Playing the Apollo as part of the promotion for latest album ‘Marauder’, the band arrive on stage all dressed in black suits, immediately providing a goose bumps moment with their debut album opening track ‘Untitled.’
The stage production here is fantastic, with lights hitting the glitter ball above and providing everyone in the venue the chance to take the same photo on their camera phones. I’m also guilty of this, but it’s truly a marvellous visual accompaniment to the sound.
Up tempo latest single ‘If You Really Love Nothing’ gets an early outing and guitarist Daniel Kessler excitedly shuffles around the stage in his trademark fashion.
A personal highlight arrives when they launch into old classic ‘Say Hello to the Angels.’ This is then followed up by the iconic singalong of ‘NYC’ and I’m left in a state of 2002 indie fan delirium.
Lead singer Paul Banks isn’t really one for stage “banter” but this hardly matters as everyone in attendance stands spellbound by the set. New tracks are scattered in amongst old classics, with the standout latest cuts being ‘The Rover’ and ‘Flight of Fancy.’
There’s a period towards the end of the main set that particularly shines. The guitar in the second half of ‘The New’ is a stunning, sinister piece of work when hearing it live. This is followed by the only track to be played from their 2010 self-titled album, ‘Lights’, which has a brooding quality and gives an almost horror movie soundtrack mood. It was a song I wasn’t aware of previously and shows there’s much more to the band than their critically acclaimed earlier work.
As the main set comes to a close with the anthemic ‘Evil’, I briefly join arms with a sweaty man celebrating his birthday in front of me, belting out every word before he kindly introduces my head into his selfies.
Interpol return to the stage with a splendid encore, playing another of my favourites ‘Take You on a Cruise’, before closing with ‘Slow Hands’ which the Apollo erupts for.
Whilst some may scoff at the chance of reliving the golden era of New York indie post-punk in 2018, Interpol’s live performance is spectacularly crafted and shows they’ll sell out these types of venues as long as they continue to make music.
SETLIST:
Untitled
C’mere
If You Really Love Nothing
Public Pervert
Hands Away
Complications
Say Hello to the Angels
NYC
The Rover
The New
Lights
NYSMAW
All the Rage Back Home
Rest My Chemistry
Flight of Fancy
Evil
ENCORE:
Pioneer to the Falls
Take You on a Cruise
Slow Hands
