It's a mean feat selling out Brixton Academy three nights in a row, especially in a period of bitterly cold weather and most money going towards Christmas festivities, but Interpol are still one of the biggest bands on the alternative scene, and with a wait of 3 years for a new album since Our Love To Admire in 2007, plenty of fans were definitely keen to see the New York band again.
It must've been on the lips of many fans whether the band would miss their former bassist Carlos Dengler, who left in order to pursue his own musical interests, and with his intricate bass riffs and general musical dexterity, it may have been hard for Paul Banks, Danny Kessler and Sam Fogarino to find a suitable replacement who could replicate such brilliance. Dave Pajo was drafted in to take Dengler's place on the live dates and was generally appreciated, with Brandon Curtis also brought in on keyboards and vocals.
Not too much difference between the set-lists on each of the three nights, but the audience for the 2nd date were lavished with Turn on The Bright Lights brilliance, the band's first album and was hailed as one of the best debut albums of all-time and defined the band's sound for years to come, even being touted as one of the best albums of the decade. Leif Erikson, Say Hello to the Angels The New, NYC, Obstacle 1 all featured before slamming into a 4-song encore which finished fantastically well with Stella Was A Diver and She Was Always Down and PDA.
Of course with a new album released, songs off the self-titled fourth album were played, Barricade certainly went down a storm with the crowd, Lights being played straight after NYC was a stroke of genius and Safe Without with its melodic chorus were all received well.
The latest album doesn't really match their previous 3 albums by any stretch of the imagination, it still has some great tracks on it, however it will be interesting to see in the coming years whether Banks and co. can find another brilliant bassist and come back with a bang with a fifth album that blows everyone away, but for now, they're doing quite nicely.
8/10
