TV on the Radio - 10/8/06 - First Ave.

After seeing TVOTR's performance on Letterman, I was even more excited to see them perform after waiting for over two years and 2 fantastic albums and and EP. New Pitchfork hype band Grizzly Bear opened, though we missed most of their set aside from maybe 15 to 20 minutes. One song was really enjoyable, but I was too jacked up for TVOTR to really give them a just critique. So after watching 25 minutes of Run Lola Run during the set change, Tunde Adebimpe and company filled the stage and they opened with Tunde doing a little beatboxing leading into "Dirty Whirl" from their latest release, the oddly titled Return to Cookie Mountain. As any good band will with a solid catalog, they mixed things up a bit with old and new songs. Second on the bill was Dreams from their debut album Desperate Youth... This turned out to be one of the highlights of the night and would set the stage for the energy level of the show. Tunde jumped and danced around the stage while ryhthm guitarist David Sitek ripped through his guitar strings during the sonic explosions of the aforementioned "Dreams," Blues from Down Here," and surprise of the night "Satellite" from the Young Liars EP. My personal favorite of the night, as well as personal favotite TVOTR song was "Young Liars" from the EP as well.



Crowd favorites of the night included their current single and good old fashioned rocker "Wolf Like Me" and past single "Staring at the Sun." The night was capped off with Tunde screaming into a megaphone while members of Grizzly Bear danced on stage with tamborines and Sitek flying into the crowd to body surf (though it is not confirmed whether or not anyone actually caught him), all this during the album closer Wash Away the Day. Even the crowd participated by chanting in unision during the appropriate parts, lead off by Tunde. With the energy level TVOTR performed with, it crazy to think that these guys are doing this day in and day out. Who knows, maybe every show isn't this good. Which, in that case, would make the show that much better. Come back soon!