Interpol kicked off their North American tour in Vancouver last night. (yay us!)
I met up with Kristina, Brian and Erik at the Orpheum Theatre. We weren’t sitting together though. I was row 12 orchestra and they were seated up in the balcony. I must admit, I initially had reservations about the concert being at the Orpheum because of the seats. This is a rock concert. Was everyone expected to stay in their seats?
Shoe-gaze band School of Seven Bells kicked off the night. A different sound and line-up from when I first heard of their Half Asleep. I expected to see the 2 dreamy twin sisters, but was surprised when it was only Alejandra Deheza. Looks like her twin Claudia left the band last October. It was cool to see SVIIB’s Brandon Curtis do double duty as Interpol’s live show keyboardist.
And then Interpol graced us with their presence. And that’s when a whack of people at orchestra level charged down the aisles to get as close to the front of the stage as possible. I didn’t. Thought about it. But I didn’t feel like getting piled up on. (must be getting old) It didn’t much matter because I ended up having equivalent of 4 seats wiggle room in my row. And with people leaving their spots, I had an unobstructed view of the stage.
When the band walked onstage with only the backlit lights, I could make everyone out. Except… where was Paul Banks? And who was that person coming out with the band that I didn’t recognize? Erm, it was Paul Banks. With a faux hawk. I didn’t know quite what to make of this new look. I kinda dug it.
But all that didn’t matter once the band started playing. The night was a good mix of old and new. And I was my happy self, dancing my kiester off.
Here’s Interpol’s North American Winter Tour setlist:
So we had the wonderful piercing vocal stylings of Paul Banks, Daniel Kessler dancing to and fro whilst playing guitar and Sam Fogarino pounding tightly on the drums. But oh how I felt the absence of the charismatic Carlos D.! New bassist Dave Pajo is no Carlos D. Even the bass playing is different. When Not Even Jail started, for a few seconds, I couldn’t even recognize what song it was suppose to be. The bass line was not dominant at all! Of ALL songs, that should’ve been the one to dominate.
Alas, this is the new Interpol lineup. And it’s going to have to grow on me. Without a doubt, Carlos D. left some pretty big shoes to fill. All bitchin’ aside, I had a great time. Even though Interpol didn’t play Heimlich Maneouver, I got to groove to the songs that have lifted me up and bought me to eargasm all these years.
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