The cool Kings of NYC pull off a brilliant show in the Balado sunshine.
With two albums behind them and a third released the day after their performance on the second stage, it was about time that Interpol were afforded the chance of playing later on at T in The Park, and if the abundance of sunlight seemed at odds with the bands dark edge, at least more people got to see them. There was a justification to the shades they were wearing but like the BRMC the day before, you get the impression that even an indoors show would see the band wearing sunglasses. Interpol are a cool band, there wasnt much on-stage chat and yes, that moustache on Carlos D does straddle the line between hip and ridiculous (like most cool things) but there was the feeling that they also know how to play a crowd.
On record, the throbbing bass-lines which are reminiscent of Peter Hook in his heydey or the ice-cold delivery of of Paul Banks has been beyond question but some of their previous live shows may have lacked a consistent quality but those days appear to have changed.
The booming refrain of 'NYC' still manages to charge up a listener with its power and even being outdoor and having no need for any bright lights doesnt lessen the impact. It may be over five years since the band first came to the UK's attention but their early hits still hold the same appeal today, whilst many of their peers at that time have withered away and dies. Sure The White Stripes from that era may be on a different plane but the New Yorkers have destroyed many of the acts from that time, does anyone remember The Datsuns? Exactly!
With a few songs to go, the dynamics of the crowd started to change as the Kasabian crowd started to move in and position themselves for their all conquering and all-swaggering heroes and the grumbles of these new interlopers started to become louder. Which was frankly ludicrous as 'Evil' rang was reverberating around the second stage, the quality of songs available was beyond reproach and frankly better than what Kasabian could muster. So there you have it, Interpol are so good that your average Kasabian fan doesnt like them, if thats not a recommendation for you to love this band then nothing will make you do it.
In the run-down and reviews of the festival, Interpol appeared to be looked over and they're never going to be the flavour of the month or massive heroes anymore but when they can put on such a confident and self-assured show, does it matter what other people think?