TV on the Radio/Dirty Projectors - 9:30 Club - June 9 2009

Dirty Projectors - The wind and rain abated just as I pulled into the club prior to the opener's set. They started as a electric guitar and female singer duo which was good but it should have been acoustic. I hoped for change and got a full band of three women, three guys. One guy sang, but the women all sang even better including some really magical and very weird vocal work--very rhythmic to the point where I wasn't sure it was voice or synthesizer. Could've been both, but mostly voice I think. Unfortunately the music was noodling guitar clashing with funky bass, sometimes working other times making my mind wander. Overall, not too bad, but a reconfiguration could produce some real magic. Oh, and flip a coin, heads they're from Brooklyn, tails they are from somewhere else. It's heads!

TV on the Radio - First time for me and I purposely didn't listen to anything by them which means almost everything was new as I hadn't heard anything in over two years. They start strong, went stronger, slowed a bit and finished up with a vocal wallop with the opening band assisting in a huge choral finale. Great dreamy psyche into pulsating throbs of acid rock and soulful flourishes. A really excellent set and a creative band. I enjoyed it lots as did the sold out crowd that had their tickets the day they went on sale.

Quote of the Day - "Somebody get that man in the sound booth a drink" from TV's guitarist. Yeah, he was doing a good job, I'll give him that, but I'll be damned if I'm wading through the sardines to get to the sidebar and come back with his $8 drink when a band of your size and stature has enough of a rider to give me a diet coke and him plenty of the hard stuff.