Hooray The Blues Of Everyone

Interpol @ Jones Beach Theater 6/14/2005
Next Exit / Slow Hands / Say Hello to the Angels / Narc / Not Even Jail / Leif Erikson / Evil / Take You On A Cruise / Obstacle 1 / PDA

Pixies @ Jones Beach Theater 6/14/2005
Is She Weird? / Subbacultcha / Dead / Wave of Mutilation / I Bleed / Broken Face / Monkey Gone To Heaven / No. 13 Baby / In Heaven / Where Is My Mind? / La La Love You / Nimrod’s Son / Mr. Grieves / The Holiday Song / Vamos / Here Comes Your Man / Bone Machine / Stormy Weather / The Sad Punk / Something Against You / Isla De Encanta / Allison / Cactus / Gouge Away / Tame / Debaser / Hey / Gigantic // Caribou

Unfortunately, I missed LCD Soundsystem’s set. I’m not very happy about this, but it was beyond my control and certainly not my fault. I have seen them before and will definitely see them again, so it’s no great tragedy, though I’m told that they’ve recently added “Disco Infiltrator” and a Carl Craig cover to their setlist, so if I missed that, it really sucks.

It’s becoming apparent that Interpol are getting bored by playing the 20 songs in their repertoire. Their performance often felt a bit rote, and several of the songs were padded out with devices like bass drone intros and drum solos that were obviously added to keep the songs interesting for the band. Interpol began their set at dusk, and it was not completely dark until “Evil” (clearly their big hit based on audience response). I don’t think it was any coincidence that their set got better as the sun went down – I suspect that they may actually draw their power from the night. The best thing about Interpol’s set was looking around and watching little pockets of people dancing. There was one girl off to the side who was doing that hippy twirl dance, and this really skinny dude in a tank top in front of me who was doing some variation on the Axl Rose snake shimmy. Very charming, yes, but neither of these people had anything on the group of three (presumably teenage or young college age) girls in matching white homemade “Not As Cool As Kim Deal” t-shirts who did girly bedroom dances for every single song in Interpol and the Pixies’ sets. You know what kind of dances I’m talking about – it’s all in the neck, shoulders, and arms, with frequent hair twirls and vaguely awkward (but cute!) hip movements. Their intense, unironic enthusiasm was so endearing; I wish that they would come to every show that I see.

Apartment “Everyone Thinks I’m Paranoid” – It’s too bad that Interpol didn’t play this song last night. Sure, it’s not theirs, but it definitely sounds like it could be. In fact, if this was in the set, it would’ve been one of the three or four best songs. I mean no disrespect to Apartment at all – I certainly like this guy’s voice a lot more, and they are obviously a pretty good band, but the resemblence is too strong not to note. It’s a very specific thing, and it goes beyond shared influences – I certainly wouldn’t say that this song sounds all that much like Joy Division, for example. I’m speaking from the part of me that wishes that loads of 80s UK rock hits (like, say, “Melt With You,” “Always Something There To Remind Me,” “The Promise,” “Something About You,” and “Head Over Heels”) were all by the same band, if just as a matter of convenience. (Click here to buy it from Amazon UK.)

There isn’t a lot to say about the Pixies, actually. I would rate this show a bit higher than the Hammerstein show that I saw this past December, but really, they were both about equally awesome, though I think Black Francis’ vocals may have been stronger last night. Really, there’s not a lot of room for them to go wrong with their body of work and musical chemistry, though in both cases I would have happy to have heard a bit more from Bossanova and Trompe Le Monde. I got a few really good selections from those records last night, and I was thrilled to hear them, but I was pretty let down to see that I was probably the only person in the entire amphitheatre who was totally psyched to hear them play “The Sad Punk” and “Stormy Weather,” so it was a lonely sort of joy. I just don’t get it – people were acting as though they’ve never even heard those songs before, but then flipping out to “Isla De Encanta.” That song is alright, but c’mon, it’s no “The Sad Punk.” At least a few people seemed to get into “Allison,” which was the song I had wanted to hear the most aside from “Planet of Sound.”