Radiohead
May 14, 2008
Verizon Wireless Amphitheater, St. Louis
Better Than: Talking in maths, buzzing like a fridge.
By JASON HARPER
Photo courtesy A to Z, who also wrote this review.
"This is one from Kid A that we kind of lost sight of," Thom Yorke told a nearly sold-out crowd (18,000 is my guess) last night in St. Louis. "It seems very pertinent now to us," he continued, and his band, Radiohead, launched into "Optimistic."
Pertinent, indeed. In addition to this massive-selling tour, Radiohead oughta feel pretty good about the millions it raked in after offering its latest album for sale online for as much as fans wanted to pay for it, even if that meant absolutely zero quid. I paid £10 pounds for In Rainbows and $61 plus travel expenses to see 'em last night, and I regret nary a pence.
If I were British, I'd say Radiohead are stupendous. Instead, I say Radiohead is stupendous. Underneath a proscenium-like canopy of translucent tubes, hanging like motionless chimes, illuminated by flashing LEDs and lasers, the group played a stunning, two-hour set, seeming to enjoy every second. The reputedly sullen Yorke jigged like a 15-year-old at a rave during the group's electronic numbers ("Idioteque," "The Gloaming"), wobbled his head and closed his eyes while belting out faves ("Fake Plastic Trees," "Paranoid Android" and most all the others) and stuck his eyeball in the camera over his piano in ironic menance during "You and Whose Army." At one point early in the show, Yorke asked the audience, "How come it smells of doughnuts? Who could eat doughnuts at a time like this?"
"Doughnut sales dive," said one of his band members, I didn't catch which, mimicking a news broadcaster. Actually, they were smelling funnel cake, an odd thing to be snacking on at a show like this, to be sure -- but the point is, these blokes had a blast.
The audience, despite being white, which goes without saying, was mostly young and fairly diverse. There were the late-20s/early-30s liberal arts NPR nerds to whom OK Computer wasn't just an album but a sacrament that got them through finals week after finals week. There were hippies, twirling to the band's gorgeous, apocalyptic noise, raising their arms and smiling goofy smiles as Thom sang about collapsing infrastructures, melting icecaps, the crushing systems of modern life. There were fratboys, bellowing and drinking beer. And there were groundlings, up on the lawn, a seething antbed of cotton tees and dirty knees, one-fifth of whom raised their cigarette lighters during most of the first encore -- to them, Thom dedicated "Exit Music."
I spent much of the evening -- including the two-or-so hours it took both to enter and to exit the ill-located venue -- wondering how Radiohead, this at heart dark and edgy and often wildly experimental British pop band, has achieved such immense fame. Aside from the fact that Radiohead's music is sublime and never, ever dull, it's a combination of factors: Thom Yorke's intriguing, weakling-as-hero persona and one-of-a-kind, often-copied voice; Johnny Greenwood's compositional genius (solidified with his score for There Will Be Blood); the band's undertaking of one creative risk after another, from the shock of following up OK Computer with the ambient simmers of Kid A and Amnesiac, to its continually eye-catching artwork. Radiohead's strategies have always paid off. (Note how you've never seen the band selling through Starbucks.) But in the end, it's pretty much driving melody and pure, rock genius.
That purity is on display on the current tour. Looking past the bright, flashing lights, you'll see five musicians doggedly chained to a veritably steaming array of equipment: amps, instruments, processors, patchcords and pedals. On a screen behind the band, a five-panel strip shows close-up video of each of the five members, like five closed-circuit-TV broadcasts lined up side by side. The effect is similar to the group's recent "Thumbs Down" webcasts on YouTube, which often showed footage of the band in studio with separate cameras on each member as they rehearsed the songs from In Rainbows. Through the aid of an unmanipulated lens, the viewer sees five hardworking musicians laboring at their art, stripped yet elevated, almost like athletes sweating through intense workouts that are beyond the reach of ordinary bums like you and me.
Top of their game, those Radiohead guys. I can't say that every song off the new one is entirely memorable in comparison with the band's earlier work, but ... holy cow, what's next?
Setlist
All I Need
Jigsaw Falling Into Place
Airbag
15 Step
Nude
Kid A
Weird Fishes/Arpeggi
The Gloaming
You and Whose Army
Idioteque
Faust Arp
Videotape
Everything in Its Right Place
Reckoner
Optimistic
Bangers & Mash
Bodysnatchers
Encore 1
Exit Music (For a Film)
Myxomatosis
My Iron Lung
There There
Fake Plastic Trees
Encore 2
Pyramid Song
House of Cards
Paranoid Android
Critic's Notebook
Personal Bias: Ummm...?
Random Detail: In the parking lot after the show, someone was cranking "Amish Paradise" by Weird Al Yankovic.
By the Way: That guitar player Ed O'Brien's got some good genes -- not only is he taller and better looking than any of his bandmates; he's taller and better looking than most of the world:
(Another fine A to Z photo.)
