Interpol Played MSG w/ Car Seat Headrest & Snail Mail, 2/16/19

Image via twitter.com/thegarden

NYC

When I was a teenager, my friends and I went to a lot of concerts at Madison Square Garden. We lived in a town with a NJ Transit stop (I still do.); and, during our pre-driving days, nothing was easier than taking the train up into the bowels of MSG for a show. We'd hit the 7-Eleven right before the train to get a few Big Gulps that we may or may not have doctored up a little before boarding.

I've never been a big saver of ticket stubs; but, if I rack my brain a little, I think I can remember most of the shows we saw at MSG during the mid-to-late 80s (maybe into the early 90s): U2 / Little Steven & The Disciples Of Soul, The Cure, Tom Petty / The Georgia Satellites / The Del Fuegos, Post-Roger Waters Pink Floyd, Eric Clapton / The Robert Cray Band, Sting (no idea who was support for this one), Elvis Costello / The Replacements. I'm not sure I ever saw Bruce Springsteen at Madison Square Garden; but, if I did, it would have been during one of the nights of the Tunnel of Love tour.

I don't think I've seen a rock show at MSG since those teen / young adult years. CoolMom and I did go see Eddie Izzard there when CoolDaughter #1 was really little. I remember this because we'd had plans to stay in the city but ended up having to head home right after the show because of a toddler vomit situation.

Since then, other than for the occasional Springsteen concert at what used to be the Meadowlands or the big pop shows (Taylor Swift, Katy Perry, Ed Sheeran) I've seen with the cooldaughters, I've pretty much stuck to smaller venues with The Stone Pony Summer Stage or Terminal 5 being about the biggest I've gone. When I saw the all-Matador line-up of Interpol / Car Seat Headrest / Snail Mail announced for the Garden a few months back, I decided it was time to break my streak of not seeing my favorite bands in arenas. Interestingly, the announcement of this show came just a few days before I'd be seeing Snail Mail at the 150-or-so capacity Asbury Park Brewery; so the idea that they'd be playing Madison Square Garden in just a few months was pretty wild. I grabbed a couple of "floor" seats for the show.

Up close and personal with Snail Mail at AP Brewery back in June.

I love Interpol's first two records. Turn on the Bright Lights and Antics each got heavy airplay in the coolfamily truckster for years. CoolDaughter #1 used to bop around to Carlos D's basslines in her carseat on the way to pre-school. For whatever reason, I'd never managed to catch Interpol live before Saturday; and, therefore, I never got to see them play when Carlos was still a member of the band. After those first two albums, I became much more of an Interpol singles guy. While the band's later records don't really stand up to the first two for me, songs like "Pioneer to the Falls," "The Heinrich Maneuver," "Rest My Chemistry," "All the Rage Back Home," and even "The Rover" are all more than solid. As the day of the show got closer, I got more and more excited.

We arrived at MSG about an hour before showtime and made our way through the airport-like security. Justin got a $14 beer and we made our way to our seats. We were in "Floor Section 3," which seemed to be about a football field's distance from the stage. We had aisle seats; and, throughout the evening, people were coming and going, going to the bathroom, or heading up to the concession stand to buy $14 beers and giant boxes of popcorn.

Snail Mail took the stage at precisely 8pm. They played a 20-minute set that consisted of "Heat Wave," "Thinning," "Speaking Terms," and "Pristine." They got a warm reception from the people who were interested. I was able to see them during the gaps between people going to and from their seats. At 8:35, Car Seat Headrest took their turn playing "Can't Cool Me Down," "Bodys," "Drunk Drivers/Killer Whales," "Destroyed by Hippie Powers." 4 songs, 25 minutes. More milling about in our section. MSG runs a tight ship, and I guess there's something to be said for keeping the sets of non-arena-sized bands short; but I could've used a little bit more from each of the openers. I will say that Car Seat Headrest were absolutely the most energetic and animated band of the evening.

Interpol came on at 9:20 and played for 1:35 (I know this, because I remember remarking that we had exactly 12 minutes to catch our train home.). They did a 17-song set with a 3-song encore that covered just about everything (with the exception of "PDA" and "The Heinrich Maneuver") that fans could have asked for. The light show was super cool and made me wish that I were down front with a camera to capture some of the amazing images created by the combination of smoke, lasers, and disco balls. The band were just about as stoic as one would expect from listening to their music. This played really well into the band's image; but, given how far removed we were from the stage, when they were playing songs that I didn't know as well, it became kind of easy to zone out.

We made our 11:07pm train home with time to spare, and the whole experience took me back to how convenient it always was for me as a teen to see shows this way. At that point in my life, big arena shows like this were most of what I knew about going to rock shows. Saturday got me wondering about how many of the people at MSG on Saturday had only ever experienced concerts this way. Everybody has their preferences, I guess; but it made me feel a little bit sorry for a music fan who's never experienced the feeling of just about being able to touch the band or the feeling of sweating and singing along with a bunch of people you've never met before but with whom you share a deep connection. Arena shows are good for getting giant boxes of popcorn, though.

I'll be back at MSG in September with CoolDaughter #1 seeing Vampire Weekend from the GA section. I'm hoping that feels more like what I've gotten used to.