Interpol turns on the bright lights
The band leaned a little heavily on the new songs at their concert
Published Oct. 12, 2007
If you don't know Interpol is from New York City, a glance at the band would fill you in. At 10:30 p.m. on Wednesday, the band took the stage of Kansas City's Uptown Theater in typically kitschy aplomb, with all four wearing the all-black suits that have been equally praised and criticized. Strutting toward the barrier, newly mustachioed bassist Carlos D, striking his best spaghetti western in a full-length black reverend coat and neck broach, nodded to the crowd just the way someone in his getup would be expected to.
It was a relief, then, as it always is with Interpol, to discover that guys saved the real (read: good) style for their songs.
With all that black, it seemed only appropriate for them to open with "Pioneer to the Falls" off their latest album, a melodic song with an eerie opening guitar hook. It's a keeper, but in the four times I've seen Interpol, they've always opened the show with it. Our Love to Admire, albeit a solid album, is not the one fans wanted to hear, and from the opener on, Interpol fell into this trap.
If at the beginning of the show it was hard to take them seriously, the feeling didn't last long. As lead singer Paul Banks closed "Evil," shouting, "You should be in my space!" (a line overused as a MySpace profile song but understated in the band's live shows), guitarist Daniel Kessler started his trademark fancy footwork, skirting the front of the stage to strike the occasional "rock god" stance. This stance is not unfamiliar to D, either, who, although he looks like one of the Mario Brothers, takes himself as seriously as he takes his music.
The show's mix of songs was carefully planned, successfully blending old and new, although leaning too heavily on the latter. From "Mammoth," the band took on "No I in Threesome" and then the standout track of the night, "Slow Hands." This was the third concert in a consecutive line of 11 that the majority of the front row was attending, and from the looks of things, "Slow Hands" was a pleaser.
The band's light show, although nowhere near Arcade Fire's, is one of the perks I previously missed, having never seen them indoors. During new song "The Heinrich Maneuver," technicians turned on the bright lights (literally), and the backdrop changed to Our Love to Admire's cover art, which featured a lion attacking a gazelle.
When the set reached its end, Banks, Kessler and Dengler escaped the stage during extreme applause only to return, in a cloud of smoke from their multiple cigarettes, to the fourth wind of the encore. And from the grins on their faces post-show, you'd think people don't clap like that in New York.
