Interpol released Antics, their second album, on 27 September 2004. Some twenty years later they played the album in full at London’s Alexandra Palace, a return to the venue of the biggest UK gigs of their career.
Some feel that Antics too closely replicates 2002’s Turn On The Bright Lights. However, it improves upon what was already a winning formula and delivers the same stunning and atmospheric soundscapes with the addition of higher-tempo drumming to raise the ante. Antics is a career-high, and the albums that followed had great moments, but as a package of songs, they did not reach the same heights.
Alexandra Palace offers suitably gothic surroundings for the music to bounce off. The venue boasts one of the largest indoor spaces in London, with an equally large hill to be climbed to reach it. Dust opens the evening and the five-piece offers a punky sound overlayed with droning keys with added saxophone which combines to make an impact. They are shortly followed by Iceage, a Danish outfit, who despite their youthful appearance and energy levels have five albums released to date. Frontman Elias Rønnenfelt is a confident showman and entertains the growing crowd.
The cathedral opening of ‘Next Exit’ starts as bright red light floods the stage and Interpol enters. As the song progresses white light alternates with red, both colours symbolic of the album artwork.
The band are now a three-piece: Daniel Kessler, Paul Banks and Sam Fogarino, supplemented by touring musicians. Carlos Dinger’s departure resulted in a tweak with singer Banks now playing bass rather than rhythm guitar.
There is no better encapsulation of the whole Interpol sound and experience than ‘Evil’, which has the classic absurdist lyrics, driving guitar and throbbing bass riff that all melt together to create an irresistible track. A herb has never been announced so gleefully as “rosemary”, the opening lyric, is sung in unison by the collective masses. The angular guitar drops in and out creating a dynamic sonic environment.
The band have an air of mystique, partially due to being presented mainly as strutting silhouettes of guitarists, and partially by the lack of crowd interaction, except for occasional thanks and brief song intros. ‘Slow Hands’ throbbing drums and acute hypnotic guitars combine before the jacked-up Joy Division chorus kicks in. It does miss the peacocking of Carlos but the song’s overall punch isn’t diminished.
One of the key developments of the second album is the drumming, showcased in ‘Not Even Jail’ which has a drum sequence that wouldn’t sound out of place on a techno track. The song sounds heavily inspired by the Doves, the uplifting chorus slowly builds and gives glimmers of hope.
Rarely has there been a more powerful band with such seemingly nonsensical lyrical content. The lines are dislocated from one another and make sense in isolation, but together, they are like an abstract poem, penned by Banks and delivered in a deadpan style, at times moody but often tinged with optimism. Their ambiguous nature allows them to be interpreted in many ways, as the listener sees fit. The lines are like a dot to dot, and you can connect them as you desire.
‘C’mere’ speaks a mass sing-along. The song is about moving on, as hard as that is, soundtracked to a killer beat. The fierce riff outro of ‘Length of Love’ combines with laser strobes for a dazzling effect.
The issue of playing an album back in the same track order is pacing. Big songs that would normally be played later in the set, or indeed in the encore, get played early in the night, such as ‘Evil’ which was the second song of the evening as per the album tracklist. Celebratory shows for classic albums don’t have to replicate the album track for track, which is designed for a different listening experience to a live show. Once the album was played out there was a very brief interlude before they came back out for a small greatest hits set which raised the tempo and set the show up to end on a high.
The encore featured two songs from their debut, starting with ‘The New’, a song about trying to make a relationship work. The song pauses and the room feels like a cathedral before the spikey and jagged guitar lines break in through the roof shattering the peace and then dropping back out, replaced by a tricky bass part which gets a roar of approval from the crowd.
The final song is crowd favourite ‘PDA’ which starts with booming drums, Banks’ voice sounds almost robotic as informs “You’re so cute when you’re frustrated”. The mellow tone of the bass circles around the guitar riff. The song drops out to isolate the guitar riff and the crowd accompanies by clapping in perfect time, a moment which will live on in the memory.
It’s clear this was a mainly vintage crowd who had come to hear the hits and they weren’t disappointed with what was served up on the Interpol musical buffet. It seems bizarre to think that the once-young Interpol disruptors are considered to be a legacy act, but here we are.
In reality, many years have passed since the band burst onto the international stage and multiple magazine covers riding the wave of the early noughties of the New York scene which included The Strokes and the Yeah, Yeah, Yeahs. Antics was given a fitting celebration and sounded fantastic twenty years on, the biggest shock was that it had been so long. Time does indeed fly when you are having fun.
Words by Dave Holgado
Photos by Aoife Hyland
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