You know this next blog post author as @soozygreenberg on Twitter and co-host of This Week on Lot; Emilie is going to be hooking us up with reviews and coverage of new stomping grounds out East in Boston. Here she dives into the hipster abyss with her first TV On the Radio show…
As a recent east-coast transplant, last Tuesday’s TV On the Radio / Broken Social Scene show marked another virgin-venue-voyage in my new town of Boston, this time to the Bank of America Pavilion. With a capacity of about 5,000, this outdoor venue overlooking the waterfront provides the perfect backdrop for live music. And the band’s turned an otherwise rainy Tuesday night into a full on rock spectacle. Broken Social Scene took the stage just after 7pm and played a short but powerful 4-5 song set, leaving die-hard fans wanting more. Then, promptly at 8:30pm, TV on the Radio took the stage. Seeing as Golden Age has quickly become my favorite addition to Phish’s diverse catalogue of cover songs, I was thrilled to finally get the chance to see TVotR’s live show.
From the minute TVotR hit the stage, this larger-than-life band put on a show that far exceeded my expectations (think Lenny Kravitz meets The Talking Heads.) Their sonic-rock sound paired with their compelling stage presence and light show kept the entire crowd on their feet. The band played mostly songs off of their new album Nine Types of Light, taking an exploratory approach to each song’s live interpretation. Stage banter was plentiful as it was the guitar players birthday, and the crowd fist pumped their way through the solid hour and a half set.
When the band left the stage only to reappeared for a 2 (maybe 3?) song encore, I had my fingers crossed for a “Golden Age” but soon realized how that song probably carries more significance among Phish fans than TVotR fans at this point.
TVotR came to rock Boston, and rock Boston they did. Their eerie, eclectic vibe and loud reverberating sound puts this band at the top of my “do not miss” list. Catch ‘em if you can, I promise you won’t be disappointed.
