turned up really loud as I headbobbed with complete strangers.

(posted Saturday, Febuary 26, 2005)