TV on the Radio Back to Back Nights in Minneapolis

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TV on the Radio Back to Back nights in Minneapolis

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Very few bands have songs in their arsenal as spirited and formidable
as ‘Young Liars’ and ‘Staring At The Sun,’ and the fact that these two
songs served as epic bookends to the stellar TV On The Radio show at
First Ave. last evening leaves me with an early favorite for Show Of
The Year. As a matter of fact, the band could have come out and just
played those two songs and said good night and I would have still
considered it an amazing concert. But of course they had more for us,
tearing through gritty versions of ‘Blues From Down Here,’ ‘Wash The
Day Away,’ ‘The Wrong Way’ and a ferocious version of ‘Wolf Like Me’,
in my mind the best single released last year. The packed house
couldn’t help but shake something, trying to keep up with the on stage
shimmying of lead singer Tunde Adebimpe, who truly loses himself in his
music, which is captivating to witness live. The band strode on stage
and immediately appeared comfortable with the crowd and surroundings,
and completely owned First Ave. for the duration of the hour and a half
set. ‘Dreams’ was wonderfully reworked and incredibly mesmerizing. And
despite David Bowie not being there to add his wonderful backing
vocals, ‘Province’ was massive. There is really not another band out
there that sounds anything like TV On The Radio, and that is a
testament to Kyp Malone and Dave Sitek, who play their guitars with
such subtle potency that it never overwhelms the music, just constantly
pushes it forward. And there was even some new material last night. The
two songs played before their encore were either obscure covers that I
can’t quite place, or brand new songs-and they were amazing, especially
the one about love and December. For the encore, the band invited out
the members of Subtle, the opening band, and they proceeded to do a
percussion driven version of ‘Let The Devil In’ that floored me, with
everyone on stage drumming on whatever the could find, creating an
insane rhythm that took the song in an unconventional direction,
complete with Tunde’s vocals through a megaphone. Closing with ‘Staring
At The Sun’ was perfect-it was the only way a show of this magnitude
could have ended. It had me, and half of First Ave. jumping along with
the beat. A superb concert and evening, made even better with the
knowledge that I get to see them again tonight.

- Erik T

Thanks
a million Erik, another excellent review. I would of been there if I
wasn't teaching until 930. I did see TV on the Radio this winter,
unbelievable band. I'll be checking out Matthew Dear @ Foundation
tonight....