While Interpol’s 2002 debut, Turn on the Bright Lights, failed to trouble the charts on either side of the Atlantic, it’s arguably one of the Noughties’ most influential records.
A collection of miserablist masterpieces, it was recently cited by The Killers’ Brandon Flowers as the album that inspired his band’s mega-selling debut, Hot Fuss.
To celebrate the 15th anniversary of Turn on the Bright Lights, Interpol came to the 10,000-capacity Ally Pally to play it again in full.
Performing in front of a giant red screen — a reference to the album’s minimalist cover art — they began with the shimmering Untitled, a showcase for Paul Banks’ booming baritone, which invites comparisons with Joy Division’s Ian Curtis.
Like Curtis, Banks also has a way with an opaque lyric. “Yours is the only version of my desertion that I could ever subscribe to,” he sang on the incendiary PDA. Hearing these songs again is also a reminder of the prominent role estranged bassist Carlos “D” Dengler played in crafting the album’s sound.
Dengler once suggested that the album should be renamed “Celebrated Basslines of the Future”, and while Brad Truax masterfully reproduces the basslines, there’s a charisma vacuum where the flamboyant Dengler used to be.
But if Interpol aren’t quite the same band since he left, tonight is a reminder that their music — and, in particular, their debut — still means so much to so many.
