Lollapalooza was a fantastically well-executed event. Every show went on right when it was scheduled to go, and that is all that you can ask for at a music festival. Combined with adequate facilities and reasonable prices, what could have been a hellish couple of days in Grant Park was made into a truly great weekend.
Those that bought single tickets were more than likely in attendance on Friday. Like 80,000 others, I had been waiting to see Radiohead perform live for three hours (on top of a decade prior to that), and the show did not fail to disappoint. All in all, the show was superb. All of In Rainbows was played, and at least one song was played off of each album except for Pablo Honey, a perfect compendium of 12 plus years of fantastic work.
The sun begin to fade just before Radiohead’s set, and the stage was set for a fantastic display. As proof that Radiohead is bigger than Lollapalooza itself, this is the only band that had anything like extensive stage apparatuses or decoration—even the Lolla-jumbotrons were filled with the In Rainbows tour images. Flashing, multicolored sixths of the board would change every so often to excite the insect-like swarm of fans that slowly started to gather around noon that day—the show started at 8:00pm. Giant glass cylinders were suspended above and around the band’s area, creating the illusion of a box of negative space. As these glass tubes started to glow from within. An electronic intro track greeted the crowd with a minute of 8-bit logic. The snaps and crackles of “15 Step” soon emerged from tinkling noises, and the crowd is instantly assured of their position in the universe. “Airbag” followed directly after the In Rainbows opener finished, making for a fantastic one-two punch opening sequence. Ed O’Brien looked like a hired killer in a suit jacket, rocking from the start, singing an impressive accompaniment to Thom Yorke’s vocal gymnastics. Impressive, classy and nothing less than expected from the greatest live act in the world today.
I did not expect to hear a song off of Hail to the Thief until a few fan favorites were out of the way. “There, There” followed the grand two-song introduction, immediately putting the entire band on percussion duty—even O’Brien on the toms—making for quite a show. Its themes, it’s content and feel seem to contribute to a more dark and brooding tone than the average rock concert. Then again, this was in no way an average concert. In Rainbows piggybacks off of Thief’s vibe, though with more compelling, sensitive arrangements. “There, There” and “The Gloaming” bookend two of the slower tempo songs off of In Rainbows: “Nude” and “Weird Fishes/Arpeggi.” It was an artistic introduction into Radiohead’s music rather than simply playing “Creep” or another song that could start a Coldplay-like sing-along. Hearing these creepy songs performed live in concert really made me listen to them in a new way. Honestly, “The Gloaming” is a creepy song—but the band obviously appreciates this period in which mixing electronic samples and live percussion became fundamentals of their current sound.
When some of these songs were performed live, they sounded drastically different than their original LP versions. A few of the Kid A songs lose their nuances; a lot of the electronic samples and noises that were so questionably received upon that album’s release in 2000 are phased out as the tempo increases and bass levels are jacked through the roof. It was the harbinger of the “new” Radiohead that experimented with their sound, but they have since streamlined songs out of their electronic era (like “Everything in Its Right Place”) and retrofitted it to bridge the gap in time between OK Computer and In Rainbows. The song once was presented as a cool, soothing electronic opener that found its chi in great, synthetic harmonies and electronics, but it has since been reduced to a simple crowd-exciting, up-tempo affair performed for public consumption. The lower range of many songs seemed to jar the crowd, in fact, I think the bass was turned up as loud as possible in some instances when a song clearly did not call for the thumping noise. “Faust Arp,” stripped from its lavish string arrangement on the album and performed as a two-man, acoustic number, seemed to be the only song that gave the crowd any sort of respite.
I believe Radiohead to be a healthy, shining star in our universe at this point in time, but who knows what or when the next release might be. There is no indication of what might come: by now the B-sides and unreleased material has mostly been scraped together for the In Rainbows LP or Bonus material. Only time can tell, I would imagine. Radiohead is a constantly changing entity; each new album adds another lens through which I can view the band. Right now, they are on the up and up; I think everyone in attendance can agree that rose-colored lenses currently prevail. Things have and will change quickly—upon the release of Amnesiac, Radiohead fell out of fashion for a short hiatus out of the public eye—the true fans understand the direction that the band took and welcomed Hail to the Thief as a rock album that capitalized on this new, darker expression in electronica. In Rainbows, while wonderful, yes, is a return to the public eye, and must come with a decent dose of scrutiny. However, upon close, personal assessment, I believe that this band is and will continue to make art for art’s sake, ars gratia artis.
