Review
Review
Interpol bring the inside out at Bearded Theory festival
Interpol are the Saturday night headliners at Bearded Theory, darkening the Derbyshire skies with a savage slice of driving post-punk
It always feels a bit weird seeing Interpol play outside in the summer. And not just because it’s hard to imagine Paul Banks in a pair of shorts.
Interpol’s brand of post-punk has always lived best in dark rooms – the band swaddled in smoke and silhouettes wherever they go. It feels even weirder, though, to see them take the main stage at the sunny, happy, Bearded Theory festival, even if Gary Numan’s earlier set did do a great job of getting everyone in the mood for moodiness.
With the sun down and the red lights on, Banks, Daniel Kessler and Sam Fogarino prove just how transportive their sound really is; delivering a relentless, rolling set of baroque indie that brings New York 00s club spirit right into the heart of Derbyshire. Here the biggest indie disco hits of ‘C’mere’, ‘Evil’, ‘Rest My Chemistry’ and ‘Slow Hands’ feel ready-made for the festival stage, while tracks from their latest album, The Other Side Of Make-Believe (‘Toni’, ‘Fables’), land strong enough to open and close with.
But it’s everything in between that really works wonders. Hitting the field with rolling waves of hard-driven energy, Interpol worked their off-cuts and outros into pure Joy Division excess.
They might have been playing on the same stage that Elvana warmed-up a few hours earlier – standing in a glittery jumpsuit, kicking beachballs out into the sun-burnt crowd – but Interpol still own the night at Bearded Theory.
