O2 ABC, Glasgow
A huge roar goes up as Kyp Malone asks the crowd how many of them attended TV on the Radio's first gig in Glasgow several years ago. "That sounds like more people than could fit in the room," says the biblically bearded guitarist. "A lot has changed since then. I hope I don't have to get any more sentimental than that." It's the closest the Brooklyn art-rockers come to referencing the tragedy that befell them in April: the death of bassist Gerard Smith, from lung cancer, at just 36 years of age. The band seem resolved to push onwards, and with good reason: their latest album, major-label debut Nine Types of Light, has moments as strong as any they've produced to date; and their live show just keeps getting better.
With drummer Jaleel Bunton now on bass and a new sticksman in the form of Jahphet Landis, the six-piece power through a crowd-pleasing, career-spanning set, drawing as heavily on their 2003 debut EP Young Liars as their critically lauded 2008 LP Dear Science. Few bands can hop from chin-stroking avant-jazz to interstellar funk to throbbing krautrock and sound so complete, but then ? between the crackling vocals of Tunde Adebimpe and the diffuse sound-collages crafted by multi-instrumentalist and producer Dave Sitek ? few bands stamp their personality on their songs so forcefully.
The main set draws to a blistering conclusion with Staring at the Sun, Repetition and the rushing Wolf Like Me. Resisting calls for a revisit of their mood-capturing impromptu cover of the Ghostbusters theme at Glastonbury ("It's like a bad tattoo," says Malone), they play glitchy, glorious Dancing Choose, sounding very much like their best years still lie ahead.
At Wireless festival, London, on Sunday.
Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2011/jun/29/tv-on-the-radio-review
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