Interpol + Patrick Watson Paradiso, Amsterdam, May 14th, 2007
Interpol are obviously a big band now. Not that I knew them 'before every one else did', in fact I discovered them quite late (when Antics was just released). In this case it became clear because of the high ticket prices, despite that still selling out in ten minutes, a photography restriction and a barrier...
... that's right, a BARRIER in PARADISO. Wtf. Anyway we (Anneke and I) found places at the right side of the stage, and the waiting could begin.
The support act was Patrick Watson, who apparently already played the Paradiso three times earlier this week. I hate to compare bands (but I always do), but they sounded like a stoned version of Guillemots fronted by a hippie Chris Martin.
They were quite okay, a bit boring sometimes but they definitely won the hearts of the audience by asking everybody to be quiet and performing the last song without microphones. It was lovely! I don't know how it sounded all the way in the back of the room (if you could even hear it) but in the front row it sounded amazing.
After their show was finished, we had to wait for the Pol. That didn't take too long though, and after about half an hour (I think) they entered the stage and kicked off with a new, quite slow song. Interesting choice perhaps, but it set the right atmosphere for the rest of the night. The barrier even turned out not to be that bad, because you could rest your arms on it (and have something to do with your hands!), you could see the entire stage and you didn't get a sore neck from looking up in unnatural angles for a long time.
Like I said you weren't officially allowed to take pictures, but we didn't even really know that, we just heard some security people talking about that they had to put up signs. Therefore I took some pictures without flash, which are usually horrible but because of the quist audience and the barrier I managed to keep my camera quite still and the pics aren't even that bad...
Carlos D., bassplayer/duke/cowboy
I even shot a full-length video of Mammoth:
mmm LOVE the song . I think the new album is going to be really good, despite that wierd cover.
not mine (obviously)
After that last picture some security guy came to us and told us we couldn't take pictures. So I stopped. The audience was pretty quiet by the way, except for the first lines of Evil ("Rosemary...") when everyone sang along, which was pretty amazing :D
They played a nice mix of the two albums and three of the new one, a quite short show even though they returned for a 3 song encore. Overall it was amazing, way better than the first time I saw them (at Rock Werchter 2005) but I missed the 'wow-factor'. But the evening was certainly well spent.
Setlist:
Pioneer To The Falls
Obstacle 1
NARC
Say Hello To The Angels
Take You On A Cruise
Mammoth
Slow Hands
Leif Erikson
The Heinrich Maneuver
Evil
Not Even Jail
-----------
Length Of Love
Stella Was A Diver And She Was Always Down
PDA
After the show we went upstairs to see Battles, but you weren't allowed to get in if you didn't have a ticket specifically to their show, so instead we got our jackets and bags and went home. It was still early in the evening so I could even take a train home! I wasn't too fond on travelling alone late at night but it turned out to be alright and I was really glad I could sleep in my own bed that night.
