TV on the Radio soars, Miguel cameos at Theatre at Ace Hotel

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TV on the Radio at the Theatre at Ace Hotel (Photo by Michelle Shiers)
TV on the Radio at the Theatre at Ace Hotel (Photo by Michelle Shiers)

While the seated Theatre at Ace Hotel in downtown Los Angeles didn’t seem like the most practical of venues to host genre-bending rockers TV On The Radio, the grandiose Gothic-style of the historic space quickly lent itself to the band’s performance — which climaxed with a surprise cameo by Miguel during the encore.

TVOTR began with strong slow-building opener “Young Liars,” and while some audience members remained in their seats, the bulk of the fans stood for the show as the band surged into its maddening and cerebral musical catharsis. As usual, their set was a healthy mix of tracks from all five of their studio albums, most recently 2014’s “Seeds” from which they performed “Happy Idiot” “Could You” and “Winter” — all tracks filled with experimental edge and frontman Tunde Adebimpe’s earnest electricity as an artist.

||| Photos by Michelle Shiers

TV On The Radio yet again exemplified how much greater they are than the sum of their six live parts — a weighty performance of mixed emotions and magnetic rhythms. During “Forgotten” from 2011’s “9 Types Of Light,” Adebimpe continued speaking a sound-tracked monologue, saying “I’m preaching to the choir when I say shit is fucked up but I want you to know and I think that you know, and if you don’t know you should know, we’re all in it together. We’re all breathing the same same air we’re all drinking the same water. We’re all sleeping the same sleep. We might be dreaming the same dream …” He followed up with a trick for “getting weird” by asking the audience to look into the eyes of a stranger next to them as he chanted “1-2-3 LIGHT.” Regardless of whether or not he has said these words during this song in the same manner, it certainly felt like this time it was in recognition of the attacks in Paris.

TV On The Radio closed their main set with the moody power of “DLZ” from 2008’s “Dear Science” and 2004 hit “Staring At The Sun.” Everyone stood in applause willing the band to return, which they did for a three-song encore featuring surprise-guest Miguel who moved smoothly around the stage blending his jazz-funk vocals to his track “Adorn” and a cover of Can’s “Vitamin C.”

TV On The Radio were preceded by alt-R&B artist Gallant.

The concert was part of Red Bull Sound Select’s “30 Days in LA” series.