Television proves it can still soar

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      At the Commodore Ballroom on Thursday, June 25

      The punk movement has gone down in history as the one that said anyone could start a band, play live, make records, win fans—you didn’t need talent in the usual sense, as much as you needed venom, energy, and an outsize work ethic.

      What gets left out of this picture is the soaring musical ability of the American groups that laid punk’s foundations. Very few aspiring players can produce the supernatural noises that the Stooges made, or match the blunt virtuosity of the MC5. And only a savant on the level of Tom Verlaine can create something like Television, the band that helped launch New York’s groundbreaking CBGB scene in the mid ’70s by inventing an utterly original sound based on Verlaine’s taut, elegant exchanges with fellow guitar prodigy Richard Lloyd.

      Lloyd wasn’t in the lineup at the Commodore Ballroom last night, when Television made its first (and, what with all the grey hair, very possibly its final) Vancouver appearance. That absence may have been enough to get the purists scoffing on their way in the door, but many doubts in the room lightened when Lloyd’s replacement, Jimmy Rip, pulled lines out of his Telecaster that sounded like warped chimes during the opening song, the humming, spider-delicate “1880 or So”, from the 1992 album Television.

      It was an odd place to start, given the palpable desire in the crowd for anything from the band’s 1977 debut masterwork, Marquee Moon. (Even the images at the merch stand were dominated by that landmark album.) But then Verlaine has always been an odd man, with a reputation for being, uh, difficult that goes all the way back to Television’s earliest days. A faint smile played on his lips during that first song, and then he reverted to frosty form, complaining to a tech that certain lights, the “white ones”, were “killing us up here”. He rarely exceeded five syllables in comments to the audience, and occasionally glowered at bassist Fred Smith and drummer Billy Ficca when the intricately machined parts of the songs weren’t being threaded together with enough care.

      No one seemed bothered, though, in the same way no one seemed bothered whenever Miles Davis was less than dappled sunlight on-stage—which was pretty much all the time. Maybe that’s because Television's achievement is in the same revolutionary league as Davis’s. By the end of the night, the band had made it through all of Marquee Moon's eight tracks. Each one brought a sense of just how current it all still sounds—how deeply Television’s innovations have soaked into guitar-based rock over the decades, and yet how fully distinct the band has remained in its mix of crafted pop and shape-shifting, avant-garde improvisation.

      The few moments when the four players appeared unsure of each other—as they did in the awkward run-through of “See No Evil”, their bluff one-song encore—were eclipsed by long stretches when everything gelled into the jittery, prismatic force field that sent music in an intense new direction 40 years ago. “Torn Curtain” filled the room with cinematic unease. “Marquee Moon” began with robotic smoothness and then, over several minutes, climbed to a jagged height where whole landscapes came into view.

      You can call this performance a victory lap, if you like. But what a victory.

      Follow Brian Lynch on Twitter @BrianLynchBooks.

      Comments

      4 Comments

      out at night

      Jun 26, 2015 at 4:37pm

      Brilliant show. I heard giants from days of old stirring, rumbling, rising and the people did quake in awe.

      James Blatchfoc

      Jun 26, 2015 at 5:34pm

      Nice review. I guess Newt had another commitment...dusting or something.

      A. MacInnis

      Jun 27, 2015 at 1:34am

      What was the song they played after the song after "Friction?" The first song they jammed for like, 20 minutes on, with some Swans-like chordal assaults from Rip and Verlaine midway through, facing each other, and a vaguely Middle Eastern feeling? It was really, really, REALLY compelling - I don't think I've seen a band associated with punk jam around a song for such length EVER - but I don't know my Television so well, so I dunno the title...!

      RB

      Jun 27, 2015 at 11:33pm

      @A.MacInnis
      The name of that song is Persia,and agreed,a mind-blowing highlight it was.Apparently recent, and unrecorded to boot,so cut yourself slack.Would love to read yr own review of the show.Hope you write one.
      Thank the Fates for such an inspiring hoedown.