Words by Delia Alkhatib
TV Girl, a band with over 16 million listeners, was the worst concert experience ever.
Originally meant for Newport Music Hall, the venue changed around 3 months before the show to Kemba Live. The venue change was almost certainly to sell more tickets, which feels like a cop-out, however, I prefer Kemba so I didn’t mind.
Once we got in, there was still a lot of space on the floor and we had initially gone to the pit because that’s my concert go-to. Not even two minutes after standing in the pit, we switched over to the level above it, one row away from the barricade. The pit was genuinely the youngest crowd I had ever experienced and we needed to escape.
The entire venue filled up pretty quickly and the pit was crazy packed before anyone had even got onstage. They opened with a solo artist who goes by Monster Rally; he played for around 40 minutes. He had a cool light-up mushroom on his keyboard and barely spoke in between songs. Monster Rally was just alright. The second he left the stage, everyone started to push forward. This was especially confusing because of the nature of the venue, but it wasn’t terrible.
Once TV Girl came on, the screaming of the crowd was insane. TV Girl’s frontman, Brad Petering, came on stage holding a bottle of liquor in one hand and an Elf Bar in the other. It was truly the most embarrassing thing I’ve ever witnessed.
He briefly introduced TV Girl and proceeded to acknowledge how young his fanbase is now due to their increased popularity through TikTok. Brad made a couple of jokes about this being some people’s first concert and how everyone should go home and do their homework after the show. It was weird the first time he said it and he would continuously make this joke throughout the concert.
Once the music started, everything was a bit better. Brad gave us absolutely nothing except vocals, the guy on the synth was turning it out, and the guitarist was drinking and grooving very unbothered.
The best part of their performances on stage was the two background singers they had touring with them. Since TV Girl’s newest album focuses on a more gospel sound, the singers added their gospel-esque vocals and elevated the entire sound. When those two weren’t singing they were dancing and acting out lyrics, truly putting on a show. I found myself only paying attention to the left side of the stage where the keyboard and singers were.
After every couple of songs, Brad would interrupt and talk for at least 5 minutes about how their new album didn’t sell much. It was fine to do the first time, but honestly, I don’t want to watch Brad, the Matty Healy wannabe, hit his vape and complain about his 14-year-old listeners not buying “Grapes on the Vine” on vinyl. His promotion of “Grapes” included telling a fake story about visiting a sick dying child in the hospital, as well as THROWING a copy of the album on vinyl. Every time he would open his mouth I wanted to leave.
My overall concert experience would have doubled had he just shut up after each song. According to their setlist.fm, “Lovers Rock” was supposed to be the first song of their encore, we planned to leave after that. Brad left for the encore and took the longest time to come out. It was absurd. They didn’t play “Lovers Rock” first and he talked and talked. They played a song off of “Grapes on the Vine” and then closed out with the song everyone was there for.
Overall, it was such a terrible concert experience that I wanted to leave. That being said, as a TV Girl fan, when they played their songs it was such a fun time and I truly love their music. I genuinely wish that I never went to this concert because it just ruined them for me.
I can’t listen to “Pantyhose” without thinking about Brad hitting a bowl on stage. He’s the most egotistical performer I have ever seen and I’ve seen Deftones live. If you love TV Girl and care about Brad I would say totally go to their shows, but if you just like their music, it’s way better to just stream it.
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