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It's easy to see (and hear) why Radiohead is rock's hottest band
EVERY once in a while, an opportunity presents itself to catch a band at its zenith. Thursday night at the Bill Graham Civic Auditorium was just such a chance, with the members of Radiohead showing without a doubt why they are the current kings of the rock music world. This isn't to say that the band might not continue to improve, but it would be hard to imagine a better performance than the five lads from Great Britain turned in before a packed crowd of ecstatic true believers.
Playing for more than 100 minutes, Radiohead was coaxed into two encores, finally ending the evening with the somewhat obscure but exceedingly lovely "Lurgee" from
"Pablo Honey," their debut record. It was a testament to the band's current lofty status that they could finally get away with not playing "Creep," the hit from "Pablo Honey" that launched their success largely because of massive MTV airplay. It's about time, because with the wealth of material Radiohead has at its disposal, it doesn't need "Creep," which isn't that great of a song anyway.
What makes the band so good is that the members are aggressively ambitious musically, refusing to be pigeonholed. They also are intelligent, excellent musicians who can drift back and forth between hauntingly beautiful, soft acoustic melodies and raucous, blow-off-the-roof power chords - often within the same song.
A perfect example of this was with "(Nice Dream)" from 1995's "The Bends." Singer / guitarist Thom Yorke launched the tune with his acoustic guitar playing, yet before the song was two minutes old, lead guitarist Jon Greenwood was absolutely attacking his instrument, sending out a wailing, distortion-laden solo that fit in perfectly, belive it or not, with the song's beautiful overall texture.
Relying most heavily on "The Bends" and last year's acclaimed "OK Computer," Radiohead didn't just indiscriminately pump out song after song, but displayed an infallible knowledge of which song would fit best next to another in the 21-song set. About 45 minutes into the concert, the group put on an incredible run of songs, beginning with the title track to "The Bends" and running through "(Nice Dream)," "Climbing Up the Walls," "No Surprises," "Fake Plastic Trees,"
"Bones" and "My Iron Lung." Band members finally left the stage before returning for their first encore, but the way they blended that particular set of songs from their last two records was pure sonic genius.
Half the fun with Radiohead is listening closely in an attempt to pick up its influences. The group's name is both ironic and appropriate. Ironic because Radiohead is not really played much on the radio - indeed, its lack of radio-friendly hit single material makes it a decided long shot to achieve the kind of popularity it has attained. And appropriate because these guys must listen to the radio an awful lot to pick up the diverse stylings they have co-opted and tailored to their own sound.
"Paranoid Android," for instance, from "OK Computer," had parts in it that were a little bit Jethro Tull, a little bit Procol Harum and just a dash of Ray Davies. "Climbing Up The Walls," on the other hand, had a pure guitar sound effect straight off of Funkadelic's
"Maggot Brain." Mix up all these eclectic stylings and what emerges is Radiohead - unique and ready to take no prisoners.
The Radiohead sound fuses the best parts of art rock and punk, losing the pretensions of the former while adding stellar musicianship to the latter, without losing the necessary edge. Thursday night's show is an early contender for concert of the year, and it's going to take a real dust-up performance from somebody to knock Radiohead from its lofty perch. <
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