NME Tour featuring Interpol, Temples, Royal Blood + Circa Waves @ Birmingham Institute – 25th March 2014
NME’s annual Awards Tour has introduced the gig-going public to some fairly substantial names over the years. Remember Maximo Park getting some healthy competition from their support band, Arctic Monkeys? Or early exposure for the likes of The Killers, Franz Ferdinand, Kaiser Chiefs and some band called Coldplay. So, every year it’s interesting to see what names appear on the bill and to witness the future of new music according to one of the world’s most respected magazines.
This year’s bill is admittedly intriguing. They’ve opted to bring in established New York alt-rockers Interpol as headliners, topping a bill which also includes Temples, Royal Blood and Circa Waves, who kick things off at 7:15 to a half empty room. Indeed, ticket sales for this year’s bill have been surprisingly slow. The gig was originally booked into the 3000+ capacity Academy but was moved to the smaller Institute after allegedly only selling around 800 advance tickets. Last time Interpol toured they filled the main room at the Academy on their own!
Circa Waves‘ jaunty indie-pop is exactly what you’d expect from an NME-supported band and, although they’re obviously competant musicians and songwriters, it feels very much like we’ve seen this all before thanks to The Kooks and band of their ilk.
Of the new bands on tonight’s bill, it’s clear that Royal Blood are the one generating the most buzz and, after 30 minutes of thunderously fuzzed-up guitar and drums, their QOTSA-meets-White Stripes-meets-Black Keys rock has won over a big chunk of the nicely filled-up room. This all despite addressing the crowd with the words “Good evening Nottingham”!
Temples have been possibly cursed with the tag “best new band in Britain” by a certain Noel Gallagher but evidentially have a few supporters here tonight. Their psychedelic, melodic sound owes more to the likes of The Jesus & Mary Chain and The Velvet Underground than more contemporary bands and they’ve already notched up impressive opening slots for Kasabian and the Rolling Stones but, on tonight’s performance what’s lacking is that certain something which makes me want to explore their music more. It’s all done very well, and they certainly look the part, but I find myself quickly losing interest and, with the exception of one or two more adventurous songs towards the end of their set, they’re fairly unremarkable considering Mr Gallagher’s comments.
Interpol have been doing this long enough to make it all look too easy. It’s 11 years since they were a part of an NME Awards Tour and could now be considered elder statesmen. Touring well ahead of the release of any new material, they play what might be considered a greatest hits set, with the mighty Evil setting the tone early on. Despite a somewhat muddied sound which results in some songs sounding a little too similar they sound majestic and as uniquely dark as ever.
Visually there’s not too much to see apart from guitarist Daniel Kessler’s fancy footwork. Each band member sticks to their designated spot on stage and the simple stage set and lighting is perfectly suited to the band’s sound. Vocalist Paul Banks’ booming baritone sounds as resonant as ever and he seems in good spirits as he briefly chats between songs but tonight is all about the music, and that’s just fine with me.
The Heinrich Maneuver is as close to a soaring anthem as they’ve come and gets the front sections of the crowd bounding enthusiastically. The drama of Stella Was A Diver And She’s Always Down shows exactly what Interpol do better than anyone else and a rare appearance of PDA will have old-school fans leaving more than satisfied.
All in all an impressive night of interesting, if not always exciting, music. Royal Blood will have benefitted most I suspect but nobody comes close to the visceral majesty of Interpol.
Review – Steve Gerrard
iPhone Photos – Steve Gerrard