Television @ Central Park Summerstage - 16 June 2007

As you may have heard, Richard Lloyd -- or, as Tom Verlaine referred to him, "our regular guitarist" -- is still in the hospital. Jimmy Ripp subbed, but didn't take any solos. The first few tunes suffered a bit from the lack of soundcheck and the "shit system" (Verlaine's words) at Summerstage -- "Venus" was disappointingly listless. (I think the crowd was supposed to sing the "DIDJA FEEL LOW?" and "HUH?" bits, since the band did not, but it seemed like me and the guy next to me were the only people who were up for this.) But after that, things picked up with brilliantly deconstructed versions of "Little Johnny Jewel" and "Prove It." They followed with some newer, mostly unrecorded (I think) material, with "Glory" from Adventure sandwiched in there. The highlight of the new stuff was "Persia," aptly described by one of the commenters at Brooklyn Vegan as "that middle east meets James Bond theme by way of the 'You Really Got Me' riff extended tune." Verlaine's slide playing sounded absolutely otherworldly. Of course, they finished with a 20-minute "Marquee Moon," while the stage manager  kept furiously signaling them  to wrap it up. (Are you fucking kidding me?)

This hit had the most favorable risky-improv-to-wankery ratio of any rock gig I've ever been to. This is my first time seeing Tom Verlaine play live, and I think he's my new favorite guitar player, like, ever. His chops, which were merely impressive in Television's heyday, have become truly monstrous. He was able to get a mind-blowing variety of sounds out of a straightforward Strat-Vox setup, just by tweaking the pickup selector switch and the tone controls, and by changing up between picking, fingerpicking, and slide. (At least, that's all I saw -- I'm sure the guitar geeks will let me know if I've missed anything crucial... ) He somehow managed to be simultaneously quirky and earthy, wildly unpredictable and impeccably structured, dispassionate and blisteringly intense. If you are one of the few remaining jazz fundamentalists who think they have nothing to learn from rock players (ahem) you seriously need to check out some Tom Verlaine, preferably live.

A huge part of Television's appeal is the audible tension between Verlaine and Richard Lloyd, and of course that absence was deeply felt. Jimmy Ripp did a fine job subbing in, but he did not attempt to challenge Verlaine the way Lloyd would have. As previously mentioned, this was to have been Lloyd's final gig with Television, had he not fallen ill. I sincerely hope Richard gets well soon, and when he does, I hope he and Verlaine and Fred Smith and Billy Ficca will get together one last time.

I arrived at the park over an hour later than planned (thank you, F train!) so unfortunately I missed all of Dragons of Zynth except their final tune. The stuff on their MySpace page is really interesting, though, so I'm looking forward to catching them some other time. The Apples in Stereo are a bubblegum power-pop band heavy on the of harmony vocals, jangly guitars, and analog keyboards, occasionally spiced with bits of psychedelia. I love this kind of sound when it's done right, but after a fun and catchy beginning to the set, they quickly wore out their welcome. It didn't help that it started raining and kept coming down for most of the set, but there's only so much of frontman Robert Schneider's super-nasal voice I can take, and the hooks started to wear thin by the end. Who on earth thought it would be a good idea to pair these guys with Television?

UPDATE: Truly hardcore Television fans will know this already, but I was curious whether any of the bootlegs of Televsion's 1970's live shows ever got the CD reissue treatment. I did some online digging, and of course the answer is "duh" -- there's The Blow-Up, which culls from a variety of live hits, as selected by Tom Verlaine, and Live At The Old Waldorf, which has superior sound quality, but Rhino only did a limited-edition run of 5000, hence the ridiculously inflated price of used copies. But you can listen to most of the cuts -- which are absolutely smoking -- on Last.fm:

Live At The Old Waldorf
The Blow-Up

And iTunes has a "box set" of both '70s studio records plus Live At The Old Waldorf, or you can get the live records individually.

More pics below the fold...

Television:

The Apples in Stereo:

Comments

[satisfied75]

1.

nice pics

[Amanda Marcotte]

2.

Oh fun. I totally agree about Apples in Stereo; I never got the fuss.

[Larry]

3.

Awesome pics- do you mind if I link to you from my blog? I went to the show, but didn't get any pics. I'm glad somebody else appreciated how great the Television set was.

[JasonNYC]

4.

Excellent review! (and nice pics)

By the way, I was also singing "did you feel low" during Venus (though not "huh)

If you REALLY want to see a classic performance of Venus, check this out: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jJYdC20gjb0

:)

[GaryWM]

5.

DJA: Enjoyed your comments on Television live. Very frustrating to hear so many people think of Verlaine's solos as just musical wanking. For more recorded live stuff, try to find Television Live NYC at the Academy 12.4.92, at one time a cd sold by the band at their shows. I think it has the best performances and sound recording quality ever. Also try disc 1 of The Miller's Tale/A Tom Verlaine Anthology: Verlaine recorded live in London in '82 with Jimmy Ripp. The live version of Clear It Away will knock you out!

[Maggie Osterberg]

6.

I'll second Gary's comments and second the love for the photos, too!

A tip o' my Jazzmaster to you for the Television coverage; thanks!

[Josh]

7.

Good stuff here! I look forward to hearing what you wrote about Richard Thompson.

[DJA]

8.

Hey Josh,

I'm afraid we had to wimp out on RT when the skies opened. Neither of us was remotely dressed for the storm. Still, I'd gotten drenched earlier and might even have been up for staying, but Lindsay was worried about her gear bag, which was rapidly getting soaked through. She's got a few pictures over here, though.

The band sounded fucking great for those first two tunes, though, and the setlist is unreal. I've seen RT solo and duo a few times already, but I really want to see the full band again (preferably indoors).

[mercedes benzedrine]

9.

"Who on earth thought it would be a good idea to pair these guys with Television?"

I mean right ??? unfreegin'beleagueable !
AiS was mediocre at best, and every time that singer opened his yap I was like "isn't this guy missing math class ?".
nerds really shouldn't be allowed to "rock out" on anything other than PCs in dorm rooms & interweb cafes ( and no macs either ! ).

television was mostly great, but needless-to-say less than stellar w/o richard. been following them ( when available ) since the 1st time I saw them play in a little soho restaurant in '76. be a drag were this in fact their last gig.
irregardless, richard, get well soon, m'brother.

[cheap levitra]

10.

[email protected]

[Dave Sez]

11.

Many thanks for the pics! A recording and many others by Television (Incl Academy 1992 mentioned above) can be found here:

http://knowyourconjurer.blogspot.com/2010/10/television-and-richard-hell-mega-post.html

Cheers, Dave Sez.