Radiohead/ Handsome Boy Modelling School
Sears Theatre
Toronto
October 17, 2000

During the most anti-corporate phase of Radiohead's career - Kid A is a noisy, ambient, self-indulgent, polyrhythmic, liberating, unnatural and, ultimately, defiant album, spawning no conventional singles or videos - Thom Yorke & co grace the stage of the Sears Theatre, which is named after a department store and is part of the Air Canada Centre.

Yorke gets a kick out of the paradox and milks it for the duration of Radiohead's two-hour set, randomly dedicating songs to a series of Canadian and multi-national corporations. 'Morning Bell' is brought to us "courtesy" of Labatts, 'Airbag' by Ford, 'In Limbo' by Pizza Pizza, 'Optimistic' by Labatts brewery rival Molson, 'Lucky' by MuchMusic, Nike for 'How To Disappear Completely' ("They're such good trainers") and 'No Surprises' by EMI-Time Warner - er, "not yet." For 'Paranoid Android', he teams IBM and Gucci, before asking rhetorically, "Is it boring yet? I think it's still funny myself."

This is just about the only banter Yorke offers during a set that includes the as-yet-unreleased 'Dollars And Cents', the heady, otherworldly 'Exit Music (For A Film)' and old B-side and live fave 'Talk Show Host'.

The Kid A songs, played deftly and intuitively, and surprisingly by the book, are given as much, if not more, respect from the attentive audience than old classics like 'Just', 'The Bends' and 'Karma Police'. While no-one moshed in the general admission area at the foot of the stage, the crowd are simply smitten.

Karen Bliss

N.M.E.
18.10.00