Photo:
Floods of fans poured into London’s iconic Roundhouse on Sunday night, ticket-holders hungry for a dose of TV On The Radio’s roaring and unrelenting sound.
First up though, were Haelos - an up and coming Hackney band fronted by a male and female duo. Embracing clear London Grammar influences, the group played an interesting set, their songs combining ominous, electronic instrumentation with upbeat percussion and soothing, harmonised vocals.
With an understated but pleasant enough collection of tracks, they left those in attendance eagerly awaiting the arrival of the main act.
When TV On The Radio emerged from the shadows, they took their places on stage and proceeded to embark on a sonically mind boggling intro. Gradually building to a phenomenal crescendo of ambient and powerful sounds, they transitioned into the widely adored ‘Young Liars’ and whirled the crowd into an ecstatic frenzy.
Though the night was marred somewhat by poor acoustics and bizarre sound engineering, the band persevered like pros, and still put on one hell of a show for their loyal fans.
When somebody in the crowd decided to let the band know about the issues, multi-instrumentalist Kyp Malone replied accordingly. “I appreciate your point of view, but we’re not in control of that. I’m singing for you.”
Frontman Tunde Adebimpe’s charisma and stage presence throughout was simply undeniable. As the band stormed through a setlist of songs both old and new, he bounced around the stage like an excited child, pulling off a slick combination of unique dance moves which added a theatrical element to proceedings.
Cuts like ‘Happy Idiot’ from their widely acclaimed 2014 album Seeds were furiously infectious, the whole crowd shouting back every last word at the band. Ending their set with a blistering and relentless rendition of their beloved track 'DLZ', the band left everybody screaming for their return to the stage.
Re-emerging with old favourites ‘Staring At The Sun’, ‘Dirtywhirl’ and ‘Dancing Choose’, they concluded a psychedelic and energy-fuelled performance for all those in attendance.
Forget the sound issues, remember the wonderful chaos.
