So I got to see Interpol once again recently. This time, however, the thoughts that had been troubling me about their previous performances became much clearer. In fact, I was talking to Richard online about the concert, and I’ll just quote a (slightly cleaned-up) version of it here.
I’m kinda eh about interpol live; i don’t feel like seeing them live really adds much to my interpol experience. Especially when bands like Autolux show me the possibilities of what you can do live. The main thing was the energy of their (Autolux’s) playing: their expressions when playing…good god! So in-to their music…Whereas paul banks always appears to be surveying the crowd in a cold manner, wondering “do these shit heads understand what i’m singing?” as he puffs on another cigarette. so interpol’s concert sets sound just like the studio versions…they add a few bars here and there, and the pause in PDA is long enough to make uninitiated audience members start clapping, but overall, it’s very much like studio. In fact the only major difference is their tempos, which are usually slower in concert (something which i feel hurts in most songs) and there always seems to be a slight fight between the drummer and guitarists for tempo. The drummer always feels like he’s pushing ahead for a faster tempo and the guitarists want to be slowing it down. it’s as if the one is on crack and the others are weeded out…I dunno they’re not really weeded out prolly, just the tempo feels that way. It feels as if they’re exploring the slower tempos (tempi?) so that they can maybe “feel the music” better, except it comes across as just “slow”…
As a small postscript, it’s not that interpol concerts are not enjoyable; on the contrary, they are extremely satisfying. But the satisfaction I get from an Interpol concert is very very similar to the satisfaction I get from listening to their cds uninterrupted and undistracted. i.e., the concerts are good because the music is good, and they are great at playing it well live (unlike many bands who make me wonder how they were able to perform well enough even to record their cd…), but not because of any other “live” aspect of it.
Tags: autolux, interpol
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