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TV on the Radio
As the old saying goes, where you stood on TV on the Radio’s Saturday afternoon set on the Austin Ventures Stage depended quite literally on where you sat. On either side of the stage, the sound was muddled, thin, lacking in the detail necessary for the band’s songs to work, filled as they are with shakers, hand percussion and the wind chimes that David Sitek occasionally stuck on the end of his guitar.
But plenty of folks in the vast crowd out front seemed blown away by the Brooklyn avant-rockers. The sound was dominated by Sitek’s sheets-of-fuzz guitar, and there is no question that singer Tunde Adebimpe is a brilliant frontman. His left arm flying out from his side, making loops in the air or tugging at his hair, Adebimpe skittered around the stage, breathing blood and fire into “The Wrong Way” and “Dreams.” The title track to the band’s classic “Young Liars” EP was the set’s most explosive moment — thunderous and soulful in equal measure.
But weirdly monochromatic. For a band whose records revel in nuance and detail, I have yet to see it truly deliver that live. It was a strong set, but one keeps hoping for more from a band that at times seems absolutely ready to embody much about its age.
(photo by Ricardo Brazziell AMERICAN-STATESMAN)
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