[CurePol]

Looks like there's a review here (the link to full article doesn't work for me):

http://www.dailyfreepress.com/

Interpol makes Agganis feel small

Interpol didn't live up to expectations in their Wednesday night Agganis Arena appearance -- they shattered them. The foursome from New York City captivated fans at the venue and proved, at least to Boston, that they are indeed worth the hype.

[EyesLikeKnives]

yes they did!! :wub: :wub:

[)LIVE|EVIL(]

Full article dailyfreepress.com

Interpol didn't live up to expectations in their Wednesday night Agganis Arena appearance -- they shattered them. The foursome from New York City captivated fans at the venue and proved, at least to Boston, that they are indeed worth the hype.

Opening with Our Love to Admire's "Pioneers to the Falls," Interpol showcased the smooth intensity that is its trademark. Daniel Kessler's echoing guitar gave way to Paul Banks's low, bellowing voice before the song exploded into an medley of chiming guitars, steady drums and a strong bass line.

From the beginning, Interpol established itself as a band more about the musical experience than about its own ego, often standing silhouetted against harsh lights and colorful screens, their faces obscured.

Still, those in the audience looking for the traditional arena rock show were slightly disappointed.

Despite playing an arena, Interpol still played as if it were in a small club. It is easy for bands to lose control of their sound in an expansive venue like Agganis that (let's be honest) was never built with concerts in mind. However, Interpol used the space to give their music room to unfold. Its lush sonic landscapes were hypnotic and left the audience dazed.

The performance showcased each member of the band on top of his game: Paul Banks has never looked or sounded better, trading his formerly monotonous vocals for impassioned singing. Running the emotional gamut from lust ("Narc") to anger ("Mammoth"), Banks defied those who have labeled him a carbon copy of Joy Division's Ian Curtis.

Sam Fogarino (drums) provided the pounding heartbeat of each song as Carlos Dengler (bass) played fast and furious.

While the complexity of songs like "Pace is the Trick" entranced the audience, others weren't as successful. During "PDA," backing vocals got lost in a chaotic, encompassing melee of guitars and drums.

Interpol had a lot to prove as they stepped on the stage, and despite some imperfections delivered to the audience a sound that has matured since their last appearance in Boston, willing to give an intimate and genuine show in the midst of reclaiming itself and forging ahead toward a promising future.

[CurePol]

PHOTOS HERE

http://www.pitchfork...oston-ma-091207

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v483/abk928/pol%20photos/200709-12boston-1.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v483/abk928/pol%20photos/200709-12boston.jpg

Photos by Josh Bean

The dynamic duo of Brooklyn post-punks Interpol and NYC/Berlin/L.A. shapeshifters Liars have just set out on their joint fall tour, in support of their new albums. The sharply dressed rockers we love to admire donned their suits and ties last night at Boston University's Agganis Arena, after the Best New Music-earning Liars warmed up the stage with their frenetic tunes and comedy stylings. During the set, Angus Andrew donned a Paul Pierce Celtics jersey and boasted about the new words he's learned in Beantown-- "stabbing," perhaps.

As previously reported, Cat Power will play with both bands tomorrow night at Madison Square Garden. The rest of the dates and more photos below.

[EyesLikeKnives]

CP - you are the love of my life! thank you sooooo much! i was dying to see pictures of the show i was actually in attendance for.
thank you!!!!

[CurePol]

Interpol falters on way up
By Jed Gottlieb
Thursday, September 13, 2007

http://news.bostonhe...ticleid=1031362

For years Interpol has been the belle of the indie rock ball. But that wasn’t enough. It’s all good and fine to be gushed over in online music journals and on fan message boards, but it ain’t the same as seeing your face on the cover of Rolling Stone. Unfortunately for Interpol, and its label, Capitol, the band isn’t about to usurp U2, R.E.M. or even Radiohead as a modern megaband.

