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The first time that I saw TV On The Radio play “Staring At The Sun” was at a Baltimore DIY venue called the Supreme Imperial, which hasn’t existed for a very long time and which I think was a converted auto-body shop. Google tells me that this was May 2004, so their debut album Desperate Youth, Blood Thirsty Babes would’ve just come out. Katrina Ford, the great singer from the Baltimore band Celebration, sang backup, just as she did on the record. My memories of that night are hazy, but I have a clear image of the band just levitating on that song — channeling some primal energy and taking me to another place. Two decades later, coming off a years-long hiatus, TV On The Radio can still evoke that feeling while playing “Staring At The Sun” in the sterile confines of 30 Rockefeller Plaza. It’s really something.
A few months ago, TV On The Radio announced their big return. For the first time in five years, TVOTR are playing shows. Longtime member Dave Sitek isn’t with them for this run, which will officially kick off in New York a few days from now. They’ve already played one Vans-sponsored surprise reunion show, and they’ve already released their 20th-anniversary Desperate Youth, Blood Thirsty Babes reissue. Last night, TVOTR were musical guests on Jimmy Fallon’s Tonight Show. They played “Staring At The Sun,” and it was fucking awesome.
I’m pretty sure that last night’s Fallon performance was the first time that TV On The Radio were on TV since they played “Mercy” on Letterman in 2013. This time, there was no Katrina Ford, who just released her solo album H.E.A.R.T. Instead, it was core TVOTR members Tunde Adebimpe, Kyp Malone, and Jaleel Bunton, along with three other musicians who I didn’t recognize. And they brought it. I hate to get all woo-woo on this blog, but when I watched it just now, I got the feeling that I was looking at something almost mystical taking place in a TV-studio context where mystical things aren’t supposed to happen — that Late Night With The Devil feeling, but good instead of evil. Watch it happen below.
The 20th-anniversary edition of Desperate Youth, Blood Thirsty Babes is out now on Touch And Go. TV On The Radio play New York’s Webster Hall 11/25, 11/26, 11/29, and 11/30, but good luck getting tickets.