I started to get scared for the future of Radiohead when I watched Johnny Greenwood—simply because he is that good. On “Paranoid Android” his solos seemed absolutely out of control, light-years away from what kind of music he was capable of in 1997. It would be impressive to see some more work of his included in upcoming Radiohead projects, having since proven his worth as a composer by scoring an original soundtrack for the 2007 Oscar-winning movie There Will Be Blood. He has already created a few pieces for the band, my favorites being the closers “The Tourist” off of OK Computer and “Wolf at the Door” off of Hail to the Thief. Despite being lead guitarist and gaining a reputation as the man behind the massive, wild solos that became the hallmark of Radiohead’s work in the late 90s, he has never been able to have as much creative input as Thom has had in the band’s development. Some of the samples that Jonny looped on stage for “The National Anthem” made it seem like the studio did very little work to produce the awesome sounds of Kid A, and emphasized just how much I had underestimated Radiohead’s abilities as musicians. On “Fake Plastic Trees” the accompaniment that Jonny offered Thom was absolutely incredible: the band gave new life to this song. Jonny filled the stage with an electronically produced uproar as Thom crescendos into the finish—this reincarnation of the Bends crowd favorite seemed even better than the original performance simply by including elements of their later work and reinventing their back catalog through experimentation in electronic music. As the band and its members develops their talents, as Jonny and matures, I hope that each member of Radiohead is able to continue to contribute to the band; if Jonny’s creative input is more limited than he would like then a rift will begin to form in Radiohead. Like the Beatles, I think that Jonny and Thom might soon exert equal force in Radiohead to form a creative divide. When two truly great musicians—and I think that Jonny is getting there—combine their songwriting talents, then the style that results is greater than the sum of its parts. I would only hope that Radiohead not collapse under the weight of its own talents. A comfortable metaphor for a great band follows the life of a star: typically a supernova explosion happens before a dying star enters into complete collapse in a black hole.
We can only hope that this next album is not Radiohead’s supernova explosion.
I hope that their version of The Wall, the White Album, and Physical Graffiti never comes. Its not that I hate these albums, it’s just that these were harbingers of less respectable things to come. For Pink Floyd, a monomaniacal Roger Waters that eventually controlled all creative aspects of their entire double-LP project in late 1979, kicking out original keyboard player Rick Wright in the process—and then he went to use the last remnants of Pink Floyd one more time to release the autobiographical The Final Cut. For the Beatles, their 3-sided, eponymous 1968 release is a vast collection of magnificent songwriting from its individual members (even Ringo), but there exists little collaboration or cohesion as an album and thus stands as a lesser endeavor than that of Revolver or Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. The band recorded one more fantastic LP in complete solitude and then collapsed under its own weight. As for Led Zeppelin, I’d rather not talk about In Through the Out Door. Many people can’t fathom the idea that the same band that created songs like “When the Levee Breaks” could ever reduce themselves to the pseudo-samba of “Fool In The Rain.” Plant’s lyrics makes me want to accidentally Braille myself in the ear.
Awl in awl, I believe Radiohead to be a healthy, shining star in our universe at this point in time, but who knows what or when the next release might be, when they will take that next step. There is no indication of what might come: by now the B-sides and unreleased material has mostly been scraped together for the In Rainbows LP or Bonus material that was included for people who decided to buy the discbox. Radiohead is a constantly changing entity; each new album adds another lens through which I can view the band. Right now, they are on the up and up; I think everyone in attendance can agree that rose-colored lenses currently prevail. Things have and will change quickly—upon the release of Amnesiac, Radiohead fell out of fashion for a short hiatus out of the public eye—the true fans understood the new direction that the band took and welcomed Hail to the Thief as a rock album that capitalized on this new expression in electronica. In Rainbows, while wonderful, yes, is a return to the public eye, and must come with a decent dose of scrutiny. I believe that this band will continue making art for art’s sake, ars gratia artis, and this will separate them from their forebears.
Their fan base has come of age in the nineties, a time when they were, perhaps, at the apex of their popularity. Now, ten years down the road, the band is creating music that is as good as anything else being released today. Many of the people in attendance listened to The Bends in their formative years and fondly remember, and these are the enlightened souls that trust these guys to expose them to other kinds of music. Their acceleration is now positive, and they are playing to crows of 80,000 people at a time. Radiohead is primed and ready to release the greatest album of all time (and for free). As the egos accrete over the next decade what can we expect? There is only answer: we can expect to wait.
Radiohead Set List
1. “15 Step”
2. “Airbag”
3. “There, There”
4. “All I Need”
5. “Nude”
6. “Weird Fishes”
7. “The Gloaming”
8. “The National Anthem”
9. “Faust Arp”
10. “No Surprises”
11. “Jigsaw Falling Into Place”
12. “Reckoner”
13. “Lucky”
14. “The Bends”
15. “Everything In Its Right Place”
16. “Fake Plastic Trees”
17. “Bodysnatchers”
18. “Videotape”
19. “Paranoid Android”
20. “Dollars & Cents”
21. “House of Cards”
22. “Optimistic”
23. “2 + 2 = 5″
24. “Idioteque”
A non-professional recording of this performance exists on Megaupload:
Radiohead1 – http://www.megaupload.com/?d=3U6YR8ZE
Radiohead2 – http://www.megaupload.com/?d=88U7BKYW
(Note: “Fake Plastic Trees” and “Idioteque” are incomplete tracks, unfortunately.)
