Draggin' gramps out da retirement home
So, I've gotten to the age where I very rarely make it to a show. Well, it's actually a combination of my age and the fact that I live about 45 miles from any of the popular clubs in D.C. I've resolved only to see shows of bands that I would be proud of claiming on my deathbed, "I saw <insert great band name here> live!!" because driving an hour home after five beers just isn't safe as it used to be with all the other maniacs out on the road.

Anyway, me and the misses decided at 3:00pm on Saturday that we wanted to go see the "doors open early" Interpol show at the 9:30 club that night. May Jesus on a saltine bless the Internet and Craig's List. Within two minutes of searching we verbally secured two tickets to the show at face value. Cool. We had tickets, just had to figure out what to wear.

We make the trek out to the 9:30 Club and find on street parking within 100 feet of the front door. The line isn't too big at this point. Double Cool. I stand in line and the misses goes to meet Amy, our ticket peddler who would be wearing a white Michigan State sweatshirt at the will-call window at 7:00pm. I suggested the misses go pant-less so "Amy" would be able to quickly pick her out of the crowd. The misses wasn't up for it - probably too cold.

She who hath bad hearing
Amy comes through. We've got the goods. Just in time as the doors had already opened and the line was marching. Amy said the previous night's show was amazing and that the opening act, Blonde Redhead was "loud as shit". The misses and I didn't worry. We've made it a regular practice to bring earplugs to shows. Maybe if you didn't attend Michigan State, you'd be smart enough to bring earplugs to shows, Amy.

The beauty about the 9:30 club is that upstairs is a bar with seats. If you arrive early enough you can park your ass on a stool and drink with a relatively unobstructed view of the stage. The other plus is, the VIP seats are right in front of you, so you can check out potential band sluts. I swear on my sister's life, two of them were checking me out. (By the way I have two brothers). One was a younger blonde chic - not bad. The other was this red-haired temptress. She was swell. Or, maybe they were checking out the guys standing behind us. Ha-ha, you dudes may be good looking, but we got here earlier and we're sitting down - so fuck you!!

Blonde Redhead
Okay, okay, I'm getting to the show. Jeez, calm down. Blonde Redhead starts. Never heard them before. They're a trio - a guy drummer, a guy guitarist/singer, and a female guitarist/keyboardist/singer. They are fucking loud. They do their set with some previously recorded loops, sound effects and bass lines. Ever hear of a band called Denali? Probably not, but I have and Blonde Redhead reminded me a lot of them. I guess if you were to sort of reverse the evolution the Pixies made from "Broken Face" to "Alec Eiffel" and applied that to a song off Lush's Spooky you have a rough idea of what Blonde Redhead sounded like (to me). Which don't get me wrong - it's a good thing.

About 25 minutes into their set the misses and I turn to each other. Wait a sec, we know this song and it's a song I absolutely love! (I literally just clicked over to iTunes and found the song and album - "In Particular" off Melody of Certain Damaged Lemons.) I know the song from a compilation CD a certain staff writer off Newmoanyeah.com made for me, but he was too lazy to give me the names or artists of any of the songs.

Another fun thing was, the Interpol drummer came out and played along during "In Particular" and pounded into a supremely energetic drum solo. That little impromptu performance got the crowd's, and my own mouth watering for what was to come.

In a nutshell, Blonde Redhead was a good act with good stage presence. They have a good sound and they've piqued my interest enough to go out and buy one of their albums.

Wasn't this a review of an Interpol show?
9:00 pm-ish, the guys from Interpol roll out on stage. They are dressed respectfully - suits and ties; the lead singer wore a collared shirt under a sweater and the drummer wore a shirt and tie with a tie clip. They are quite dapper, indeed. There are five in all, wait a second, I thought there were only four guys in the band? A keyboardist? I'm desperately trying to think of Interpol songs with keyboards... hmm, I can think of a few off the second album. Oh, well let's just see what happens.

They start into their set. It's the first song off Antics - "Next Exit". They sound pretty tight. Then the vocals start. Yikes. I feel like I need to take the "First Exit", that is the first exit out of the 9:30 club. I'm trying not to be too critical. I knew from the studio albums that the lead singer is no Josh Grobin. (Music exec's take note, pair Josh Grobin with Interpol and you've got a CD you couldn't keep on the shelves). But I figured, cool band, great songs, he's not a fantastic singer and I can live with that. His vocals fit the music well and he probably did the vocals in a few takes in the studio, right? Riiight??

Fine, I'll get off my vocals soapbox... but only to get onto my "where the hell is your stage presence" soapbox. The lead singer literally had negative stage presence. While a few of the other guys moved around a little and had some energy, I swear the lead singer sucked it all away and then some. Never before have I been to a show where I could count the number of people dancing on the main floor. (And I can count pretty high. My teacher says I'll be able to count all the way up to 15 by week's end.)

The Lurchy keyboardist didn't help either. He pretty much just stood there. In my opinion, Interpol should have taken a cue from their opening act and triggered all of their keyboard requirements live. Their talented drummer is definitely more than capable of doing this. Plus, drum triggers don't suck down nearly as much beer and proceeds as a Lurchy keyboardist.

Pee break
I think they played most of the songs off their Antics album, but I had to take a piss somewhere during the main set - which says a lot for me. Never before in my show going years have I ever taken a piss during a set. I think it's disrespectful. Sorry Interpol, but my urge to urinate took precedence over your humdrum live show.

They did come out for an encore. They played "Specialist" and a few of the popular songs off Turn On the Bright Lights. Altogether, the band was tight, sounded technically excellent (except for one guitar slip up I think heard in the bathroom). Although, to have a religion altering live show, the front man needs to have a strong presence and it just wasn't there. No, I don't expect him to be break dancing while playing a guitar, but he could lose the cigarette smoking for starters. You're there to play a show, not smoke.

Interpol left me a little heart-broken. I feel as if it's going to take me awhile to wash this experience from my memory. I hope I will eventually be able to listen to their studio albums again and get the same mystical aura that was there before this show.