At Wednesday night’s Agganis Arena show, Interpol struggled to fill half the seats - remember that this is a venue the BarenakedLadies, Snow Patrol and the Dropkick Murphys have all recently packed. Even after a midday free ticket giveaway blitz, there were still hundreds of empty seats. Not what you’d expect from the Next Big Thing.

Interpol’s stumble toward stardom probably shouldn’t be blamed on the music. The New York City quartet opened with the deep, dark, dynamic “Pioneer to the Falls,” got the stunted crowd jumping for the hard, straight rock of “Slow Hands” and stretched out on the long, slow hook of “Rest My Chemistry.”

Instead, the band got tripped up in the presentation. Should-be frontman Paul Banks exudes ennui - but not the cool kind of ennui Thom Yorke derives so much charisma from. Banks’ metaphysical boredom translates to physical boredom: He needs to move or shout or show us that he really loves or loathes his art.

Banks’ foil is the affected bassist/cat-burglar-in-training Carlos Dengler. While Dengler understands what Banks doesn’t - that Interpol needs some drama in its stage show - prowling the stage looking like a young Vincent Price auditioning for “Dracula: The Ballet” isn’t the drama it needs.

The most telling sign Interpol needs to go back to the clubs was that the new single, the catchy “The Heinrich Maneuver,” fell flat. It should have been the night’s cathartic, euphoric, collective “Whoo!” But it was performed with mediocre energy and received with muted cheers.

“Evil,” which the band performed right afterward, was just the opposite: a brilliant song well played. It’s a shame “Evil” is off Interpol’s previous album, not the album the band was promoting Wednesday night.Artists on the way up really shouldn’t have their set peak with a 3-year-old song.

Liars was the classic, slightly edgier opener. Not terrible (although the PA system was), but not known enough to get more than a few dozen to show up early. There’s something sad about an arty, post-punk band that would kill upstairs at the Middle East playing to an arena at 5 percent of capacity.

INTERPOL, with LIARS

At Agganis Arena, Wednesday night.

[CurePol]

Interpol meets fans halfway
By Marc Hirsh, Globe Correspondent | September 14, 2007

http://www.boston.co...s_fans_halfway/

It's been five years since Interpol became hipster darlings with "Turn on the Bright Lights," and in that time, the band has switched from high-profile indie label Matador to higher-profile major label Capitol and made the leap from clubs to larger venues. But Wednesday's show at a half-empty Agganis Arena showed a band that may be in danger of stalling out.

Of course, half-empty also means half-full, and if Interpol isn't quite arena-size yet, it certainly seemed to be headed in the right direction. Taking the stage enshrouded in blue lights and shadow, the band opened with the ominous wash of "Pioneer to the Falls." When the full band came in behind guitarist Daniel Kessler's pinging notes, the song became crystalline in its gloom.

The crisp snap of Sam Fogarino's drums served both to offset the airy reverb of the guitars and to push the songs forward. He and bassist Carlos D. provided some rhythmic complexity behind guitars that were almost entirely devoid of syncopation for the entire set, which reached its apex in the count-to-four push of "Mammoth."

The unwavering straightforwardness of the guitars was echoed in Paul Banks's singing. Throaty and nasal at once, his vocals were essentially immobile, staying at one emotional pitch all night. It didn't matter whether the band was playing the atmospheric "NYC" or more aggressive songs like "The Heinrich Maneuver" and "PDA." Banks sang them all the same way.

But there were still fine distinctions between songs that otherwise sounded built from identical parts. "Pace Is the Trick" revisited the pings and heart-murmur drumbeat of "Pioneer" with a touch more romance, while "Obstacle 1" got an immediate encore in the form of the less-slashing "Strangers in the Night." Whether they were signs that Interpol is either capable of spinning endless subtle variations on its sound or beginning to run out of ideas, for the moment it worked.

Liars opened with a set of almost textbook art-snob pretentiousness. The inchoate drones and drum-fiesta rumbles led by self-serious frontman Angus Andrew might have played better on a smaller club stage, but they fell flat in an arena.

