Monday, September 17, 2007

interpol at the tower theater - 9.15.07


another musical fieldtrip with the RockStar, this time to see Interpol at the tower theater in philly on saturday night. truth be told i wasn't too jazzed about going, but i didn't know what else to get for D's birthday and it's always edifying to hang out with the RS.

opening up was Liars. the last time we we were supposed to play in philly - the lead singer informed us midway through their set - we had to cancel. because no one bought tickets. - that's because you SUCK - the RockStar responded matter-of-factly. i'm not gonna neg on Liars too bad because they amused me. clad in a white suit, the lead Liar cavorted around on stage, shimmying his chest and tossing his head. he looked like a small bird taking a dust bath, and i couldn't help smiling, which RS misinterpreted. you LIKE them. i can't believe you actually like this crap. some parts of Liars' performance were fun, and some were downright screechy and i regretted needling D for bringing earplugs.

Interpol took the stage and cranked out the following setlist:

pioneer
obstacle 1
cmere
narc
say hello to the angels
pace is the trick
mammoth
public pervert
threesome
slow hands
chemistry
heinrich
evil
not even jail
---------------------
nyc
stella
pda

i'm not a huge Interpol fan, but RS and his wife are, so when they pronounce the show "incredible" and i say it was kinda ho-hum, whom should you believe?? the tracks sounded a lot like they do on the CDs -- there were no noodly interludes or interesting segues in the live version; and there didn't seem to be any grander design, like -- oh bear with me; you knew this was inevitable -- a NIN show, where the tempo and mood speed and slow, sweeping you on a sine wave of energy. the light show was minimal, and with the exception of two background pix from the new album, didn't contribute much to the overall experience.

at the very least i can say the sound was good: the vocals played well with everything else, and though RS said the two guitars were sloppy on their transitions, i didn't notice. but paul banks has the vocal range of a sheep and his vocals seem to constrict and bind Interpol's songs. i hoped that live, the songs would break free with some extracurricular instrumentals, but it never happened. but like i said, i'm not a fan AND we had seats about 40 rows back. maybe i'd have been more entertained had we been closer.

there was good people-watching, however. this was a different demographic than the shows i normally attend: a lot more asians, and hotter women too, not the heavy, inked metal chicks i usually see. between Liars' and Interpol's sets, a dude took a header in the aisle next to me and was so drunk he couldn't get up and lay there twitching until security bustled him out. i also saw an acquaintnince -- one of those people you see at all the NIN shows but have never officially met. i wonder who dragged her to see Interpol and if she too got all moony for perfection.

14 comments:

fatmammycat said...

oh bloody interpol, velly popular they are over here too. They remind of Psychedelic Furs only not as cheery and frankly I'm sick of listening to everyone wafling on about them and Kaiser Chiefs and Artic bloody Monkeys.
If you can catch Muse live they're supposed to be most awesome, a good friend of mine saw them and said they were 'the fucking most fucking real fucking thing I ever fucking saw.'
So, good then.

FINN said...

oh bloody hell, now i've got Love My Way on mental repeat. fark.

off to find some Muse.

fatmammycat said...

go with Hysteria. Hey! I gots your Small Geysers (paramour name for malteasers) and brown sauce today, they will be posted tomorrow morning so you might have them by the end of this week!

FINN said...

huzzah and thank you!!
i like funny eyebrows.

for all the hype i'm not feelin' Fujiya and Miyagi either.

fatmammycat said...

Say, how did your training go? Were you feeling more energised?

FINN said...

yes-n-no. against my will but with my better judgment i dragged my carcass to the pool this morning and tho i had the lungpower of a sqwerl i swam a reasonably-paced straight 1000yds for a main set.

fewer chills now, so maybe i'm simply fighting something low-grade.

well done on your 20K.

fatmammycat said...

Cha velly much. I've got to admit I felt iffy leaving the house, but then I never feel anything other than that for at leat 3 or 4 K. After that it was not bad at all. My plan is to dribble out a 25 k next weekend and a 30k the week after, then drop back a bit and taper off until race day (squit squit).

Anonymous said...

finn, i highly doubt it, but did the liars play anything off of their first album?

Saw Interpol recently at Coachella. I agree, they are ho-hum live. And their bassist looks too much like John Stossel stuck in Clue: The Movie.

Manuel said...

Psychedelic Furs - very true and a bit like The Smiths in bits too.The new album is awful, I mean stick the bathroom sort of awful. I'm using the cd as a coaster now. I saw them just after the first album came out and they were amazing.

The National's new album is the album that Interpol should have made but didn't, wankers....

FINN said...

agreed on The National manuel, and agreed on the new album as well if you're talking Interpol and not the Furs. except for Lighthouse. i dig that song, meb cos it doesn't sound like Interpol and it puts me to sleep when i wake up at 1am.

westo, the only songs i can remember from Liars' set are Freak Out, Plastic Casts of Everything and a song that opened with the dude in the white suit explaining - so we were in boston, and they had something to say about philly and you know what it was? -it was... and then he emitted a such a piercing screech that made even D with his earplugs flinch and that seemed to be both the intro to and chorus of the song.

i never knew boston hated on us that much.

Anonymous said...

I don't come across too many Bostonian Philly-haters. They usually display some respect for the courtroom that used to be at the Vet.

Boston to me in a lot of ways is similar to Philly--just as passionate (and little brother-ish) about kicking NY's ass as Philly is.

And how about 8 straight wins vs. the Mets?

FINN said...

in the produce section of zingos sunday morning, before the christians hit the scene, i saw a dude wearing an eagles hat and a shirt that said, DALLAS SUCKS, ROMO SWALLOWS.
i thought that was funny because were playing the redskins on mon nite.

Anonymous said...

Too bad the Eagles couldn't even score a TD at their home opener. Its guaranteed homeboy took out his tee, crossed out Romo and wrote in McPab instead.

FINN said...

you wouldn't be saying that if mcnabb were white...