After two excellent gigs at The Academy in 2003 and 2004 it was great to see Interpol step up a gear at the Apollo . Those previous gigs were notable for a lack of stage lighting which created the perfect mood for the dark material of their songs, as well as almost covering up the Paul Banks paunch. At the Apollo, however, a rather fetching light show coupled with a superb sound mix was exactly what was required to bring the band out of themselves and into the hearts and minds of a larger audience. They responded brilliantly with a powerful performance that served to highlight the strength in depth of their two albums as well as their growing authority as a live act.
Starting out with “Next Exit” and “Slow Hands” they went from strength to strength, hitting a peak with “Say Hello To The Angels”, “Public Pervert” and “Not Even Jail” and staying there. Carlos D, in his usual SS bondage get-up, prowled his side of the stage throwing more than the occasional Peter Hook pose. Kessler was as effortlessly cool as ever and Paul Banks, looking slimmer and more dapper than on previous occasions, was in fine voice throughout. Towards the end of the set “Take You On A Cruise” was a personal highlight and the encore, with “Untitled” and “Roland”, sent everyone away happy. That they didn’t play “NYC”, their best song in my opinion, went almost unnoticed such was the magnificence of their performance.
Earlier on Engineers could have done with such a light show and sound mix. At the Night & Day in March you couldn’t see the band for the harsh backlighting and their wall of guitar filled every corner of the small venue. At the Apollo the wall was more like a small fence as the muddy and one-dimensional sound failed to engage an indifferent audience. It’s a shame because their album is quite good, but for the second time this year they’ve come out second best by a long, long way.
Posted by
The Ledge on 5th August 2005 at 10:41 am |
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