TV On The Radio at The Pabst Theatre
TV On The Radio faced an uncertain future earlier this year when longtime member Gerard Smith passed away at the young age of 36 after a battle with lung cancer. For a band at the top of its game, such an event does more than make you come to terms with the tragic loss of a human life, it puts a looming question mark over a whole creative endeavor. Questions of responsibility and obligation to the fans, to each other, and especially to the deceased suddenly demand to be answered in an already stressful situation. Is proceeding as a group inappropriate? Is packing it in?
At least for now, the band seems to have decided to soldier on and tour behind its latest, Nine Types Of Light, although the band’s long-term future is still undecided. Shaping its signature sound since forming in 2001, TV On The Radio weaves together Fugazi-style post-hardcore, Joy Division-style post-punk, and Tortoise-style post-rock into a whole that’s well, post-everything, really. You can hear generic signposts from across the history of popular music, from jumpy R&B to metal to trip-hop, but you can never quite figure how the pieces fit together. It’s not contrived or self-conscious; it’s organic, as if it coalesced out of the ether or grew from the ground. Not every group can be described as both “cerebral” and “kick-ass.”
Appearing in Milwaukee for the first time (seriously, what is that all about?), the group took a similarly natural tack when it came to building its live set. Pulling from the whole of its back catalog throughout, the band split the night into three rough phases, marked by subtle shifts in mood and atmosphere, accomplished not just musically, but by an unobtrusively effective lighting scheme. If there was one constant, it was the fire the band put into each song, with older rockers like “Staring At The Sun” and “Wolf Like Me” becoming especially pummeling.
Though at times lead singer Tunde Adebimpe’s voice got lost in the mix, for the most part, the sound quality was admirable, especially during high points like the crowd-led “Forgotten” from Nine Types Of Light, or the percussion-and-keys rave-up that closed out the show. Thanks to the Pabst’s design and acoustics, there’s really not a bad seat in the house, which you especially come to realize at sold-out shows like this one. At once completely passionate and effortlessly cool, the band never lost this huge crowd’s most rapt attention, and it earned every second of it. And really, it’s no surprise the show was such a success, it’s about time Milwaukee got to see TV On The Radio. Here’s to hoping it sees the band again sometime soon.
