INDIE EAR MADNESS '09: Final Four

By Jim Shearer on 04/03/2009

TV On The Radio, Franz Ferdinand, The Bouncing Souls, and U2 are the final four musical acts left in this year's Indie Ear Madness tournament. Find out which two bands will battle it out next week for the National Championship:

3 TV On The Radio vs. 4 Frank Ferdinand
No one goes home a loser--especially the sold-out Ford Field crowd that got to witness this event. No question, Franz Ferdinand played to the crowd better, and let's be honest, have more accessible hits than TV On The Radio ("Take Me Out," "This Fire," and "Do You Want To"). However, the starting five of TVOTR, played with a passion and intensity that doesn't always translate on their studio efforts. I mean, how do you record Dave Sitek and Tunde Adebimpe flailing their body parts on stage, while masterfully nailing every song in their set-list repertoire?

(above: TV On The Radio had a tough time defending Franz Ferdinand's mainstream-accessible hits.)

Even without mainstream-friendly hits, TV On The Radio managed to defeat Franz Ferdinand, and did it without receiving any style points (those, obviously, all went to Franz Ferdinand).

12 The Bouncing Souls vs. 1 U2
Though some music reporters have been calling The Bouncing Souls monster killers in this tournament, many fail to realize that The Souls are celebrating their 20th Anniversary as band, and have pretty much toured for their entire existence. To call them a Cinderella team may be a bit inaccurate, although going up against the mighty U2 in the Final Four might just be worthy of a glass slipper or two.

This week while preparing for their match-up, U2 took time to announce that they would be performing two shows at Giants Stadium later this year. Giants Stadium--if you don't know--is located in Jersey, the home state of The Bouncing Souls. They took this as a personal dig--and the press clippings turned out to be primo bulletin board material. The Souls' played the set of their lives, buutttt U2 was on top of their game as well.

How do you compete against stadium anthems like: "Sunday Bloody Sunday," "Beautiful Day," and "Pride (In The Name Of Love)"? By inviting the Garden State's patron saint to perform live with you. After being ousted from the tournament last week by The Bouncing Souls, Bruce Springsteen joined them on stage for a rousing rendition of "True Believers." If you didn't believe in the Jersey punk vets before, you do now.