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TV On The Radio show review at the Monolith Music Festival, September 14, 2008 at 10:30pm

September 25th, 2008 Posted by: Dust Devil

Hello folks,

Well, for this Monolith Music Festival attendee, the festivities came to a halt after this set, but what a rousing show this was! TV On the Radio impressed the heck out of me.

There were a number of acts at the festival hailing out of Brooklyn, NY. TV On The Radio is an unusual band, mixing together several different styles of music. There’s rock and roll, funk, soul, punk, shoegaze, hip-hop; this is pretty eclectic stuff. One of many bands that had escaped my attention before the weekend, they interested me enough when I checked them out online that I wanted to see them.

More than anything, I am impressed with their dedication! The bus bringing TV On The Radio to Red Rocks broke down in Salt Lake City. That isn’t exactly a hop, skip and a jump away from Morrison, CO, and a band of lesser character would have said “screw it” and not shown up. Instead, these guys rented vans and still made it in time to jump onstage without the benefit of a soundcheck and still rock out. CHEERS to TV On The Radio, there is still integrity in the music biz! Justice, did you catch that?

The lead singer, Tunde Adebimpe is ball of energy onstage, belting out his vocals and pacing all over, never content with merely hanging on his mike stand. Drummer Jaleel Bunton was the most talented person pounding the skins I saw all weekend, he really brings together the power of this band into a tight unit. David Sitek is a monster guitar player. The wind chime he had hanging from his guitar was a cool little addition.

The band featured many selections from their recently released disc Dear Science, but the highlight of the set had to be a brutal rendering of Wolf Like Me from Return to Cookie Mountain. That is an intense track and showcased the immense talent of this outfit.

I am a fan and respect the heck out of this band, what a great show! Too bad the night went astray after their set. Yes, I have bagged on Justice over and over during these posts, but when spoiled egomaniacs “play” after a talented band with tons of integirty, it is rather difficult to not be upset, even after a period of time to reflect on things. Oh well …

That was fun, hope you enjoyed my meandering down Monolith Memory Lane and if you were there at Red Rocks, please share your opinions! There was a lot of great music I did not get to see, and this year I never even caught a set at the MadeLoud.com Acoustic Stage. I do apologize to those artists because from talking to some of the attendees, it sounds like there were some great sets played there.

See you in 2009! Cheers!
The Dust Devil

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