Mar

9

TV On The Radio – Live @ Newport Music Hall

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March 9, 2007 | Leave a Comment

TV On The Radio were in Columbus, OH this week for a live set. Our live reviewer Dave was there, taking the show in. Apparently, so were some rather inconsiderate fans, but enough about that, on to Dave’s review…

I’m going to jump right into this, because that’s what TV on the Radio did at their sold out show at Newport Music Hall in tvotr.jpg Columbus, Ohio on Wednesday night. I have a feeling Dave Sitek, producer, guitarist, and brains for the Brooklyn quintet, was in the mood to rock right from the start of the show. Opening with “I Was A Lover”, the lead track off their fabulous 2006 release Return To Cookie Mountain, the band sprang right in, literally, as lead singer Tunde Adebimpe and lead guitarist Kyp Malone leapt all over the stage, full of vibrant energy. The next four songs (“Wrong Way”, “Dreams”, “Province”, and “Wolf Like Me”) produced that same kind of feeling of unbridled energy and enthusiasm, both from the band and the crowd. So after they started the show with possibly my five favorite songs of theirs, I was wondering where this show could go from here.
The rest of their set was a meandering, almost soothing display of musical perfectionism. All members of the band played excellently, and I was particularly impressed with drummer Jaleel Bunton’s power over his drum kit. Though the band was playing well, the songs had lost the energy of the first five, and I found my mind wandering several times. “I wonder what they’re going to play for their encore.” “Man that grass smells good.” “What are those guys doing over there?” Aside from a few bursts of energy from Sitek and Adebimpe, the set was rather lackluster, and the crowd was definitely feeling the same way. Until, the encore.

Bringing opening band Subtle on stage with them for the encore, TV on the Radio burst into the percussion filled “A Method”, and I was immediately enthralled. Every person on stage was playing a percussion instrument, ten in all, and the fluidity and precision with which they were pummeling was amazing. Then Malone picked up his guitar, with the rest of the members remaining on their respective percussion instruments, and Adebimpe began singing “Let The Devil In”, the track that directly follows “A Method” on Cookie Mountain. Truly a sign of a band saving their best for last, the group fully understood that the audience would remember the final songs most vividly, and the crowd thanked them by dancing, jumping, and one guy even attempting to crowd surf (though he fell two seconds after he started).

They closed their encore predictably with “Staring at the Sun”, but infused a level of energy into it that is clearly not apparent on record. Everyone had completely forgotten about the near boring set, and was taken aback by the intensity of the encore. The encore was worth the wait, if only the rest of the set had been.

TV On The Radio – I Was A Lover

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