[Tex/LaTex] Hide navigation information in sidebar on title page and TOC page (beamer)

Question

Edited for clarity:
I am trying to remove the navigation information in the sidebar that lists a TOC on the title page and the TOC page in a beamer presentation. I still want the sidebar to appear for presentation background consistency, but I want it to be blank. I'm using the PaloAlto theme.

I have found a work around for the title page by setting the background of the title page as a rectangle the size and colour of the sidebar on top of the sidebar by using \addtobeamertemplate{title page}, but this approach doesn't work for the TOC page as I can't find a way to link to that page specifically through the template definition.

Is there an easier way to hide the sidebar on only the title page and TOC page?
Thanks!

Answer 1

Apparently, from a comment, the idea is to remove only the information contained in the sidebar and not the sidebar itself; if this is so, then you can simply set the sidebar left template to be empty for those frames and then restore its original meaning with the sidebar theme option:

\documentclass{beamer}
\usetheme{PaloAlto}

\title{The Title}
\author{The Author}
\institute{The Institute}
\date{\today}

\begin{document}

\setbeamertemplate{sidebar left}{}
\begin{frame}
\titlepage
\end{frame}

\begin{frame}
\tableofcontents
\end{frame}

\setbeamertemplate{sidebar left}[sidebar theme]
\section{Test Section}
\begin{frame}
test
\end{frame}

\begin{frame}
test
\end{frame}

\end{document}