Interpol’s tour in support of their new album, El Pintor, came to a grinding halt when the mega snowstorm that dumped over seven feet of snow in the Buffalo, New York area left them, along with their crew, gear and supporting band, Hundred Waters, stranded on a highway for over fifty hours. Fans could follow the ordeal as both bands posted updates of their situation via social media, including the cancellation of three shows in Toronto, Montreal, and Boston. Interpol applauded the efforts of the Lackawanna Fire Department who according to one tweet, “…looked out for us the past few days!-DK” and another that read, “And can I just say firemen are awesome. They just are yo. Serious ballers during these conditions.-DK”.
The tour resumed in Philadelphia’s Union Transfer and Gainesville, Florida’s Hundred Waters opened the show with a hypnotic set of music that seamlessly blended synthetic and natural elements. Nicole Miglis’s angelic voice was a good example, delivered with live vocals, samples and loops. The set began with the soft and delicate “Show Me Love”. Songs “Murmurs”, “Cavity”, and “Out Alea”, all from the group’s latest album The Moon Rang like a Bell, slowly increased in intensity. The new album was the focus of the set with the exception of their final song, “Are/Or” from the band’s self-titled debut album.
Interpol, like many bands, has gone through some changes since their inception in 1997, original drummer, Greg Drudy was replaced in 2000 by Sam Fogarino, and bassist Carlos Dengler left the group in 2010. The core band is now Paul Banks (lead vocals, guitar), Daniel Kessler (guitar, vocals), and Sam Fogarino (drums) and they added Brandon Curtis (keyboards, vocals), formerly of the Secret Machines, and Brad Truax (bass guitar, vocals) when touring.
Interpol emerged with the elegantly posed hands from their new album cover projected on a big screen behind the stage and unleashed the pent up energy of tour bus cabin fever with crushing versions of “Say Hello to Angels” from the band’s heralded debut album Turn on the Bright Lights and two new songs, “My Blue Supreme” and “Anywhere” from El Pintor. The band brought the set to a slow simmer with “Hands Away,” also from their first album, before ratcheting up the intensity some more with the soaring guitars and haunting vocals of “Take You on a Cruise” that featured cityscape projections and a blue light scheme. Two more songs from the new album, “Everything is Wrong” and “Breaker 1” were well received by fans but their older songs, “Lights”, “Rest My Chemistry”,”PDA” and “Not Even Jail” triggered more exuberance. The encore began with another song from the new album, “All the Rage Back Home” that had surf crashing on the screen behind the band. Two more songs from the band’s first album, “NYC” and “Stella was a Diver and She was Always Down” closed out the show.
Hundred Waters will be headlining their own tour beginning early next year and they are rescheduled to appear on The Dave Letterman Show in February. They missed a scheduled appearance because of the snowstorm in Buffalo. Interpol has a few more dates in New York City, Washington, D.C., and a return to Philadelphia before heading to Europe, and according to social media posts, they hope to make up the shows that they had to cancel when they were stranded in the blizzard.
Photos by Richard Clarke
