Interpol @ Forest Hills Stadium (9/23/17)

Yeah...having that pole prominently block my view of center stage didn't help my feelings about this show.  But it was still mostly good, regardless.  Per the e-mailed schedule, Interpol was supposed to take the stage at 8:10pm.  Running on CPT like I normally do, I didn't give myself too much travel time buffer to get there before they were scheduled to start (though I had heard Battles and Deerhoof before, I didn't really want to sit through either of their performances).  And then I ran into NYC MTA subway maintenance woes - the E line was not running at the stop closest to the temp corporate apartment I was staying in.  So I had to hoof it over to catch the R a few blocks north, and that train was experiencing delays.  I made it to the stadium around 8:30, but was lucky to find out that Interpol hadn't taken the stage yet - they got on around 8:40 or 8:45.

As planned, they played Turn on the Bright Lights from start to finish - it was the 15th anniversary of their debut album's release.  They also played another song from that era, but I had never heard it before.  After a break they came out for an encore, but only got through 3 or 4 songs before they were stopped due to the strict 10pm curfew.  Maybe starting late wasn't that great after all.

Performance-wise, they were mostly on point.  Paul's vocals sounded a bit off on quite a few songs, but I'm not sure if it was him, the sound mix, the acoustics in the stadium, or some combination thereof.  It would have been nice to hear them play a few more songs, especially more of the newer material.  So the shortened show and sub-optimal view from my seat gives this concert a lower score than it would deserve in ideal conditions.

Rating 4.3/5

MuteMath @ Brooklyn Steel (9/20/2017)

This was my first show after moving to NYC.  I timed my arrival pretty well, getting there just as the second opener was finishing up.  MuteMath played for close to an hour and 45 minutes.  I wasn't feeling it that much for the first part of their set (during which they played a few of the new tunes), which had me a bit worried.  But things eventually picked up through the intermission and one-song encore ("Typical", of course), and I was on a pretty good high when I left (in addition to a bit of hearing loss).  They did seem to play a bunch of the songs differently than they have in the past (or at least differently from the album versions), and I'm not sure if that's related to Darren's (the original drummer) departure or not.  Paul had some nice dance moves and a few antics, including bringing his daughter out for one song.  Their stage setup was all white, including their clothes and instruments, which went well with the video projection.  I was a little disappointed in the energy of the crowd; it may not have sold out, which I wouldn't have guessed for an NYC show, even on a Wednesday night.  The venue was pretty cool, though.

Rating 4.4/5