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.

Hops' Top 5 Albums of 2006

You know you’ve made it in the music business when you’ve received a nomination as on of Hops’ Top 5 Albums of the Year. On the latest Hopscast (Episode 10: Top of the Hops) I’ve played a track from every album on this list. For more information about why I included these tracks check out the extended set notes from Episode 10 on the Hopscast page (click here). I highly encourage you to check it out as it contains some things I forgot to mention on the show. But for now here it is:

Hops’ Top 5 Albums of 2006

1) Return To Cookie Mountain by TV On The Radio

2) Everything All Of The Time by Band of Horses

3) Modern Times by Bob Dylan

4) The Eraser by Thom Yorke

5) Every Waking Moment by Citizen Cope

There were a bunch of other great albums that could be considered for Honorable Mention, but I’ve played something from most of them throughout the year on the show. I hope you check out samples from each of these albums on the latest Hopscast and run out and buy them.

For a recap of my favorite albums from last year click here.

Bela Lugosi's Dead

Mrs. Hops discovered You Tube and found this video of the performance of Bela Lugosi by Trent Reznor, Peter Murphy and TV On The Radio played on the last episode of All You Need Is Hops. Peter Murphy definitely looks scarier when he's NOT in his onstage Vampire mode. Normal Peter Murphy just comes off as weird.



They also performed Dreams by TV On The Radio off their debut album (Desperate Youth, Bloodthirsty Babes) at that show which was just as cool:



You can see they only let a few people in there to see the show. But if you look closely (very closely) you can spot Hops. I think Mrs. Hops is lost in the crowd.

Hops Can't Mosh

Participants in one of the first mosh pits

Have you ever wondered what its like to be in a mosh pit? I have to admit, I was always curious, but never dumb enough to attempt to find out what its like first hand. Mrs. Hops had different ideas. Silly me – I thought the mosh pit had died along with the popularity of Offspring. But it’s apparently live and well at Nine Inch Nails shows. Let me back up a bit and tell the full story.

As mentioned several times on this blog, Mrs. Hops enjoys the music of Nine Inch Nails. I have to agree that they’re a great band, particularly live. However, I’ve always insisted on having seats at the show rather than be up close in “the pit”. For our last show in a while we saw NIN at Nissan Pavilion in Virginia. First of all I hate that place, it took us 3.5 hours to get there last time (maybe a 30 minute trip without traffic) and missed half the Coldplay show. Anyway, we got to the venue very early to wait in line along with the other fan club members to get in early. Luckily we had the amazing fortune of being let in early and hearing Trent Reznor, Peter Murphy of Bauhaus and TV On the Radio perform together for a radio show! It was amazing, I’ve posted the version of Bela Legosi’s dead the three did here. We were in “the pit” at this point, but only about 75 people were with us, so it was incredible. However, once the show started it got crowded. This was fine for the openers (TV on the Radio rocked by the way), but once the lights went down there was a huge wave of people knocking into us. We asked around if this was normal (the roadies weren’t even on the stage yet) and we were instructed how to stand in order to “protect” ourselves. Its seemed that most people were looking forward to the chaos, I was definitely not. Am I the only one who thinks its kind of lame to have to protect yourself at a concert? Why do I have to get bruises to enjoy the music? Do these people even care that much about the music? Or are they more into being in the crowd? I don’t know.

Anyway … NIN gets on stage and the first song I spent boxing out some drunk guy behind me who felt like running into the back of anyone in front of him. In fact, I’d say there were a good 5-10 people there who could care less who was on stage. They just wanted an excuse to hit people and act like jerks. After about 5 songs I asked Mrs. Hops if she wanted to go to the back of the pit (only the front really was intense) and she said “yes”. She hopped over the front rail (like a crowd surfer would) and I shuffled through the crowd.

We lasted five songs! Not bad for a bunch of very undersized yuppies. Now to the hardcore pit-goers I’m sure we were wimps, but I was proud of us. It’s just that I didn’t feel like spending the night being an ineffective body guard for my wife rather than enjoying a rock show. Do others really find this fun? I’m all for the energy of the crowd, but I never quite realized how awful it is in the pit. It’s incredibly hot, extremely cramped and fairly dangerous. I know you’re saying I’m just getting old, but I’m pretty sure I’d have the same reaction at 19… I just can protect myself better these days (and I have better insurance). Either way I’m happy I had the experience…. I’m just never doing that again.