(TV) Chicago Review

[Scott Neukam <scottneukam@yahoo.com>]

What an amazing show.  That's the word--"amazing"--I've
used all day to describe the show.  It's been more than 24
hours since Television played, and like Philip, I haven't
stopped smiling since.  The most fun I've ever had.  To
those of you who didn't make the show: don't ever listen to
a tape of it, because you'll never forgive yourself for
missing it.

The band all looked like they were having a great time.  I
remember Fred grinning whenever the band first walked out
and everyone started cheering.  Fred and Richard both
looked at each other and smiled several times during the
show.  Richard did seem kind of detached, though.  I
couldn't see him all that clearly, and I was standing
inbetween Tom and Fred, but he seemed to not really be into
it.  Not that his playing suffered...  Billy looked like he
was having a good time, throwing his drumsticks up in the
air and catching them after a couple of songs.  But Tom
appeared to be having the best time of anyone!  He cracked
a joke, like Philip said--"We all went out and bought new
clothes for this show"--and after requests for "Fire
Engine" and "Elevation," he deadpanned, "Um, okay".  Before
"Marquee Moon" (?), he teased us with his guitar
buzz--turning towards the audience so that his pickups
would buzz, then turning away so they would be quiet, then
back towards the audience, etc.  During the last solo of
"Psychotic Reaction", he started strumming the strings with
a pair of what looked like wire cutters that were on the
drum riser.

The band's playing was awesome.  I thought that Billy
played very hard-- like his drums were going to leap up and
attack him if he stopped pounding them.  Fred's playing,
like always, was unassuming and a wonderful foundation for
Richard and Tom's playing.  Tom definitely took center
stage--the only solo I can remember Richard playing was the
first in "1880 or so"; I think that Tom played all the
others (except for maybe "Venus"?) but I could be wrong. 
Tom's playing was fantastic-- lots of finger vibrato and
volume swells in lieu of a whammy bar.  Along with
Richard's guitar leads during Tom's vocal parts, very tight
and focused.

Philip already gave an excellent review of the setlist so I
won't repeat it.  The one place where I was really
struck--in addition to the amazing "Marquee Moon" crescendo
and the encore--was during the intro to "Venus".  I think a
lot of people were not very familiar with the songs from
the 92 album--I overheard some people asking "what song was
just played", etc--so when the first song that EVERYBODY
knew was played, the place just exploded with energy.  I
was also really glad that "Glory" was played.  I wish that
more from ADVENTURE was played, but it was still a superb
set.

For you gearheads, Tom was playing a red hardtail Strat,
with the price tag string still hanging from the endpin,
that he tuned between nearly every song.  He played through
a few pedals (brought to the stage in a plastic bag)--I
think they looked like Boss's--and a Matchless amp. 
Richard played a beat-up sunburst Strat with a humbucker in
the bridge until he broke a string during "Marquee Moon";
he then switched to an all-white Strat.  Couldn't see what
pedals he was using, but he got some nice modulated
sounds... he was playing through an AC-30.  Fred had a
sunburst Jazz Bass played through some sort of box that was
sitting on top of his amp (Hartke w/ 4x12" Hartke cab). 
Billy had a white drumkit.

Finally, thanks again to Rick "Soul Ticket" Greenwald for
organizing our little convention and for giving us a ride
back to the hotel!  It was excellent meeting everyone-- I'd
like to apologize if I seemed annoyed or disinterested--far
from it!-- because I was so quiet; that's just the way I
am-- sorry!.


"Nice pants!"

Scott

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