TV on the Radio and Aloha

Aloha is on hell of a band and the photo I took of them does no justice. The show was at Toad’s Place on Saturday. Aloha opened along with some other band for Sparta, who also performed very well. I went with Kat, Tatsu, and Jesse. The picture doesn’t show it very well at all, but there are two keyboards and one vibraphone. I was really happy that Aloha brought their vibraphone because Kat had told me that in a previous concert it was not present, presumably because it’s difficult to transport. It sounds even better in concert than on CD. Their set included some songs that I didn’t recognize but they played most of my favorites including “All the Wars”, “You’ve Escaped”, “Summer Away”, “Boys in the Bathtub” and “Let Your Head Hang Low”. Their rapid instrument switches and the percussionists’ seemingly ambidextrous, multi-instrumenting skills were really appreciated by the crowd which consisted mostly of Sparta fans hearing Aloha for the first time. The encore began with looped keyboard effects and ended with an explosive drum break down. The $5.00 Bass I was sipping on couldn’t have tasted better. If Aloha performs this well as an opener, I can only hope to see them headline.

The last three photos were taken at the TV on the Radio Concert at Lupo’s in Providence on March 1. The were taken with a real camera so I guess I don’t have an excuse for their poor quality other than that I am a crumby photographer. Luckily for Kat and I, we showed up right before TV on the Radio got on stage. Prior to the concert, I never thought of how the band performs together. It was just great music to me. Now when I listen, I get taken back to the show and visualize them interacting with themselves and the crowd. Their set covered most of the good stuff from Disparate Youth, Blood Thirsty Babes and Return to Cookie Mountain. However, it was too bad that they didn’t play “Mr. Grieves”. The set ended with “Staring at the Sun” which broke down into a dance bass riff to send the crowd their separate ways.