TV On The Radio

I saw TV On The Radio last on Wednesday night and they were dreadful. The lead singer was barely in tune and the sound quality was terrible. The guitarist without the beard was turned up really loud and he would kill every song when he would just tremolo pick with lots of reverb and delay. It's a cool sound, don't get me wrong, but in every single song? It was a bit much. I was really looking forward to hearing Wolf Like Me but they somehow managed to strip it of all life. what on CD is on of the best indie rock songs of the decade was made to seem dreary and repetitive. The new material came across the best with Crying being the only song I actually enjoyed (apart from the cool synth part being way to low down in the mix) all the way through. I was really surprised that a band with such a reputation was this disappointing. I wasn't a huge fan beforehand but I was expecting to be converted into a huge TV On The Radio fan.
In contrast to me, The London Paper, gave them 4/5 and asked why they aren't as big as Radiohead. Maybe The London Paper didn't actually go to the gig or have no idea about what makes a band a good live band. I've seen many bands I dislike support bands I do like that have been really impressed with their live performance despite their music being pants. I've become fans of bands based on their live performance, notably The Dillinger Escape Plan.
All in all, bands should be as good as the CD, if not better, when playing live. Their job is to play music and entertain us not just make a lot of noise for an hour each night.