There's a wave of noughties nostalgia washing back onto Australian shores, and Brisbane is getting drenched.
With Kaiser Chiefs and Franz Ferdinand parading around the country, it feels only right that Brooklyn art-rock gods TV On The Radio (TVOTR) have finally returned too.
Fans have been frothing for ten long years, and judging by the turnout at The Tivoli (4 December), the wait has done nothing but stoke the fire. Younger punters who have only known the band through playlists and older siblings' CDs mingled with 30- and 40-somethings who hadn't uttered the band's name out loud in years.
We were instantly snapped back into the era where TVOTR felt like the future of indie music and Obama presidency's was the 'golden age'. The band's 2025 Australian tour has been a celebration of their entire catalogue from their 2003 EP 'Young Liars', to the 2004 album debut 'Desperate Youth, Blood Thirsty Babes', through to their most recent full-length, 2014's 'Seeds'.
Brisbane's historic Tivoli was an ideal setting for their idiosyncratic, genre-blurring performance: intimate, timeless, compact without being cramped, and blessedly cool thanks to its excellent air-con (a must for this summer).
TVOTR - image © Chris Searles
It also suited the band's own aesthetic – art-rock cool meets Brooklyn hipster grit.
Onstage for this run were Tunde Adebimpe (vocals/ programming), Kyp Malone (vocals/ guitars/ bass/ synthesizer), and Jaleel Bunton (drums/ bass/ vocals/ guitars/ programming), with co-founder Dave Sitek noticeably absent for the tour, with a pair on trombone, bass and keys accompanying the core trio.
Even so, the band carried a full arsenal of precise synth pulses, guitar textures and looped beats and harmonies. TVOTR have always been masters of sonic elasticity. One minute evoking Brian Eno in atmospheric synths and drum patterns, the next detonating into Pixies-esque guitar shrieks.
It's this constant shifting that has cemented them as one of the most influential and idiosyncratic acts still firing after 23 years.
Stolen Nova was the support act, a glam-rock-leaning LA guitarist with a fondness for backing tracks and shredding; he looked a bit like Prince playing Hendrix with a soulful voice.
Although he redeemed himself with a surprising cover of 'Maggot Brain', the audience had grown restless and slightly feverish after the long wait of ten years for TVOTR. Thursday night in Brisvegas still hits hard when the room is buzzing with expectation.
Stolen Nova - image © Chris Searles
Nestled mid-back of the room with a clear sightline (and with no tall dudes blocking my view), I watched the band emerge through the haze and ease into the slow, trance-like drift of 'Young Liars'.
It was a calm, simmering opener, and apt to start with their debut EP. A stark reminder of the band's early experimental roots. However, the energy didn't take long to spike with the second track on the set, 'Golden Age'. The drums and trip-hop beats were so tight and textured it punched through the entire room, waking everyone from their trance.
Crowd banger from the last album 'Seeds', 'Happy Idiot' followed, instantly recognisable from the first beat, triggering a wave of head-banging. As I lined up near the bar, a woman in a 'Gen X: Raised On Hose Water And Neglect' shirt pumped her fist and sang along, a moment that felt very Tivoli.
TVOTR - image © Chris Searles
Mid-set, a familiar thump announced 'Wolf Like Me', a track so instantly galvanising it should come with a public-service warning. The crowd favourite instantly got phones raised, hands up, knees bent and hair shaking.
Tunde, a lightning rod of energy, bounded across the stage, screaming into the mic like a man possessed, howling and prowling like the track's titular creature. He mopped sweat from his face with a black towel, grinning as the room heaved with collective adrenaline.
Between songs, he joked at one point saying "I'm from a river town as well," with a warmth that felt genuine rather than obligatory. His voice shifted in real time from deep, soulful resonance to heavy metal growls, sometimes even verging on rap cadences. Pontificating wildly with each lyric delivered with gravitas.
Later in the set, Tunde introduced 'Could You' with a brief shoutout "to free Palestine," and framed the track as "a love song against fascism and genocide". The track bloomed into a warm, swaying anthem.
TVOTR - image © Chris Searles
'Shout Me Out', which Tunde described as "a song about shaking off hexes," extended into shimmering guitar echoes and deep, throbbing bass that penetrated every shadowed corner of the venue. When 'Satellite' hit, and Tunde's "la la la las" closed the main set, the room felt suspended in collective hum.
After a brief backstage huddle, a three-song encore followed, beginning with a slow paced start to 'Ambulance', the harmonised vocals from Tunde and Kyp left a delicate rhythmic layering, a reprieve from the relentless motion of earlier songs in the set.
For the next track, 'Trouble', Kyp stepped to the mic in his bucket hat and scarf, giving a shoutout to Brisbane's Lone Pine Koala Sanctuary, dedicating the song to "all the beautiful animals". Jaleel had switched to acoustic guitar, slowly building the song into a soft-edged ballad that melted into the warmth of the room.
TVOTR - image © Chris Searles
Then the finale everyone was waiting around for. The room erupted at the pulsing bass intro of 'Staring At The Sun'. The stage lights rose harsh and bright across the audience as Tunde placed a hand above his brow, peering theatrically out over the crowd as he delivered the iconic opening line: "Cross the street from yourrrr storefront cemetery." The applause was ecstatic as the electronic beats and guitars faded and the band bowed out.
By the end of the show at 10:30pm, sweaty punters limped toward the exits, backs aching, ears ringing. My own spine had surrendered sometime during the encore, but the grin stayed.
Ten years is far too long between visits. With the seeds TVOTR planted over two decades ago continuing to grow, their live show remains timeless. Who knows if a new album is next or if Sitek returns to tour – they have certainly grown to be a timeless indie act that transcends genres.
- written by Alex Leggett
