On Monday evening, Tame Impala played a special quarantine rendition of “Is It True” for The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.
The performance of The Slow Rush cut was suitably psychedelic, but it also revealed some troubling tendencies in the band. The singer was almost late, the guitarist kept walking off-stage, and did they really need to hide the bass player all the way at the back? Of course, that’s Kevin Parker in all three roles, using the magic of video editing to express his status as a one-man band. While other artists have relied on pre-taped bathroom recordings to give the illusion of a live performance, Parker acknowledged the artifice, utilizing it to create a simple but thrilling spectacle. Check out “Is It True” below.
Earlier this month, Tame Impala participated in Mark Ronson’s star-studded “Love Lockdown” livestream. In April, he hopped on the “Remote Utopias” livestream, as well as performed an acoustic version of “On Track” for the “Music from the Home Front” televised benefit. Right before the global shutdowns set in, he performed a live late night showing of “Lost in Yesterday” and “Breathe Deeper” on Kimmel.
