Interpol @ The Commodore

The Interpol show last night had a curious set-up last night: In addition to the usual sound-board at right in the Commodore, it appears that Interpol required their own soundboard, which was set up at the back of the dance-floor. There was additional sound/lights crew on the stage as well, which seemed to me to be an awful lot of technicians for one band.

The show itself was … good. Not fantastic, not terrible, just kind of standard. See, here’s the thing. Interpol is such a good band, and they play so well, it was a great show. But I could probably just have stayed home and listened to the tracks on CD – there was no acknowledgment of a live performance by them, apart from a couple of brief hellos and thank yous. No deviation from the song. No obvious gaffes, no real showmanship (notable exception: the bassist, who looks like he belonged in Deadwood, was a total rock god with his axe, holding it aloft as he plucked the rhythm). But at the same time, I totally enjoyed it. I suppose it was a little like attending a good, but not mind-blowing symphony. The music was excellent, the craft was evident, but there was nothing to take it to the next level that we all want to experience – there was no “shared moment” last night.

2 Replies to “Interpol @ The Commodore”

  1. I enjoyed it, although I thought the sound mixing was odd. The vocals were trapped below the lead guitar, which was played more like a drum than a voice. After a few songs, it was a little hard hearing anything under bangbangbangbangbangbang. After relistening to a CD, I realize that I missed lots of the fun keyboard stuff also.

    The bassist was hilarious. I loved how he would smoke and then stride through the cloud. When I grow up to be a hipster, I want to be the guitarist (despite the above comment – he looked great!)

  2. I enjoyed it, although I thought the sound mixing was odd. The vocals were trapped below the lead guitar, which was played more like a drum than a voice. After a few songs, it was a little hard hearing anything under bangbangbangbangbangbang. After relistening to a CD, I realize that I missed lots of the fun keyboard stuff also.

    The bassist was hilarious. I loved how he would smoke and then stride through the cloud. When I grow up to be a hipster, I want to be the guitarist (despite the above comment – he looked great!)

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