On 10/9/23, I made it to a sold-out show in New Haven, CT to see TV Girl at Toad’s Place. I didn’t know a darn thing about them, but figured, what the heck!? My daughter wanted to go, it was sold out, and it’s a show…so off we go! Oh, my son was there too, but he rolled separately.
Disclaimer…if you love TV Girl, you may not love my review. But it’s my opinion so get over it.
Opening the show was Pearl & The Oysters. Oh boy. I’d like to say they remind me of the Cardigans…but nope. Cardigans had swagger and could rock even though a lot of their songs were very mellow. This crew was just…odd.
I will say first that they had a clean sound. Their mix was good and they had a better sound guy than TV Girl it seems. I assume “Pearl” is the lead singer, who was also the DJ? Yeah. She was doing some sound effects on a table. My view wasn’t the greatest, but it was DJ-esque and made synth sounds.
Playing guitar for Pearl was Mr. Pornstache, Ms. Granola on bass, Scruffy Balding Man on keyboards, and the drummer – he seemed cool. I don’t know how to describe the sound. It’s like an indie rock, hipster, lounge act, B-Movie soundtrack kind of sound. No hooks, no repeating choruses, no standout moments, except for the flute playing. But it was not Jethro Tull.
When “Pearl” whipped out the flute, the crowd went fricking crazy. They cheered so loud that I looked around thinking I missed something. But nope…just a girl playing the flute during a show. When I was in high school, no one cheered for flute players. Remember American Pie??? But kids today dig the flute I guess. I didn’t catch any of their song titles except Fire Flies.
TV Girl came out next. As previously stated, this was a sold-out show so they clearly have fans. The crowd screamed all night, sung along, and had a great time.
But what is this genre? It’s basically TikTok rock. They went viral during the lockdowns on TikTok and people fell in loves with these dudes. I would describe their sound similar to the opener. Indie rock, with some weird electronic DJ sounds (lead singer also acts as DJ), with no hooks or real choruses.
I’ve been to lots of shows, some great, some bad, and everywhere in between. Musical taste aside, where was the energy? The band, specifically the singer, was sooooo boring. He acted like he’d rather be anywhere else, he lacked energy, and it was hard to hear the vocals. They had two back up singers with them and they were much more talented. They had range. The TV Girl singer is pretty flat and kind of monotone…and he loves vaping all night.
The keyboard player was crazy. He was jumping up and down and going nuts as if he was jamming to the heaviest of metal…but no…it was just TV Girl’s soft music. It made me laugh. Check out the small clip below.
The singer did talk to the crowd a bit, but when he did it was mostly a joke about how much their new record sucks, but then encouraged people to buy it. Mr. Salesman. He did take a moment to tell everyone to be kind to one another, help each other out, and then stated they’d play their hits, TikTok virals, and deep cuts. So, I can appreciate that a bit. I do enjoy when bands talk to the crowd. And I did like that they played instruments at least. But the style of music just isn’t for me.
Did I know any of the songs? NOPE! But the crowd did and they SCREAM every word making it nearly impossible to hear the actual performer. I only knew one song that they played and it wasn’t theirs. It was a cover of Martha Reeves and the Vandellas Jimmy Mack. I’m pretty sure that’s from the 50s or maybe 60s.
They did play Blue Hair which I was vaguely familiar with and the closed with Lovers Rock. In short, it’s not for me. But today’s kids love it. Me? I’ll stick with Megadeth!
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