Interpol Live Review: Believing in the Power of the Song in a One-Dimensional Set

Beautiful scene in the film Meet Me In The Bathroom, the filmed book by journalist Lizzy Goodman about the New York music world at the beginning of this century. We follow The Strokes, we see the first appearances of LCD Soundsystem, but we also see the young boys of Interpol walking through an ash-covered Manhattan. You would almost forget, but Interpol’s debut appeared less than a year after the attacks on the Twin Towers, a time when everything was on edge, a time when you made choices.

Interpol made sharp choices at the time and was therefore praised. For more than two decades, they still hold tight to their principles: moody, introverted new wave with an introverted character. On stage, the band’s black suits are highlighted with only a single color and only from behind. It is clear, but in 2023 that just no longer feels like a sharp choice. We live in a time when live shows – especially at festivals – are almost always provided with pre-conceived moments, enlarged gestures, sets and choreographies.

Interpol therefore has to rely on the strength of the material, and that is also difficult tonight. The first half of the set contains a lot of fairly recent songs that don’t have a lot of dynamics of their own and that are all played with the same detachment. Interpol does not do solos or long drawn-out live versions, there is no interaction, so nothing worth mentioning happens for at least half an hour.

THE MOMENT:
Yet the band has dedicated enthusiasts, people who know the work well and who are willing to drag it out themselves if necessary. This happens, for example, with ‘Evil’, the beautiful song from the second album, which is actually sung along at the top of its lungs, while it is not intended as a sing-along at all. In the dark, even the stoic Paul Banks seems to have something of a smile. It happens again at the very end with ‘Slow Hands’, a song from the same album. So you see, by stubbornly believing in the power of the song, it will eventually come to life. But such a one-dimensional set without sophisticated dynamics is actually outdated.