t’s the sophomore week of the 2014 Series and upon my arrival, the first thing I notice is the new venue layout. Everyone is now funneling through one main entrance, red blowup sofas are inviting people into the VIP section, and the placement of the handicap seating is new – all good changes in my eyes. I made it a point to arrive early, I’m a fan of George Lewis Jr, AKA Twin Shadow, and his new wave revivalist sound, yet I had never seen him live. I found a good place to stand my ground toward the front as the rest of the crowd trickled in under the blistering summer sun.
“I’ve never said this before, HELLOOOOO Salt Lake City!!” George shouted to the Twilight crowd, sporting a denim jacket, black jeans and a loose knit top. I was thinking to myself that he had to be melting up there on stage. He and his band brought nothing but heart and soul to Pioneer Park Thursday evening, singing songs of love, misery, loneliness and heartbreak.
They opened with the infectious badass swagger of “Five Seconds” while the crowd responded with thunderous applause. Throughout their performance he interacted with the audience, mentioning that he had spent the previous two days in our beautiful city, which included walking up to Ensign Peak behind the capitol building to soak in the view of the valley. He told the crowd he wanted to make out with people of Salt Lake City, leading into his latest greatest synth-pop anthem “To the Top”.
Lewis locked eyes with a blonde girl up front as he unleashed the seductive grooves and dark swagger of “Castles in the Snow” as he sang “You’re my favorite daydream, I‘m your famous nightmare”.
From start to finish, Twin Shadow commanded the crowd and I am most certain George and company will return to Salt Lake City.
As the sun was setting, the five-piece Brooklyn band that make up TV on the Radio, brought their blend of indie art-rock, soul, avant-jazz, and electronica to the stage.
They opened with an oldie, the dark and spacious storm of “Young Liars“, the title track from their 2003 debut EP. They quickly exploded with the dance-party starter of “Golden Age”. Tunde Adebimpe’s high energy dance moves traveled from one side of the stage to the other, while multi-instrumentalist/producer Dave Sitek played his guitar like a ninja and Kyp Malone had a calm coolness in his corner of the stage.
One of the highlights of the evening was the rapid fire delivery of “Repetition”, the sun was finding comfort behind the trees and the crowd took the opportunity to get more rowdy. A few mosh pits broke out and the predictable crowd surfing went into effect. At one point Tunde shouted out “Hey kids, don’t break your hip.”
The band made Salt Lake feel special, pointing out to us that we were the fifth group to preview new material from their forthcoming album which is set to release this fall.
As their catalog continues to grow they have to be more selective with what they play. Their set was well-balanced with mixture of the old and the new, but there were plenty of songs I would have loved to hear them play. The reality is, TV on the Radio know how to bring a true dynamic to their performances, it’s always aggressive, full of noisy experimentation, and waves of sonic explorations which left us Twilighters satisfied.
