If it was your first time seeing TV on the Radio perform Saturday night at The Observatory, chances are you left satisfied.
The Brooklyn indie rock titans offered ample doses of trombone, dramatic flashing lights and fog, and a charismatic, warm fronting duo in Tunde Adebimpe and Kyp Malone. On this evening, the band packed in the festival staples and a wealth of material from last year’s “Seeds,” its fifth LP and second since the death of bassist Gerard Smith from cancer.
With the exception of the “Return to Cookie Mountain” standout “Blues From Down Here,” which has long been a live mess that fails to represent the recorded version, the group was tight and focused and seemed to have fun across 75 minutes of music. Yes, if this was your first encounter with TV on the Radio, it was probably enough to spark enough curiosity for a return engagement.
If this was, say, your fifth time seeing TV on the Radio, the set at The Observatory told a different story.
The unfortunate aspect of TV on the Radio at this point of its career is its complacency when performing live. Its 15-song set is mostly the same night after night and showed only a few variations from the group’s performance at the Fonda in Hollywood for its “Seeds” album release last year.
Indeed, the band has been playing 75-minute sets since 2006, and despite graduating to big-font Coachella billing, headlining the Hollywood Bowl and releasing a couple of canonical indie albums in “Return to Cookie Mountain” and 2008’s “Dear Science,” the band still hasn’t jumped to the next level and is stalled at playing for theater-size audiences. It’s worth noting that the Observatory show still had tickets available at the door.
One of the benefits of an unambitious set is that TV and the Radio was able to stay in its wheelhouse. The night’s bookends, “Young Liars” and “Staring at the Sun,” are both more than a decade old, and the band knows how to play them up, giving them long, extended intros. There is a reason they’re almost always in the same set position: It works.
The same goes for the mid-set jolt of energy that “Wolf Like Me” provides, and as effective as these all are, there is no risk involved.
Instead, it was the band’s new material that was forced carry the evening’s distinction on its back. The fans were notably engaged with the recent offerings, reciting lyrics to “Happy Idiot” and “Winter” as if they were massive radio hits. They aren’t but along with “Careful You” and “Could You,” they stood out as examples of why the band is still vital as recording artists. Unfortunately, nearly as many new songs felt like space fillers (“Trouble,” “Ride” and “Lazerrary”), failing to connect as they make their journey to TV on the Radio’s back catalog, never to be heard from again.
The best moments were unexpected. The main set closed with “Dear Science” standout “DLZ,” known to many from its use in “Breaking Bad,” with the band so loud that Adebimpe’s voice could barely be heard, replaced by audience members singing along. And, the only variation from the previous night at the Hollywood Palladium, an encore barn burner of standalone single “Mercy,” found the band playing fast and loose, smiling and having fun. Adebimpe paced along the stage’s catwalk, offering a glimpse of the power the band still possesses, and reminiscent of the potential it once held.
