Thursday, April 19, 2007

Concert Review: TV on the Radio @ The 9:30 Club 4/18/07

So last night Mrs. Hops and I saw TV on the Radio at the 9:30 club. If you haven’t heard of them by now… well you haven’t been keeping up with your Hops! I played them on three separate occasions on my Hopscasts - Episode 3: Hot Days and Holidays, Episode 7: Dire Wolves and Psycho Killers and of course Episode 10: Top of the Hops where they were named the Top Hops Album of 2006.

It was one of those typical Wednesday night shows where you aren’t 100% pumped to go out and stay up late but you make it anyway. How could I skip it after all? The last two times we say the band they were opening for Nine Inch Nails and there were about 50 people watching them (check out my review). I think we were the only ones who even knew their stuff. A year later they sell out two straight nights at the 9:30 Club. Pretty impressive but quite deserved.

The word that was going through my head for most of the show was “YES!” Once the band got on stage they completely fired me up. They had a ton of energy and a great stage presence. It was so nice getting to see them in a small club rather than in an empty amphitheater in broad daylight. At first the crowd didn’t really seem to be into them. I suspect there were a lot of people there who “heard” that they were a good band but really didn’t know them. This seems to happen a lot in DC, especially with up and coming “indie / college rock” type acts. However, once they busted into “Wolf Like Me” the energy in the place picked up noticeably. And if you were at the hsow and didn’t get excited hearing that, well you should just stop seeing rock shows. The band were able to maintain a really up-tempo pace, generating fantastic energy for quite a while. I was going nuts; hopping up and down as a man known as “Hops” should do. Mrs. Hops earned her title as well. I just can’t tell you how much I love TV on the Radio. They’re such fantastic artists. I think they might be a bit tough to see live if you’ve never heard their music because there is SO much going on in their music. It’s extremely layered and sonically complicated. But that is their appeal. When they take that and translate it to their live show its explosive. What a fantastic night!

I’d be remised if I didn’t mention the opening band, The Noisettes. I’d never really heard of them before but they get a big thumbs up. They are a British trio fronted by a bass-playing woman in green tight and a tutu. She ran around the stage barefoot, jumped off the drum kit and wailed on her instrument while sitting on her knees ala-Jimmy Hendrix. There music was a funky theatrical mix of rock-and-roll and they kept my interest for their whole set. Check them out here (turn off you volume if you are at work). They definitely rocked, a perfect opening band.

Oh, and I got a great parking spot. Check out the DCist review of the show including pictures.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

You shouldn't link your blog in the comments section of other blogs. Blog-spamming is looked down upon in the internet community.

Hops said...

My apologies. I thought I was doing something Kosher - letting people know the link took them to a review... but I live and learn.

Hey at least I am now part of the Internet Community!

Anonymous said...

sucker.