Ramblings of a Redhead Music Snob

9/14/07

This was the first time I had pit tickets in quite awhile at a big venue. I had decided originally to get there insanely early to get a great spot in line. But when it came down to it, I just had no energy to do that. So I arrived at The Garden around 10 till 6. And there were maybe 20 people in front of me. Not bad, not bad. I start talking with the girl in front of me, who seems so nice. And she is quite friendly. She has just moved here from New Mexico and loves to go to concerts. On that note – I should send her a text about tomorrow’s show.  So its always a great way to hang out before the show begins. I get a text from my friend Hannah who is coming up from DC. yay! After our last fiasco – which is the fiasco not named – we had our fingers crossed that the trains would have no delays. And she made it just in time before we were let into the doors.

After standing around for an hour – and we are RIGHT in front (well one row ahead of us of shorter women) – The Liars come on. I had no clue what to expect of The Liars as I hadnt listened to them. The music is very loud, screamo type stuff but is quite out there at the same time. Some of their music was really good that I liked but for the most part I felt like I was in some sort of weird reality time-warp. The lead singer is entertaining and very much is a strong presence on the stage. He would mimic the drum movements and do all sorts of crazy little things. After about 35 mins. and their set was done.

I will say MSG has amazing acoustics and the first band sounded great. A super quick sound check and they were ready to go. Its not often that you get to see this, but suddenly you realize this is how its done by the pros 🙂

Next up was the amazing – Cat Power & The Dirty Delta Blues. I had always wanted to see her, as she has such an amazing beautiful, sultry voice. She definitely didn’t disappoint at this show. She seemed so happy to be there, working the stage as she made her way back and forth. She sat down on the side when there was nothing to see and let the band go to town. And this band was so talented. They really were a great backing unit to her. She played a cover (or maybe 2) and some other songs that I knew but for the most part I cant say I recognized them. It wouldn’t have mattered. She did not disappoint.

It was hard not to go insane once she left the stage. Floods of memories came back of seeing Interpol just a month ago at Lollapalooza. Thinking about what they might or might not play, was not helping the anticipation. I knew they were scheduled to be on at 10:30 per the employees of MSG who let us know. Around 10:20 Interpol takes the stage.

MSG at this point is so loud! Everyone is screaming and yelling for them and the place is going nuts. A large white sheet is in front of the band as they begin to play. The shadows that should have shown through the sheets were not working, so it didnt look quite right. Being in the front I could still easily make out the band and see everyone, but it didn’t seem quite right.  During the 2nd song, Daniel is going frantic yelling at the guy in front of him to take down the sheet.

The band has to stop the show and wait for the sheet to come down, which is having a malfunction. During all this the band starts to play, just instrumentals and the crowd is getting even more antsy just wanting to see them.

The sheet comes down and the band bursts into the rest of their set. The band was incredible. They played for a full hour and 40 mins, with not one, but two encores. Paul’s voice was so spot-on; Daniel was full of energy working the stage coming towards the crowd and Carlos D was naturally on his game and Sam worked it on the drums. The new songs which they played a bunch of were simply beautifully played. The highlights were “Pace Is The Trick” which has the trademark dramatic Interpol song. The crowd went nuts during “Heinrich Maneuver” with everyone singing along. Actually I think a lot of people were singing to every song. My favorite song on the album “Rest My Chemistry” was just what I had expected. From their first note, it was hard to contain oneself.

If anything Interpol far exceeded any other prior impressions I had of them. The final song “Untitled” was the perfect way to end the night. Luscious guitars that swirled and filled the room, with the constant drum beat in the background with the sparse lyrics from Paul was all that was needed. And the show couldn’t have ended on a better note!

Here’s hoping I can see them again soon.

Setlist:
Pioneer to the Falls
Obstacle 1
C’Mere
Narc
Say Hello to the Angels
Pace is the Trick
Mammoth
Hands Away
No I in Threesome
Slow Hands
Rest My Chemistry
The Heinrich Maneuver
Evil
Not Even Jail

NYC
Stella Was A Diver and She Was Always Down
PDA

Untitled