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Radiohead, whether by design, luck, or force majeure have ridden the perfectly curled wave that transitioned from guitar-based to electronic-based music. The band that was predominantly known as a three guitar outfit now has a few songs with zero, instead replacing them with vintage analog keyboards or drums. Kid A was ground zero for this seismic shift, and it shows no signs of abating. Radiohead also had the benefit of dovetailing nicely with the zeitgeist of modern music, as Korgs and M-Audios gradually replaced the Fenders and Gibsons. In fact, one could make a compelling argument that it was Radiohead itself acting as the pioneer for this movement, paving the way for the current crop of stringless bands roaming the earth.
Touring on their latest record, The King Of Limbs, underscored just where the band is at the moment. A bold move was adding Clive Deamer, notable for his work with Portishead and Robert Plant among others, and together with Phil Selway, the two chrome-domed drummers stamped out a meticulously buttressed sound. It wasn’t like the two-fisted (or is it four?) approach of multiple drummer bands such as Kylesa or The Doobie Brothers; instead, the two men meshed effortlessly with intricate, complementary parts on songs such as “Separator,” “Bloom” (with Jonny Greenwood also keeping beat with a snare anchored at stage left) and especially the new song “Identikit.” Of all the band members affected by Thom Yorke‘s shift in musical vision, Greenwood would have to be the most impacted, as he was emasculated from ripping off awesome riffs and leads as demonstrated on most of the pre-Kid A material. Now he’s a seldom used guitar slinger who played half the songs on drums, keyboards, or otherwise playing the guitar unconventionally, such as using a bow during the opening of “Pyramid Song.” One wonders if he plays Guitar Hero non-stop when he’s on the tour bus.
For Yorke’s part, he was in fine force, singing and playing with his usually off-kilter style and occasionally doing the epilepsy dance. He’s pretty quiet but is undeniably the prime force in the band. Sporting a new ponytail, he was constantly in motion, at the mic stand, playing guitar, or at a keyboard bench. He teased us with the intro of Neil Young’s “After The Gold Rush” before quickly changing to “Everything In Its Right Place,” an amniotic audio journey, glazed all over with a soft, subtle pulse. I thought that was a perfect way to close the show, but the band had other ideas and soon came out for a second encore. After a run through of a slow, languid song (“Give Up The Ghost”) and a much more frenetic one (“Bodysnatchers”), the set came to a close with a truly majestic reading of “Reckoner.”
One point about the band is that they truly deliver a quality show in every aspect. This show was sold out instantly, and they could easily play a larger stadium or charge much higher prices if they wanted to. Instead, the prices were kept to reasonable amounts for a show like this, and they delivered twenty three songs with a visually captivating presentation (LED panels that changed colors, rotated and showed tight crops of various band members) as well as the most immaculate sound I’ve ever heard at an outdoor show. Well done, Radiohead.
Full set list here and more photos at my site
