TV on the Radio were the musical guests on Saturday Night Live this weekend. They’re a seasoned band whose live show tends to get rapturous reviews, and they were slated to play songs from the album that got the top spot in the most recent edition of the Village Voice Pazz & Jop critics’ poll. You would think, then, that the performance would be a triumph—but instead, it was a trainwreck. The dude with the beard (note: I am not a big TVOTR fan) had his vocals reduced to a thin chirp, the bass lacked any bottom end, the handclaps were seen but not heard… and then the horns came in.
I like “Golden Age.” The point on the chorus when the horns come in is a great little moment and does really pick everything up a bit. But on SNL, the brass obliterated everything else in its path. Worse, they seemed to be either out-of-tune or differently arranged, clashing painfully with the vocal line. Who knows why—maybe the monitors were off, maybe there was an ill-advised last-minute change—but it turned the triumphant energy of the song into something that more closely resembled a performance by an experimental high school marching band. This seems to be a regular problem for SNL, but why? The show has a reputation as one of the few places still booking interesting musical acts, but then whoever’s working the sound can’t seem to let the quality translate. What gives?
I can’t wait to make some TVOTR fan squirm by citing this performance as the reason I think they suck.
I think it’s SNL’s fault…again. TVOTR have sounded pretty great on every other tv show I’ve seen them on or watched on Youtube.
I was looking forward to seeing what they sound like (never heard them), but it was so bad (and pretty obviously a mix problem) that I didn’t even make it through the song.
They are on The Colbert Report tonight so I wonder how they will sound there….
It was a mix problem, but they’re not a great band to watch live, and that’s when Tunde is free to roam the stage and be charismatic, or sweaty, or whatever. Sticking him at the keyboard was a dumb move.
Atrocious. Sound problems only go so far, they just had to many people on stage (that caterwauling woman swaying behind the drums??)
also, Kyp can’t fucking sing.
This was the first time I’d ever actually heard TV on the Radio! My wife is not an indie-rock fan, but knows I’m one, and made me temporarily embarrassed about that association for the first time in a long time, because we both found TV on the Radio pretty much indefensible. Yikes.
The horns are way too loud (saxophones especially), and Sitek is playing about 1/4 step sharp in the first chorus which make the whole thing a cacophonous mess (and not in a good way). It gets better as the song goes on, but the mix is crap overall. And Kyp really can’t/shouldn’t sing the falsetto shit live.
@Weezy F Baby: Caterwauling woman = Katrina Ford of Celebration, a band I find way more interesting than TVOR.
That horn section sounded way out of tune; that’s what sunk this performance for me.
The mix was crap obviously, the horn players sucked. Look to Radioheads performance of ‘The National Anthem’ on SNL circa 2000 to see how powerful a horn section can be without obliterating everything else going on musically. Terrible.
That said - Kyp Malone was terrible. He can sing, but not sing as a performance. He was rushing through everything he sang causing the horrible sound to be worse by everything seeming to be off because his vocals were not in time.
So disappointing when a band sucks live, especially when they’re as good as TV On The Radio seem to be on record.
Just awful.
Seriously, those horns. Those horns! They were way more concerned with dancing than with playing either well or in tune.
@username7410:
Very disappointing. I’ve seen TVOTR live a bunch of times and each were triumphant. Until someone with knowledge of the performance tells me otherwise, I have to think the mix was to blame and not the band having an off night. I mean, you couldn’t even hear guitars or 1/2 the keyboards! Nothing but thin vocals, drums, and obnoxious sounding horns. It was as if you were listening to a recording that had several muted instrument tracks.
@Al Shipley: Nice try, Al. But all bands have bad nights–even the faultless ones that you like…
@Al Shipley: Nice try, Al. But all bands have bad nights–even the faultless ones that you like…
…And I’d happily take TVOTR on an off-night over 99.7% of the bands that have been on SNL over the past, oh, five years…
…And I’d happily take TVOTR on an off-night over 99.7% of the bands that have been on SNL over the past, oh, five years…
@Mike P.:
Oh really? Katrina Ford was in the band Jaks (and Love Life) way back in the day. I was coincidentally just listening to them the other day. Didn’t know about Celebration.
@scott pgwp: Sitek produces Celebration, and she’s sang backups on TVOR’s albums. You should be able to find some Celebration posts in Idolator’s archives.
@Thierry: Spoon sounded horrible on SNL. I’ve seen them live twice and they’re rather good, otherwise.
Having seen them live twice (once in a ~150 cavern in the wake of “Desperate Youth”), I’m beginning to think that “Wolf Like Me” on Letterman was their highpoint.
I love “Dear Science” by the way (though the falsetto in “Golden Age” is just irritating in general).
SNL’s fault. For years, my mates and I marveled at their lack of sound engineering.
I never head this band before, and I couldn’t stand it.
@scott pgwp: celebration is one of my favorite new bands of teh past few years!
