Sunday, July 29, 2007 in Brooklyn — The ruins of abandoned McCarren Park Pool should have been packed for TV on the Radio, one of the biggest names on its free, Sunday afternoon indie rock concert series. But a chilly, dismal drizzle kept the Olympic-sized pool only comfortably full this week, and not close to capacity (shame on you rain-fearing nancies!).
Given the venue's wealth of fan-distracting elements (including organized dodgeball and inflated water slides), Celebration's lead singer Katrina Ford tried like hell to snare a flippant outdoor audience's attention. Despite her chilling bellows and screams, the crowd remained sparse and generally non-plussed through the set's first half. During the softer moments of Celebration's music, her cooing was well-delivered but lost to the sound of audience members shuffling around McCarren's organic hot dog stand. And really, Celebration's full psychedelic sound is difficult to replicate on a gray Sunday to a buncha wet, not-yet-drunk Brooklyn hipsters. With both keyboard players avoiding connection with the audience by facing away and wearing sunglasses (F.Y.I. the sun wasn't shining, dude), Ford had to really flex to engage us. Ultimately the hardest working(and only)woman on stage won the approval of even the most drenched and impatient TV on the Radio fans, pouring her heart out with Karen O-style howls and wildly pounding a floor tom with her tambourine and maracas.
And of course it didn't hurt that plenty of big-happy-family-style guest appearance action went down, with just about every member of TVOTR contributing throughout.
By the time Ford let out her final wail, the rain had slowed and even the dodgeball champions were salivating for Brooklyn's pride. Like Celebration, TV on the Radio's set got a slow start, as it took the sound guy three songs to get the vocals blended properly. What sounds like a full choral landscape on record, felt like two disparate melodies happening together by chance on Sunday. But the group's momentum built during "Dreams." With the song's slow crescendo, vocals and entire sound tightened into the lush wall o' sound we love 'em for. From there the set escalated to crowd surfing, dancing and unabashed singing along by a fully engaged crowd.
Unlike TVOTR's precise and controlled albums, their performance exhibited a raw imperfection — in lead singer Tunde Adebimpe's voice especially, a dirty, imperfect quality could be heard and welcomed. This matched his relentless energy (not to mention his impressive ability to hit those crazy-high notes while dancing like a maniac).
The show ended like most friendly lineup shows seem to do these days: First, bring out all the opening bands, plus their roadies, sound guys, managers, managers' children, and anyone else who knows the band at all. Then, give everyone some ridiculous percussion-y noisemaker. The chimes hanging from Gerard Smith's bass work fine here. Lastly, play several self-indulgently long (and yes, very, very rocking) versions of said closing band's crowd pleaser hits. It's a formula that worked on Sunday, as a satisfied crowd cheered well after Adebimpe left the stage, repeating to his hometown fans, "Thank you Brooklyn, thank you all so much, thank you guys all a million times over."
Copyrights
Erin Griffith. Pool Party Province: TV on the Radio. Copyright 2007 Venus Zine.
