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The month of June heralds the start of the festival season, and for those who aren't lucky enough to get Glastonbury tickets, the next best thing is the pre-festival warm up gig.
Sheffield's Octagon was lucky enough to host Interpol's only UK headline date before Glastonbury (although they're also supporting two up and coming little bands called U2 and Coldplay), and demand for tickets was understandably high. It was, therefore, a packed Octagon that welcomed support band The Engineers onto stage.
Hailing from both Manchester and London, it's fair to say that The Engineers may well be fans of Doves and Elbow. There's the same widescreen guitar sound, the epic atmosphere and lead singer Simon Phipps has the same intensity that Jimi Goodwin or Guy Garvey possesses.
Yet there's also other influences lurking there - unlike other Manchester bands, there's no throwback to baggy here. Instead, there's rather more of a shoegazing atmosphere, with guitar jams that My Bloody Valentine or Ride would be proud of. Singles such as Home and Come In Out Of The Rain also possess a catchy tune underneath all the intense guitars, marking out The Engineers as the proverbial ones to watch.
Interpol are often described as the coolest band in the world, but it's not until you see them live that you realise just how cool they are. They stroll onto a stage covered in dry ice, clad in Reservoir Dogs-style sharp black suits, pick up their instruments and launch into Next Exit, the atmospheric opener from the brilliant Antics album. "We ain't going to the town" bellows the audience, along with lead singer Paul Banks.
The soon to be reissued Slow Hands was next, with the strangely subdued audience even coaxed into nodding their heads, until a blistering version of Say Hello To The Angels actually provoked some dancing. The amount of dry ice and cigarette smoke means that it's sometimes impossible to see the band, but the intensity of Banks is clear to behold. Fixing the audience with a steely gaze, he's a mesmerising frontman.
One thing that strikes you about seeing Interpol live is the fact that the band sound even more muscular and epic on stage than they do on record. Not Even Jail sounded particularly mighty tonight, with Daniel Kessler's phenomenal guitar playing becoming almost overpowering at times. Tracks such as Narc and the spellbinding Obstacle 1 were also given an added dimension live.
There wasn't much audience interaction (the only things uttered by Banks all evening was "thanks" and "it's great to be in Sheffield") but nobody comes to an Interpol gig expecting crowd banter. It's all about the music, and when the music is as good as this, that's all that matters.
Despite audience cries there was no room for Turn Out The Bright Lights' highlight Stella Was A Diver, nor fan favourite The Specialist, but a majestic version of NYC more than made up for this. As the lights went up, we pondered the question again - are Interpol the coolest band in the world? Damn right they are.
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