14
Oct 08Standing in the sea.
TV on the Radio, the Dirtbombs
@ the Electric Factory, Philly
10 Oct 2008
First off, let me say that the Electric Factory is incredibly impersonal. It’s essentially a warehouse with a balcony framing the back and right sides. Add in the bizarre crowd-control barriers and it feels more like a holding pen than a concert venue inside, despite the thick layer of posters (The outside is a little more charming).
Anyway, I assumed that if the listed time was 8:30, the show itself would start around 9:15 or so, but it apparently punctuality is one of the Electric Factory’s strong points. When we showed up around 9, the Dirtbombs were ending their set–by the time we’d gotten into position, Mick Collins was playing his guitar behind his head just prior to leaving the stage.
But the three or four minutes of their set I saw was just a bonus. I didn’t drive two hours to see the Dirtbombs, and luckily, TV on the Radio didn’t let me down. They hit a pretty good mix of tracks from their early EPs and newer albums (tracklist, near as I can remember, after the jump). And they locked up their spot atop the “sexy band” rankings, thanks largely to Tunde Adebimpe’s robot-moonwalk-pogo that only one man in a thousand could pull off. Word to the roadie with the low-rise skinny jeans, though: Hey, get some pants that fit. Or lose some weight.
Tracklist (probably):
Young liars
The wrong way
Wolf like me
Province
Dancing choose
Golden age
Satellite
Blues from down here
Shout me out
[break]
Dreams
A method
Halfway home
Staring at the sun