Interpol and Blonde Redhead
The Warfield, San Francisco, CA
February 15, 2005

A belated Valentine's night out with V culminated at the Warfield to see Interpol, supported by Blonde Redhead. Our seats were a ways up in the left balcony, not prime by any stretch of the imagination, but as i get older and more crotchety i find myself thankful for being able to sit during a concert. I like Blonde Redhead a lot, but tend to put them in the "mood music" category. Their songs are quite enthralling, haunting, and complex, with Kazu Makino's vocals similar to the Cocteau Twins' Liz Frazier in tone but more abrasive. The band's music however works best for me as a soundtrack while something else has got my attention. Their performance demonstrated their talent but had Veronica and i yawning by the end.

Interpol emerged after a short delay, and during the first song i noticed something that would hold my interest for the rest of the show. The bass player (already a pretentious looking f@$k) was wearing a shoulder holster. Who does he think he is, Steve friggin McQueen? The set played on, mostly drawn from their latest album Antics but with a smattering of older material, i wasn't focusing so much on the music (which was definitely improved from the lackluster sets we'd seen them give in Boston) but on David Starsky, bassist and crimefighter. At this point i realized i was obsessing, and lines from Seinfeld became relevant.

"I broke it off with her. She ate her peas ONE AT A TIME! I'd seen her eat corn niblets before, but she scooped them! But the peas, one at a time. That's what was so vexing!"

He's wearing a friggin shoulder holster! Where's the gat? Does he keep his picks in there? Tuner? ID? Did he see Bullitt one too many times and finally think "hey, there's a fashion accessory i could do something with!"?

Despite my fascination with the bassist's choice of strapwear, the show was fairly good. I missed a few songs from Turn On The Bright Lights, notably "Stella Was A Diver And She Was Always Down". Although that might've been because the couple behind us discussed its absence every five minutes. My wandering mind also noted that this was the fifth time i'd seen Interpol, interesting since they're not a band i'm going out of my way to follow. After the show we met up with former Popscene mogul DJ Jeremy, now laboring for Matador Records in New York and working with Interpol on tour.

login to submit comments