[EyesLikeKnives]

CurePol, on Sep 14 2007, 08:17 AM, said:

“Evil,” which the band performed right afterward, was just the opposite: a brilliant song well played. It’s a shame “Evil” is off Interpol’s previous album, not the album the band was promoting Wednesday night.Artists on the way up really shouldn’t have their set peak with a 3-year-old song.

if it's a song like Evil they should!

[CurePol]

Interpol
Agganis Arena - 9.12.07
Filter Grade: 87%
by Andrew Nunnelly | 09.17.2007

http://www.filter-ma...p?id=15416&c=11

“Fan of the Red Sox and whoever beats the Yankees,” is the mantra of most Bostonians who loathe all things New York and love to celebrate their guiltless hatred. Interpol is quite possibly the only exception to this. A band that several years ago played to large crowds by the default of opening for acts like The Cure, Interpol drew a large crowd of its own Wednesday night, making purist indie hearts flutter with thoughts of Interpol’s major label stardom.

The line outside Boston University’s Agganis Arena was decidedly collegiate; there were far more T-shirt and cargo short sophomores than the trendy black clad hipsters that showed up to Interpol’s release party weeks earlier in LA. The show was opened up by a nerve-racking performance by the noise rock outfit Liars. It was hard to derive a highlight from the static and feedback. Most of the crowd had shuffled in during the following intermission to pretty much fill the transformed hockey rink. Besides the mire of college students, there was also a surprisingly large number of older adults, giving the crowd almost more of a Bruce Springsteen concert kind of look rather than a Stella Artois-sporting, hipster scene.

Paul Banks never mentioned whether or not this growing appeal bothered Interpol. He said about three words the entire show. By the time Interpol took the stage, the crowd was filled with the kind of tension that defines each of Interpol’s tracks. Apart from drummer Sam Fogarino’s sweaty, distinguished, white shirt, Interpol wandered out onto the stage in black, looking more like a scene from Pulp Fiction than typical indie rocker fare. The crowd sitting in the converted ice rink rose in unison amongst cheers as Paul Banks muttered a Johnny Cash-like “Good evening.”

They opened with “Pioneer to the Falls,” the first track from their recent album, Our Love to Admire. The response for the track was a warm one from the crowd, indicating that the album had made a strong rotation since its release. Interpol is a band that stays beautifully true to its studio sound, and with the aide of huge speaker support, the effect of their music is a relentless trance. The light panels that decorated the stage were understated, but it added to the intensity of the music, changing at times like it was Paul Banks’ mood ring.

Interpol’s shows are different in the way the crowd reacts. Unlike shows where screaming fans cramp toward the stage in pseudo-mosh form, Interpol’s crowds stand in place, awkwardly swaying and at times throwing their arms in the air like so many church goers. To watch the crowd behave this way, though, subverts what is really going on inside each individual as Interpol guides one of the most intense meditations any of the crowd will ever experience. One change in Interpol’s performance compared to past years is a little more spring in their step. As he plays guitar, Dan Kessler violently cuts a rug, and Carlos D arrogantly grips and handles his bass like it were a huge phallus. Paul Banks still stays true to his stander roots though, and sported a Josh Homme look with a short sleeve black shirt and armband.

The set list included a smattering of tracks from all three of their albums, and the most excitedly received was the first single from their sophomore album, “Slow Hands.” The only moment Paul Banks seemed disappointed to be playing in an arena was during the empty pause half-way through their single “Heinrich Maneuver.” People in the audience began to clap as if the song had ended, and when Banks restarted the song, his voice was less enthusiastic as if he was asking the crowd if it had ever heard it before. The encore brought the trance to a close in perfect fashion with tracks “Stella Was a Diver and She Was Always Down,” “NYC,” and “PDA.”

When the lights came up, the crowd had stars in their eyes, and it seemed like everyone was surprised the concert hadn’t just gone on for the rest of time like it should have.

[tercat]

Hang on... that guy referred to Strangers in the Night. :)

[Ely]

CurePol, on Sep 18 2007, 11:35 PM, said:

Interpol guides one of the most intense meditations any of the crowd will ever experience.