Sunday Night Recap: TV on The Radio, The Noisettes

I had heard that a new skate/record shop was opening on Sunday and there was free beer and food. It's called Route 44 and is in an old craftsman on the corner of Florida and El Cajon. Andrea and I got my bike fixed at Mission Hills Bike Shop (only for it to be flat again today) then did a drive by the skate shop but there was no parking and we're not exactly teenage skaters, so we decided to move along.

Instead, I met up with my sister and we hung out at the Tower for some of John Johnson's awesome BBQ. Pork ribs and BBQ chicken and ice cold beer. Yum.

Afterward, I allowed myself to be lazy until it was time to head up to the Belly Up. I drove the 16 miles up the freeway, parked, and was in the club by 8:20. I decided to commit to pics, so I posted up front for the whole show, not leaving for drinks or friends or the bathroom for the entire duration of the show.

The Noisettes were on first. A 3-piece from Britain, I'd already listened to them a little because they share a record label with The Kaiser Chiefs. They were pretty damn good, and seemed to get a good reaction from the crowd, though I hope it wasn't just because the singer dropped articles of clothing throughout their set.







At times she just brought on a rock voice, but mostly sounded like the crooners of the 30s and 40s, and sometimes even operatic sung to rock music. She was great onstage as far as being lively. She wore high heels and took them off in the middle of the first song. She came out with her hair braided and gathered into a faux hawk, rocking hard as she danced all over the stage. She cracked me up, too, when after a song she apologized and said in jest, "Now we get back to the hits."





Here is the setlist from the Noisettes:


I expected a little bit longer of a set change, but was impressed that it was kept to about half an hour. During the break, an announcer asked that at the request of the band, please do not take any flash photography. OK, I can handle that. But later he announced that there was to be no photography whatsoever. Daye texted me "That doesn't include you" and I agreed. "Who the fuck do they think they are? Fuck Brooklyn!"

I have seen TV On The Radio once before at the Casbah, and as soon as they came out, all the details of the other show came back...the windchimes attached to the end of Dave's guitar, the unique way in which Tunde dances and flails his arms, all the sounds coming from the band together to make this beautiful noise that got everyone, at least where I was, jumping and dancing along.









I was trying to be super stealth with my camera, but then Kyp and I were making eye contact and I just felt enormously guilty, so in my own mind I retracted my comment about Brooklyn and decided it was just some lame formality. Their set was so energized it made me glad I was standing where I was. The coolest thing for me was during Method when they had all the Noisettes and their friends who were backstage (including Kyp's little sister) come out with various percussive instruments.







It was a pretty damn good night and a pretty damn good show. I only wonder if they really did go "party at the beach!" as they'd suggested earlier in the night. I hope that they did. They definitely earned it.

This is the set list from TV on The Radio, signed by Kyp.