As a sixty-ish professor of government at University of Notre Dame in South Bend, Indiana, my musical tastes run to jazz and classical. I regularly hear live music, but no rock & roll. Which is why I was thrilled at the prospect of turning my hip twentysomething graphic-artist daughter on to some cool music for once. Last fall when TV on the Radio’s excellent major-label debut, Return to Cookie Mountain, was released, I recommended she check it out. And when she heard that the band was coming to Chicago (her adopted home and a two-hour drive away for me), there was no question in either of our minds — we were going!

We showed up at Chicago’s venerable Metro on Monday night. As my daughter Emma guided me through a mass of people who looked a lot like my students on spring break, I was acutely aware of my spectacles and tweed jacket (and I must admit, slightly dismayed that security did not check us for drugs upon our entry to the club). But I held fast.

For the ninety-minute set, which consisted mainly of cuts from Cookie Mountain, plus several songs from their earlier release, the band projected a wall of guitar and keyboard sound that did ample justice to the album’s breathtaking texture. The moody, often dark tone of songs like “Wolf Like Me,” “Dirty Whirlwind” and “Province” contrasted sharply with the sweet, rocking harmonies lead singer Tunde Adebimpe created with guitarist Kyp Malone. As a frontman, Adebimpe is electrifying. From my classical concert experience I can say that I have never seen an orchestral soloist with more flair and charisma than Adebimpe’s that night. His voice was ecstatic. With limber grace and swinging arms, he sang, moved and gestured with a physical language as insistent as his soulful voice.

TVOTR’s performance of “A Method” exemplified the band’s talent for translating exuberant studio cuts into transcendent live events. On Cookie Mountain, the song combines thick vocal dubbing with insistent percussion and echo effects. Live, the song became wholly percussive, every body on stage beating an instrument to create a different but equally brilliant sound.

So all said, was the concert experience worth the crowding, the noise and awkwardness of being the oldest guy at the party? Absolutely. This old professor and his daughter are planning their next rock concert date.