New York's Interpol, one of the breakout indie bands from 2002, finally made their way to Winnipeg. The show in the 700 seat Garrick Theatre sold out in 40 minutes, which just goes to show you there was a demand for these guys. I was familiar with them mostly for their sensational hit song, "NYC" from their debut album, Turn On The Bright Lights and went with an open mind.

Interpol have a sound unto their own. Unfortunately, as I witnessed firsthand, a lot of their songs sound too much alike. On stage they seem laid back and gloomy, although Sam Fogarino has one of the best drum sounds that I've heard in a long time. Lead singer Paul Banks doesn't have as much charisma as, say, The Strokes' Julian Casablancas, but he couldn't really fault with his vocals.

I was quite surprised when they took a break after playing for only 40 minutes and then played a brief encore. Their entire set was about 70 minutes long and they didn't play "NYC," both of which disappointed me. I consider it to be scandalous when a headlining band plays for less than 90 minutes.

Sold out crowd of around 700.

Lynx And Ram were the opening act from Vancouver. They combined primitive, industrial techno sounds with distorted guitar for a really fun set. I'll have to track down their latest CD.

Set list:
Pioneer to the Falls
Obstacle 1
NARC
Say Hello to the Angels
Mammoth
Slow Hands
Leif Erikson
The Heinrich Maneuver
Evil
Not Even Jail
--------
Length of Love
Stella Was a Diver and She Was Always Down
PDA

I know I would have enjoyed this show a lot more if I was more familiar with their music. If they came back to town, particularly at a sub-2000 seat venue, I would see them again.

My rating for this show is .