Turn on the bright lights
The title of this post also happens to be the title of the 2002 debut album from the New York City band, Interpol. I just came back home from seeing them in concert tonight at Forest Hills Stadium. Unlike most of my concerts where I pick my spots, there was a bit of luck involved in getting to tonight. But I’m getting ahead of myself.
I’d been a fan of this band since they started back in 2002. On one particular day, I came across the video for the song and first singles “PDA”. The hard charging rythmn of the song caught my attention. As would the songs ” NYC ” and Obstacle 1″ and I was hooked even if they were being compared by many to the Manchester band Joy Division. I was still hooked when the follow up “Antics” came out in 2004. I drifted away from them until their 2010 self titled album and their most recent album, 2014’s “El Pintor”. There was something attractive to me in being dark and brooding that each album and song brought upon in each listen.
Tonight though, wasn’t exactly in the cards at first. After Depeche Mode on the 11th, I was ready to take a break from live music as my trip to Ireland is forthcoming and I wanted to save as much money possible. But I found out that the music blog, Oh My Rockness was giving away tickets to tonight’s show and I submitted my name. There is a dirty secret one should know about me, I’m semi-charmed. I enter contests like these thinking I wouldn’t win but its happened previously. And sure enough, I won a pair of tickets to the show. As I took a look at the PDF AXS sent me, there were two tickets. I needed to find a second person. So I put out the call on short notice thinking no one would say yes but to my surprise, my colleague in the donations department Antonio Lopez was interested and earlier this afternoon said yes to my offer.
And so I made my way down Continental Avenue following the murals down a familiar path. I’d been to Forest Hills earlier this summer to see Sigur Ros. As I waited at the box office, I saw Antonio appear and as we walked in, he shared some of the concerts he’d been to. With his love of live music as strong as mine, I was validated in giving him the second ticket. As we made it up to our seats in section 402, the band Battles had begun their set. When the daylight turned to dusk, the band Deer Hunter took the stage. There was one more act in this evenings journey into night.
At 8:30pm, Interpol took the stage awash in the dark red lights that the album cover portrays. The opening song was the track “Untitled”. The set itself was a full airing of their 2002 debut album. Between belting every word, the light show behind the band and the audience’s enthusiasm, it was a joyous sight and sound to behold. The encore touched on the albums that came after, from a song I hadn’t heard before, “Song Seven” to “Not Even Jail” and “Slow Hands” from Antics, “Lights” from their self titled and ending with the opening song of “El Pintor”, ” All The Rage Back Home”, totally fitting for a home town gig. I would later find out that the set was supposed to be 18 songs instead of 16 as “The Heimlich Maneuver” from the 2006 album, “Our Love To Admire” and “Narc” from “Antics” werent played due to the late start and the venue’s 10pm curfew. Antonio took his leave as the last song was ending to beat the traffic to the subway. It turned out that he had the right idea as going gently into the night meant wading into the sea of humanity.
In the end, a good time was had by both of us. You couldn’t ask for a better evening with not a cloud in the sky. The seats as high as they were put me in the perfect position for taking panoramic photos all night. And I got to enjoy the concert with another person as this is usually a singular experience. I want to thank Antonio for taking up my offer as it made the night that much more memorable. With September fast coming to an end, the trip to Ireland is that much closer on the horizon!
