What a weird, weird gig this was. Interpol were absolutely, note-perfectly, beat-for-beat immaculate. Honestly, it was barely possible to notice a single difference between what they played last night and the final, mastered, recorded versions you hear on their albums. This is some feat of technical accomplishment, I’d guess. And bloody impressive as it was, it makes for a really pointless gig.

Honestly, it was all so amazingly well-executed that you might just as well stay at home and watch their music videos on a really big telly. What the fuck is the point of shelling out to go to a gig if the band isn’t going to say anything, nor going to reinterpret their songs, nor even cut loose and play with a bit more venom? We got nothing from them all night. Not a thing. Nada. Zip.

To make matters worse, the sound system in the Corn Exchange was embarrassingly bad. I could have turned it up louder on my bloody stereo at home if need be, and a combination of this and the icy indifference of the band robbed the music of its life. Only the guitarist actually looked like he was enjoying playing the songs at all – the rest of them just stood there looking cool. And cool they really are. Honestly, if there are five cooler, trendier, more strikingly dapper gentlemen playing in a cooler band, making cooler music in a really incredibly cool way on the planet today then I will eat my immaculately tailored black Armani suit. They were so cool it was awe-inspiring, – it just emanated from their every pore and pose.

The problem is, for me their music is best played really, really fucking loud. The snarling guitars on Evil, the dysfunctional lament of NYC, the battering rhythms of Stella Was a Diver.. it all sounds best when turned up so fucking loud it makes your ears bleed and your neighbours think twice about calling the police because it might just actually be the apocalypse. So between the shitty sound system, turned down to sensible, and the lack of any real spirit in the performance the whole thing seemed rather tame, and more than a little pointless.

What it did do though was remind me that Interpol have written some of my favourite songs this decade. They didn’t play many of them, but Stella, which can easily be forgotten at the tail end of an album that includes masterpieces such as NYC, PDA, the Obstacles and Untitled, drove itself forcefully back into my brain. What brilliant music they can write when they really get going. I will go home and listen to them on the stereo, turned up as loud as it can manage, and never go to one of their gigs ever again.

Interpol – Stella Was a Diver and She Was Always Down
Interpol – Evil
Interpol – Pioneer to the Falls