ONCE AGAIN THEY COME THROUGH TOWN, AND ONCE AGAIN THE CHURCH WILL OPEN

The year was... well I can't really remember the year anymore, but I think it was 2003; it may have been 2004. In any case, it was TV on The Radio's first time touring outside of New York as far as I know; it was definitely their first time in Vancouver. My friend Lindsay had given me a copy of their latest release, their first full length album, Desperate Youths, Bloodthirsty Babes, of which I'd only listened to parts of two tracks. It sounded nice and I decided to snap up the extra ticket she had for the show at The Picadilly Pub that week. This, friends, turns out to have been one of the best decisions I have ever made in my life. What the crowd of several hundred people that night witnessed changed them in ways they'll likely never fully understand. When change such as that occurrs, I don't think we are meant to understand it. We are only meant to know that it happened.

The band absolutely slayed the audience with a steady pounding of droning, beautiful and heavy rock and roll. They actually had an entire pub dancing, including myself, and I'd been notorious for being one of very few who would go to night clubs with friends and come closest to dancing when I'd bob my head to the beats. The band played with the New York cool that consists of knowing you're so good that you need not prove anything, while at the same time having no arrogance, as if you're playing to, and for, a large group of friends. That night TV on The Radio made a couple of hundred friends in a city that is so full of pot smoke that it's at times hard to meet and make new acquaintances through the haze. We were all at church that night as we were lifted to a higher plane where we've all stayed since. I'm not saying we're better than those of you that missed that show, but we are cooler. Lindsay, Julie, Rob, myself and a couple of hundred other now-hipsters are walking on sunshine as the rest of you walk through a mist.

Now's your chance to rise above said mist. The band has come through town at least four times since then (I was at one of those shows in 2006), and they will be back again Sunday September 7. This is your chance to get on the plane, attain nirvana, gaze at the bodhi tree, talk to your lord. If you don't live near Vancouver, find out when this band comes to your town and make that trek. You can only become more at peace with your world and gain some form of enlightenment. YOU have absolutely nothing to lose.

Two weeks after their appearance here they will drop a new album called Dear Science, which I am looking forward to more and more every minute. Until then go out and get Desperate Youth, Bloodthirsty Babes and Return to Cookie Mountain. You will be happy you did. Both times I've seen them live I could see only smiles as we left the venue.