Glastonbury Festival - The Drug of the Nation

Television

The Drug of the Nation

New Tent - Sunday

Let’s go back to a more innocent time, when you could expect a good six-minute guitar solo in each song, shall we? Back then, a 75-minute set gave you long enough to get through four or five of your songs if you didn’t muck about in the middle.

Among other things, 1977 saw the release of Television’s best-known album, Marquee Moon. They reformed in 2001 for All Tomorrow’s Parties and have not looked back.

Television are the kings of trip-inducing noodling: masters of their craft. Their music affects you with the amazing craftsmanship of its execution, combined with clear melodic progressions and pure emotional impact. It does take a while to acclimatise to the increased volume of balding dads in the audience (and the band), but this soon makes no difference as we are swept up on an irresistibly rising surge of guitar excellence.

Showmanship is at a bare minimum; in fact, we are almost ignored as the band aren’t scared to spend a while twiddling with knobs and tuning up before getting down to business. Frankly, it would be a disappointment if they did anything other than look serious and concentrate on their fretwork.

Despite the angina-inducing frenzy of their musical climaxes, at a Television gig you don’t get The Who-ish leaping, snarling, or even the odd masturbatory grimace. It’s a cliché, but the music does say it all. Sometimes lurking, brooding, sometimes coruscating, majestic – never predictable and never dull. There’s also a healthy measure of improvisational freshness, even when they’re playing material from 27 years ago.

Understandably, there were some audience members who were baying for Marquee Moon, or possibly Friction as a second choice. That’s no great surprise, as Television were criminally robbed of commercial success in their time so not much of their other material is as well known. That’s a shame, as it’s rather good.

You’re left at the end with the impression that you’ve just witnessed how music should be played.

Peter Allen

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