Saturday, November 2, 2024
Brian HillsmanReview

Live music review: ACL Live was an indie-rock cathedral for Interpol Tuesday

On Tuesday, April 26, New York indie rock legends, Interpol, graced the ACL Live stage at the Moody Theater turning it into their own indie-rock cathedral.

Matthew Dear at ACL Live

Soon after the doors opened, fans began trickling into the theater, treated with the musical delights of native-Texan electronic musician, Matthew Dear. The Kingsville native captivated the crowd with his avant-pop stylings.

Tycho at ACL Live

At roughly 8 p.m., San Francisco-based, Tycho, took the stage.  As the seats filled in with fans, and the pit crowd thickened, the Grammy-nominated musician set an ambient mood for an eager audience. Tycho (Scott Hansen), and their band (Zac Brown [bass and guitar], Rory O’Connor [drums], and  Billy Kim [keyboards, bass, guitar]) mesmerized the audience with a stunning visual display set to electronic ambiance songs. 

Tycho at ACL Live
As Tycho wrapped up their set, show-goers anxiously awaited the evening’s headliners, Interpol.  Rumblings of rumors about the set lists of the Dallas show the night before prompted predictions as to which numbers the legendary band would pull from their deeply esteemed and vast catalog. As Interpol took the stage, the crowd erupted into cheers and applause. 

Daniel Kessler Interpol
Interpol (Paul Banks (vox and guitar), Daniel Kessler (guitar and keyboard), and Sam Fogarino (drums), recently wrapped on recording their latest studio album, The Other Side of Make Believe, set for release this summer,and are touring with Brian Curtis (keys and backup vox), and Brad Traux (bass). Formed in Manhattan in 1997, the veterans performed favorites from their entire musical catalog, with a stunning and nostalgic exhibition, while incorporating their new and upcoming work into the performance as well.

Interpol drums
After a brief “hello’ to the crowd from Banks, Interpol opened their set with the track that introduced them to the world, the opening number from their debut album, “Untitled.” Overwhelming nostalgia flooded the venue from the opening notes, and continued with “Evil.”

Daniel Kessler Intepol
“This is a new song,” Banks nonchalantly said as he introduced “Fables,” a song the band played live for an audience for the first time the previous night, in Dallas, and will appear on their upcoming LP.  Later in the evening, the band introduced “Into the Night,” another on the forthcoming album release.

Interpol at ACL Live
Donning their signature dark fits , under a flurry of flashing lights, accompanied with a disco ball, they continued to serve up numbers from each era of their indie-rock reign.

Interpol at ACL Live
If the night felt at all surreal to any fans, it turned all-too-real with the poignant presentation of “Rest My Chemistry.”  Followed one song later with “NYC.”

After 17 masterful songs, the band temporarily concluded the set, only to return with a three-track encore, starting with the deeply-somber, “Lights,” from their self-titled 2010 album.

Wrapping up the evening with the upbeat “Slow Hands,” Interpol concluded a most-memorable performance, chock-full of music for each of their fans. The show was hit, after hit, after hit. All. Night. Long.

All photos Micheal Maly

Set List:
“Untitled”
“Evil”
“Fables”
“If You Really Love Nothing”
“Take You on a Cruise”
“Pioneer to the Falls”
“Narc”
“Toni”
“Something Changed”
“Obstacle 1”
“All the Rage Back Home”
“Rest My Chemistry”
“Into the Night”
“NYC” “The Rover”
“The New”
“C’Mere”

Encore:

“Lights”
“Leif Erikson”
“Slow Hands”

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