TV ON THE RADIO (Shepherd’s Bush Empire, 19/11/08)


Far too often, I’ve found that the EQ mix can be the decisive factor in whether I enjoy a set or not. Not even the best bands can always wrest victory from muggy, incoherent sound, and tonight TV On The Radio struggled to convey their breathtaking talent over ridiculously high bass and rhythm guitar levels and almost inaudible vocals. After two and a half years of waiting to see them this was pretty upsetting, and what made it worse is that the set had moments of such staggering brilliance you felt you were being denied one of the best gigs you’d ever see.

But let’s concentrate on the good for now. They opened with Young Liars, which elicited much fangirl-ish squealing from me and deservedly so; its intensely soulful, perfectly pitched whistled intro make the likes of Andrew Bird almost look like charlatans and Tunde Adebimpe’s mesmerisingly dynamic performance is astonishing to behold. I’ve honestly not seen a frontman so utterly absorbed in his music for a long time, although it does have a downside- TVOTR are a pretty distant bunch as it is, and combined with the minimalist set-up it doesn’t help them to connect with the audience. The sleighbell-tastic Dirtywhirl was slightly mellower than expected but still great, and as for Wolf Like Me…well, what I can say? It was literally one of the best live songs I’ve seen in my life. It was just as life-affirming as I’d prayed it would be, I sung myself completely hoarse and it was worth on it's own the ticket-price three times over. Unfortunately, it set a standard the rest of the set couldn’t hope to live up to, especially given the sound issues. Golden Age was fierce and spiky but all subtleties (including Kyp Malone's soul vocals) got lost in the mix; Dancing Choose was neutered due to the lack of live horns, DLZ and Shout Me Out were decent but not as good as they could, and should have been. Interestingly, all the disappointments came courtesy of new album Dear Science so perhaps it's just a case of the band not having warmed to the material yet but then again, Stork and Owl and Red Dress were actually much better than their recorded incarnations, the latter's relative bounciness working particularly well in a live setting. In any event, by the end of the main set I couldn't help feeling slightly despondant about the whole thing.

Mercifully, the encore redeemed the situation enough for me to leave with a smile on my face. Crying wasn’t anything special, but Let The Devil In was, eschewing the bass for extra drums for a vital, stripped-down bluesy feel which Tunde accentuated with some sublimely impassioned vocals and a raved-up rendition Staring At The Sun ended the show on a real high, even persuading the dour hipsters swarming the venue to show a little enthusiasm. Didn’t assuage my annoyance at missing both the by all accounts superior Koko and Cargo gigs of course, but despite the awful sound and weaker new songs it ultimately felt less a genuine disappointment than merely an opportunity missed.

(Photo: Dave Emery (Flickr))