Margaret BauerOn the night of March 15, 2005, the clouds parted in the northern sky over the Pageant, and the New York post-punk quintet Interpol descended from the heavens on a shimmering moonbeam to send a sold-out crowd into alternating fits of ecstasy and despair.
That is to say, expectations were high for the hipster demi-gods-maybe impossibly so. The evening began on a lackluster note, with lead singer Paul Banks struggling to stay on pitch while belting out the lilting “Next Exit,” the album-opener from last year’s “Antics.” Daniel Kessler’s monophonic guitar lines were choppy and labored, but the sampled Hammond organ did wonders to fill up a song brimming with empty space.
The rest of their set featured a song selection culled fairly evenly between both their LPs, and, unsurprisingly, the best moments came from their material from “Turn On the Bright Lights.” While “Obstacle 1” couldn’t quite match the blistering intensity of the album version, the washed-out, delayed strumming of “NYC” sounded absolutely epic. They followed with “Take You On A Cruise,” one of the best tracks on “Antics,” which flaunted Sam Fogarino’s tight, propulsive drumming and Carlos Dengler’s jerky basslines. While Bank’s voice sounded better and better as the set went on, the energy of the band was surprisingly lacking. The band’s keyboardist spent most of the show either offstage or stiffly standing in a pose reminiscent of a prison security guard.
Opening act Q and not U earned the audience’s attention by neatly upstaging the headliners in energy and stage presence. While the drumming didn’t quite match Interpol’s spot-on precision, vocalist/multi-instrumentalist Christopher Richards stole the show with his manic dancing, punchy basslines and the unmistakable siren-song of his baritone melodica. Like a serpent charmer, he had the crowd enrapt each time its gleaming plastic keys approached the mic.