TV on the Radio

Last night I went out to watch a rock & roll show, despite the fact that I knew I had to be back here at work at 7:30 this morning. As much as I love music, I don’t make it out to shows very often because I really enjoy listening in private and because most bands (even the good ones) don’t put on live shows that are good enough to justify the cost of a ticket and the pain of putting up with the assholes that are going to be there. I’d rather stay home and listen on a good pair of headphones. Some bands though put on great shows. They change things up rather reproducing the album for you onstage, and their stage presence is such that watching them is a blast.



Last night, a good friend of mine came all the way from Lafayette (2 hour drive) just to see TV on the Radio, and I thought I’d go along. I liked their most recent studio release, Desperate Youth, Bloodthirsty Babes and figured a night out would be a nice reprieve from staying home to watch movies.



There were two bands on before TV on the Radio and they both left something to be desired. The first was a local band called White Bitch. White Bitch is a white guy in his mid-thirties playing guitar and keyboard and rapping; a sixty year old man that looked like a Dead-head playing an unidentified instrument near his crotch and a toy guitar; a drummer (nothing special) and what looked to be 14 year old kid who didn't do much other than kind of talk into the microphone at odd intervals in a really high-pitched voice. His name was MC Gregory. The front man was the “White Bitch,” and he was dressed as a priest. Are you feeling just how bad this was? He related to the crowd the story of his name: he was teaching at a school here in New Orleans where apparently there was a large population of black students. These students began referring to him as “white bitch.” In keeping with what his mother told him to do when people make fun of him (either ignore them, or go along with it) he adopted the title as a stage name. Not good.



Then the next band was Macrosick. I was expecting very bad things judging from the name of the band, but they actually weren’t bad; I just was not feeling them at all. This was very much a Neo-New Wave wannabe band that I had a hard time deciding about. The musicians were actually pretty good, but the singer was a little irritating. He had blonde hair that was done up in a very Flock of Seagulls style, and of course he wore sunglasses through the entire performance. Really it was just an ok group trying to cash in on the fact that 80's music is making a small comeback. I did like some of the stuff the keyboard player was doing though. I find that I have become very fond of the keyboard in recent years.



Then TV on the Radio came on. They were great. The guys just seem very down to earth and cool. They put on a great show. I thought their stage presence was really fun to watch, and it was plain to see that they were having a great time. They changed up most of the songs so that they didn’t sound exactly the same as the album versions, but still sounded very cool. One song in particular sounded great with a change. On the album, the song “Ambulance” is kind of an a Capella doo-wop song that is really catchy. When they played it live however, the guitar player picked up a mike and did this awesome human beat-box breakdown throughout the song instead of the doo-wop. It was great!



I’m feeling a little rough around the edges at work this morning, but it was worth it I think. Now if you’ll excuse me I must have more coffee.