Showing 1-30 of 30
This particular editorial was very interesting to look over, I enjoyed it very much. I'm about now to email it to my collegues to let all of them look over this too. Thank you really.
Online article directories have gained in reputation during the last few years. The predominant reason for this are many SEO coupled features and possibilities an article directory has to offer to authors and content seekers. Some of the popular articles directories allow authors to submit their content for free while some cost a tiny one-time registration fee. Submit your articles to a dir247 and get published within 24 hours!
Nice blog post, I run 4films dot org. I think you and your users would benefit from it - we have around 26,000 movie entries up right now (embedded streaming movies). Keep up the good work.
Just wanted to give you a shout from the valley of the sun, great information. Much appreciated.
Check it out!! Radiohead's video's up on iTunes. I found out about it on Star 98.7's web site - it's an amazing radio station in LA that plays LOTS of radiohead!
Check it out:
http://star987.com/cc-common/n...
Actually, you are sort of wrong about the whole "the band not selling through Starbucks" line. Every Starbucks in my town had In Rainbows on their spinning racks of music.
Actually, you are sort of wrong about the whole "the band not selling through Starbucks" line. Every Starbucks in my town had In Rainbows on their spinning racks of music.
Jfdiggs: don't buy it! go to http://www.radiohead-notforpro... and then download the show. It'll take about an hour and a half but the wait is well worth it.
Trying to find if anyone recorded this show for an audio CD I would love to buy it. It was definently the greatest live show I have seen. I remember standing there a little bummed when I thought it was going to end with house of cards then they came and just rocked the house with paranoid android.
Stand-offish? I definitely don't think you were at the same show at all. I have never seen the band so into the music and the crowd. This was the best performance I have ever seen by them or any other band for that matter. The set list was unbelievable. It was truly a heavenly experience. They were fucking amazing.
Great review - I would say this was one of the best shows I've ever seen, were it not that "one of" would imply I'd seen performances that came close. I was definitely moving at times, but at times, I just stood transfixed at what I fear was the peak of rock shows. I'm 43 (there were actually quite a few of us there) and I've played in bands for 25 years now. I can only imagine the amount of time and preperation required to pull off this show.
Some shots from the show in STL, just go to the blog section, they are under "radiohead" enjoy.
www.myspace.com/something29
It was pretty intense in the pit. We made a few live videos you might want to see, plus a review and photos of course:
http://mel.opho.be/index.php/a...
yeps, pretty awesome show. Can't say much for the "Liars"
But then the Liars stopped playing, we hit the golden hour, and Radiohead took to blowing our collective midwestern minds right after sunset.
I agree the crowd was a bit lamed out, lots of fools there more for the party then the music.
Regardless it was a better turn out then the last time RH came through (2003?methinx). I thought the set was fairly laid back, and less aggressive then last time they played the Lou. Must have been the nice weather we had for the show.
I still have the last piece of the lightshow burned into my memory (end of paranoid android when they went in rainbows for us).
Hoping it shows up on the youtube soonish:
http://www.youtube.com/results...
you can vaguely see the effect at 3:05 in this vid:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v...
Anyways it seemed like they only played for 45 minutes. I guess time flies when your having fun & being entertained by the best alt-rock-experimentalists gods of modern time.
Least I got my $40 t-shirt made from recycled plastic bottles to keep forever, even if the memories fade.
See you in August, in Chicago my fellow Radioheads.
amazing show. standing in the grass sucked but it was worth it. unfortunate that some people just like to stand completely still, at least bob your head a little....
They were pretty frickin' great last night, but not as good as they were at the same venue in 2003. As the review said, the new stuff isn't as memorable (yet). But don't take that as too negative, I didn't see what the big deal about Kid A was until it had been out for about 5 years. They are genius and will always be.
Great review.
i danced my ass off up there in row ss in my ku bookstore tshirt. i couldnt believe all the people standing still! i was swaying and shaking just as much as thom.
Very nicely written; wish I'd been there. Must see Radiohead before (my own) death.
Thank you, my friends.
I think the Lou may have even greater love for funnel cake than KC.
New concept for ultra-lounge swank Midwestern velvet rope bar: Forget the vodka bottle service, let's have FUNNEL CAKE SERVICE.
JH, this is perfect.
dang, that was a good show. watching those boys make beautiful music AND have fun was more than i could have hoped for. my heart, she overflows.
and i'm glad you caught the doughnuts thing. i was laughing about that all night.
anonymous, were you at the same show i was? the band was hardly standoffish; they were probably as loose and fun-having as any time i've seen them.
jason, your review was awesome.
was a good show, but they seemed a bit standoff-ish and just went through the set. Really no crowd interaction until the end of the night. The lasers and light show was nice, so I guess can't have it all, but other shows I've been to of theirs, they at least have some crowd interaction during the set.
Lucky enough to score backstage passes and saw the sound check, where they did "You Really Got Me" by the Kinks. Fantastic show.
like
dislike
