Review: Interpol and School of Seven Bells at the Pageant, Friday, February 11

This:

"Smart money says Matt In St. Louis is too young to have started listening to good music back when Turn On The Bright Lights came out; either that, or he didn't start paying attention to them until Antics because he is a trend-hopping douchebag. (Slow Hands isn't that fucking good, dude.) While the show wasn't the second coming of Christ, it also wasn't the torturous disaster described in this highly subjective, strangely personal and vitriolic review. Interpol has never been known for engaging their audience. Paul Banks is widely regarded as a standoffish, brooding shithead; that detachment is part and parcel of the band's image and appeal- based on previous shows I've seen, I was struck at how chipper and outgoing he seemed last night. Furthermore, Matt, your "marriage" metaphor wasn't clever enough to run into the ground, so you get the gas face on that too.

While not exactly back in their prime, Interpol get a B plus; Matt gets a shut the fuck up minus. You might want to reconsider your career as an armchair journalist, son.

Also, Nirvana was a shitty Pixies ripoff band led by a wannabe punk rocker who shot himself because his tummy hurt."

Well said, couldn't agree more. I came to drown in Interpol's driving moodiness, and that I did. Awesome show, as was their previous one at The Pageant. I do agree with the review that the crowd was somewhat somber, more so than their last show. Not a big fan of the new album, but appreciate the songs more now after seeing them performed live. Lights was awesome, and so was that one song......what was it called again? Barricade?

agree with matt to some extent, but im not an interpol fan...just went to the show. kinda boring to be honest

It wasn't the best show I've ever seen by any means, but it's not Matt's fault he might not have been old enough to go to the Rocket Bar show. You don't always have the chance to see a band at a magical time (although I have to admit that Rocket Bar show will go down in my top shows of all time, probably) or discover them when they release their first EP. So what if he first started listening circa Antics? I agree with a lot of his points--and also, the sound kind of sucked, in my opinion. Most of the show was unexciting, and the Halo Bar kept calling my name.

the set list is incorrect for Interpol... they also played The New and Pace Is The Trick

How much were tix? Want to know how much of a kick in the ass I should give myself. I've been bumming since yesterday.

What happened last night at the Pageant is what I call a "bad marriage rock show". Interpol breezed onstage and didn't get it. Very few people admit that they like the new album and up until last night, Interpol had only played St. Louis once in nine years. Slight recipe for disaster. Interpol embarrassed themselves last night when they sensed that this isn't Manhattan or Brooklyn and some of the cute tricks just don't work here; instead of glancing around at each other in disdain and ditching the bulk of new stuff, they forged ahead much to the crowds' disappointment with a bi-polar approach to their set list order. Up-tempo, familiar song, slow non-hit, up-tempo song, slow non-hit was the jolting procession of the evening. At one minute the crowd in the balcony was in to it, the next, smartphones lit up yawns as attendees checked the web and updated facebook as the young woman next to me constantly did off and on the entire show.

Women are the largest demo. of Interpol's fan base and quite a lot of them seemingly couldn't decide what to do; instead of fully participating and engaging the music, they maintained a strange, distracted limbo of being unable to maintain any satisfaction in either their physical or virtual spaces. Maybe the fact that Interpol's light show was a total nightmare for your vision that made people look away in pain and seek refuge in a technological distraction. Interpol might want to change it's name when on the road to: "Eyestrain". Hundreds of concerts attended could never prepare anybody for the retina-melting LED light rigs positioned behind the band that blasted through the slight fog and tortured the audience for entire songs and an estimated 70% of the total show. At the same time, ultra-violet searchlights placed on the front corners of the stage directed at the band simultaneously made the overall light aesthetic both painful and nauseating. If you go to an Interpol show, apparently you will not "see" the band and this creeping realization only added to the frustration. Interpol is not Pink Floyd and their style is not conducive to playing in blacklight while be ridiculously silhouetted.

Banter from a frontman to the audience in-between songs can be a good thing and sometimes can keep a rocky relationship from turning into a "bad marriage rock show". Banter quickly gets cheesy and is usually looked down upon by a lot of bands; engaging the audience in that manner might have been a slight departure from Interpol's presentation but that might have preserved a shred of both the performers' and audience's dignity. A "thank-you" early in the show after every song quickly died off to nothing, followed by "that song was called Barricade" (yeah, thanks we know). "Thanks to Seven Bells" and "you've been really nice" were the remainding attempts to connect last night. During the last third of the show, tremendously weak applauses devolved mostly into: one, two, three clap. I've seen more enthusiasm out of an audience at a senior citizens karaoke night.

I was really looking forward to catching Interpol for the first time. Sonic Youth, Dinosaur Jr., Yo la Tengo, Flaming Lips, and Phoenix (closest to Beatlemania I've ever seen) all provided great shows here in the last few years. Musicians always receive a tremendous amount of benefit of the doubt from myself when in attendance at a live performance, but I almost needed rock counseling after this. I've never seen a show, nor have I ever considered judging a band on one performance, that made me geniunely dislike a band as I left the venue among other puzzled Interpol fans.

Interpol's first set was 48 minutes long, the encore was 11 minutes, the entire show was played in a "band: we're outta here, crowd: thanks for nothing" 59 embarrassing minutes on a friday night. When Interpol left the stage after the first set, I literally have never seen less enthusiasm from a crowd for an encore: one, two, three clap followed by almost silence and grumbling. But it wasn't over. They didn't play "Slow Hands" in the first set and like it or not that is their "Smells Like Teen Spirit" and by doing this, Interpol dug themselves in a deep hole. After a night of attempting to weave new musical artwork and get everything out of the way so they could finish on a high note, the band faced something that most dread: the night was a disaster and the only thing that can keep them from being booed is the "big hit single" in the encore. Take a page from Nirvana, as soon as In Utero material showed up in their set-list, "Smells Like Teen Spirit" would often be the first song of the night; this would simultaneously start off hot, deliver to the audience something immediately huge, and disarm them from holding the "hit song" over the band's head if the evening wasn't producing perceived positive results.

"Rocky relationship" turned "bad marriage rock show" turned almost "filing for divorce" from both parties when Interpol reluctantly returned to the Pageant's stage and decided to play Radiohead for 5 minutes by withholding "Slow Hands" and instead producing ambient guitar noise in abstract form; a few concertgoers from the floor headed for the exits as mutual animosity increased. As a performing artist, you simply can't take your audience for granted. The St. Louis show was not sold-out on the day of and looking at the available tickets on their website, it seems none of the Interpol dates have sold-out either, especially their hometown NYC Radio City Music Hall show next week. It's a new era. Time to approach things slightly differently.

If you're going to see them soon, my advice is to show up 54 minutes late to the venue, double park your car with the hazard lights blinking, run inside, weave your way into the thoroughly depressed crowd, catch a tight, powerful version of "Slow Hands", and leave feeling good about rock music, Interpol, and yourself.

I've seen Interpol four times. The best of those shows was in Columbus, OH, after Antics had just come out. Last night was a close second.

Carlos who?