@Maura Johnston: *the
TVOTR played the Big Day Out in Auckland last month, and the sound was exactly like that clip. Muddy and disappointing. I’m inclined to think it’s the songs from Dear Science that just don’t work in a live setting.
The first time I listened to them was on SNL and I am now a fan. I know that t.v. shows can mess up the mix with bands. I could totally hear past it and I could tell they are good.
i think TVOTR is one of those bands where the sound has to be perfect or else.
I saw TVOTR when they toured in support of “Cookie Mountain,” and they were awesome live. I agree that the sound on SNL was disappointing. I don’t know if it’s a function of poor SNL sound engineering, difficulty translating “Dear Science” live, or some combination of both. But I have to disagree with anyone making the blanket statement that TVOTR just sucks live.
@beanmaru: Most interesting comment here.
@alternatestory: Yeah. I agree. I also saw them live when Return to Cookie Mountain came out and were good, but I was very dissapointed with this. Maybe it was the sound, maybe it was the brass, maybe it was the fact that Tunde sounds worse when he’s moving around the stage.
Also, yeah Fleet Foxes sounded better than TVotR did on SNL. I’m one of the few commenters here who like both bands and have seen both bands live, and while Fleet Foxes was a fine live band both in person and on TV, TVotR are far better.
To compare what TVotR sounds under proper engineering, here’s them playing “Golden Age” on the BBC’s “Later With Jools Holland”:
+ Watch video
I am learning this week, after the Superbowl lipsyncing controversies, and the Grammys (I thought the sound was funky and weak - don’t get me started on the camerawork) that televised live performance is general suffers from deep assification. It annoyes because so many people use it as their sole judgment of performers. It irks!!! Is ANYone setting a gold standard in televised live music performance?
@DocStrange: ah, you know, I think they’re playing a few clicks slower in this version, and it makes a world of difference. Though the vocals still don’t sound great, so maybe the vocal line’s just hard to sing live.
@silkyjumbo: That’s what happens when you mask questionable songwriting with layers and layers of production.
Is it bad that I STILL think this band is primarily popular because they’re mostly black and playing indie rock? AHHH RACISM!
@Mike Barthel: “so maybe the vocal line’s just hard to sing live. “
i’m sorry, but that’s not a valid excuse for a professional touring band. if its on record, be able to at least play a passable version of it live.
I don’t know if this can be pinned 100% on SNL. I’ve seen TVOTR two or three times live, and I’ve found them to be pretty weak sauce each time. Now mind you, I haven’t seen them tour this particular record yet, and for all I know, they could really tear it up live.
I’m beginning to think they’re a band that just works better as a studio project. But I look forward to being proven wrong when I see them at Coachella this summer. And for what it’s worth, “Dancing Choose” sounded pretty good on SNL.
@joshservo: oh, i thought it sounded totally blown out once the horns came in.
I’ve never seen TV on the Radio in concert, but this seems to be a problem no matter where they go, judging by all the clips available on youtube. They have great songs, they are talented musicians, I don’t think it’s that. I want to blame Sitek!
Maybe something got messed up when the stage was redone a couple of years ago? The only decent performances I’ve heard lately were Adele and David Cook. Everyone sounds so thin!
@Varina: Fleet Foxes sounded good as well. SNL performances seem to be particularly bad with large bands or acts that mix acoustic and electric instruments…
I’m beginning to think they’re a band that just works better as a studio project
I’m beginning to think they’re a band that just works better as something for incestuous Brooklyn bloggers to hype to people who care about being “indie” than actual good music.
@Maura Johnston: Better by comparison.
@drjimmy11: I’m beginning to think someone’s having a case of the Mondays.
i saw them for the first time last fall and they sounded great in a venue that has problems getting it right. but saturday night was terrible.
@ObtuseIntolerant: Later with Jools Holland, for one, would be a pretty good place to start if you were looking for great and great-sounding live performances on TV.
What does the third T in the tag stand for? TV on the Radio on terrible TV?
@Thierry: Thanks. I know that show, but my plea was vague…I think I really meant what of those venues on US TV where a large swaths of the general public watches and gets 1st impressions, like late night, American Idol, etc.
The biggest problem for me with Golden Age was that Kyp’s lead vocals were badly out of tune. Although I have never seen the band live, I have probably watched every bit of concert footage on YouTube or anywhere else and I have read dozens of reviews of their live shows and I have never seen a single negative comment on his singing. Quite the contrary.
So how could someone so steady suddenly sound so genuinely awful? I don’t know this for a fact, but given the fact that mix as a whole was a mess and the fact TVOTR’s own sound man was not allowed to touch anything, I would bet you that what Kyp was hearing in his in-ear monitors did not include much, if any, of his own vocal. I say this because he sounds exactly like someone who is singing but can’t hear his own vocals. Does this make sense to any professional sound people who might be reading this.
Dancing Choose was just fine and the band’s entire body of work is just incredible. They are one of the great bands to emerge in many years and the best is surely yet to come.
@Silverfuture: “the.” Parallel construction, or something.