I’ve had trouble pinning down what exactly makes TV on the Radio’s music so unusual and so interesting. Is it the odd layers of sound on their records? The vocal style, including some parts that are almost like post-punk doo wop? I’m still not sure, but after seeing TV on the Radio in concert, I think there’s simply something distinctive about the group’s peculiar melodies and harmonies. The sound of the band was more direct in concert, but it was still beguiling and strange.
It was a high-energy show, with songs from both of the group’s albums plus some EP tunes. The band called a halt to the excessive outpouring of Metro’s fog machine (“That’s a little too much magic”). For the last song, the members of opening act Grizzly Bear came back onstage to dance and clap along.
I’m not familiar at all with Grizzly Bear, but I enjoyed their performance, which was mostly quiet ballads of the meditative and soaring sort.