THE CAT’S PAWS

Radiohead is pure alternative, and their live music reminds listeners that their affinity of the unorthodox weaving of colors and sounds rather sets them apart. Bianca remarked, and she’s right, that the next movement and the band to hallmark it is yet to come, but judging by the packed (StL) Verizon Ampitheater (at least eight thousand on the lawn alone in addition to the packed rows of seats), that time hasn’t quite come yet. Close, but not quite. This band will thankfully more than stick around to hold open the door for the next new day to breeze through.
For not the first time, I was one of the elderly patrons of the finest of arts. I estimated that the median age of fans around us were still in their early-to-mid twenties. I looked, but I didn’t find more than a small few anywhere near as old as I am. Lots of happy young people makes for a fine night in and of itself, and this was a fine night.
Judging by my experience, tickets sure went quickly. In the cyber age, it’s very easy for promoters to hurl out sold tickets in lightning speed–provided the act they put up provides the horsepower. They put up a commerce site and turn it on at a prescribed date and exact time. Seats went on sale at 10am on this particular Saturday, and by the time I got my lazy butt to my kiosk, we were stuck with two in row LL, stage right, a mere three rows from the very back, 30-or-so yards from the seating area’s canopy. I concluded my purchase at 1pm the same day; three hours is a very long time for Radiohead seats to stay unreserved. At least we didn’t have to sit with the hoards that were behind us on their lawn blankets.
Everything about their visual show was scaled down just a bit. They send their touring gear via ocean freight to save fuel and hold down on pollutants. As such—and don’t get me wrong, the props are heads and shoulders above anything I (or you) have ever seen—their resulting presentation to fans is a more intimate one. They were physically closer together (6’5” Ed O’Brien stayed aloof on stage left most of the time, but the band’s placement that was in a leftward shift compensated for this necessity) and this is a distinctive departure of the members casting magical Jonny Greenwood in a position the furthest distance from everybody else. Now he’s in the center. Also, Greenwood holds his guitar’s and plays single-string effects as well as effects than nobody—and I include myself—can describe. Gone from the set is ‘No Surprises’ (OK Computer) where he and O’Brien play xylophone and vibes in the famous ballad. Very much in the here and now, though, is the pair again suspending parade drums from their bodies to back Thom Yorke during ‘’There There’ (Hail to the Thief).
With the song ‘Airbag’ (OK Computer), the #3 song of the show out of the way (they always play it early as a pleaser but it’s been my observation, this time and last, that they’re a bit weary of it), they slip into the grooves shapes of what best defines their tastes—and what the musical enigma is that draws us to them..
Featured in the early part of the show was an extensive presentation of their wonderful new album ‘In Rainbows’. Folks, this is a fantastic album, already obscure because of the band’s marketing of it. No longer having to care much about royalties but instead focusing on the sharing of entirely unique musical art, they’re selling it on-line in a ‘self bid’ process that, in my nearly thirty years of buying music, is the most fan-friendly example of music sales I’ve seen.
SIDETRACK: Google Radiohead and visit the Winkepedia site for the band. Yes, those are sample clip MP3’s of selected material they’re sharing with you. You’ll recognize a couple and not recognize a couple. For people my age, the willingness to expose oneself to Radiohead’s relatively limited commercial repertoire is a quantum leap; my resulting addiction to it, then, is a foregone conclusion.
‘In Rainbows’ is a crowning achievement of not only Radiohead’s capabilities, but as a musical accomplishment per se. It’s sort of in the vein of ‘Kid A’ (from which they shared wonderful renditions played throughout the show), but fastened together with even more haunt and power. Friends, these guys are still young. Conjure that for the next as-long-as-they-want, they’re going to share more with us. Greenwood hasn’t touched his classical aims that must beckon him hard by now. Thom Yorke can also go anywhere musically he please. Meanwhile, as artists who have chosen their particular genre’, I’ve gotten to see them now twice, and my appetite hasn’t begun to feel satiated yet.
If muli-instrumentalist Jonny is the shading in and coloring of the oft-bewildering chord progressions, it’s impossible to prepare oneself with how extraordinarily his main partner’s contribution to this sound is. Yourke, like his lead guitarist, seamlessly picks up a lead guitar and, as this show accentuated, is a fantastic pianist. He prances around the stage like an elf, and his vocal range, as well as his capability to sustain notes in the microphone, rather set him apart.
SIDETRACK II: This is what I mean by not being able to write this review without weaving from thought to thought, thus violating the English language paragraph format. I’m shooting out snippets from my heart’s reaction to the show.
This was an wholly intense performance, and the best part about it is that millions of fans Worldwide are opening their eyes to a new and gentle departure from what live music has been thus far. Some reviewers – not to mention the artists themselves – seem to want to compare their work to that of other artists or, and this has always rather annoyed me. For so-and-so to be ‘inspired’ by ‘influences’ of various bands is simply the normal development of any musical artist. Radiohead, just plays what they play and listeners carry their own theories.
As for me, it’s like this: five young lads from Oxford’s art school got together, formed a band, cracked a decent record deal, and fed/feed on each other instead of from another band. Everybody’s got favorite bands—Radiohead’s one of mine—and every artist creates music, and if it finds it good enough to share, then we get to hear it. Rare is it that so much of Radiohead’s eclectic sound can be in unison with what obviously connects with this many people. RARE-ES, is the fabulously wide acclaim, even in the increasingly water-down and television-polluted American musical fan base, that rather bolsters my faith in musical tastes of young people. After all, our young people inherit what is there to inherit; they’re sure as hell not getting Radiohead music from the radio. Talk about a departure from my days of being Bianca’s age! Then again, as in the old days and today, commercial stations pound the mundane and ‘mainstream’ and a frenzy of commercials; listeners truly appreciative of the ‘next level up’ bands have to learn about it by chance and self-exploration,
Meanwhile, as I intended this to be a concert review, just look at that light show! I still want to know…how do they do that? There were no far-view screens provided, and even though we were far enough back to have benefited our view, they would have compromised the band’s stage presentation. Too many U-Tube clips have annoyingly exploited them. More importantly, this music took us away just fine without them. I suggest that you avoid missing them next time.
ENDNOTES: ‘Faust Arp’, the only tune from ‘In Rainbows’ that didn’t play in this show, is a brand new type of Radiohead song. It’s orchestrated by strings and melody with Greenwood all over it; he’s a classical violinist/violist and shares his musical ‘alter ego’. ‘Bodysnatchers’ and ‘Jigsaws Falling Into Place’ are crank-able tunes, and eventually he’ll either play in, or purchase, a string orchestra. His writings will become gifts in the next frontier of classical music—a genre with nearly twice the number of Worldwide fans to partake in it.