Radiohead
Woodlands Amphitheater
Houston
June 18, 2001

Like a drama student going hog wild at a frat party, Radiohead ignored its misanthropic inclinations and gave in to the temptations of the stage Monday at the kickoff of its first U.S. tour in three years.

The concert was surprisingly upbeat and buzzing with the adoration of a crowd that came from every corner of Texas, having bought all 20,000 tickets the day they went on sale. Considering the droning anti-melodies of the British band's two most recent albums, Kid A and Amnesiac, even these diehard fans had to wonder how such artiness would stand up in an amphitheater the size of the Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion.

With the opening punch of "The National Anthem" and "Morning Bell" followed by the older crowd pleasers "Lucky" and "My Iron Lung," the group established a pattern it would use until the encore, playing two songs off the recent albums then two off the previous (and more in-demand) discs.

There was no matching the moody melodies of "Karma Police" or the start-stop rock of "Paranoid Android," two expected highlights. However - and this was the most impressive point of the show - the band managed to breathe life intoo many of its most challenging new tracks. "I Might Be Wrong," with its wicked, throbbing guitar riff, became a hypnotic gem in concert. "Idioteque" was reworked from a quirky, mechanical tune into a frantic, futuristic show climax. And the ethereal "Knives Out" was one of several tunes that proved Thom Yorke is one of modern rock's great singers.

With guitarist Jonny Greenwood often bent over an array of synthesizers and digital equipment and the rest of the guys keeping out of the limelight as always, Yorke single-handedly conveyed the personality of the band. He did so with unabashed front-man antics, spastically beating a tambourine in "Packt Like Sardines in a Crushed Tin Box," sitting down at a piano for "You and Whose Army?" and boldly flexing his vocal chords in "Bones," each time raising the show's energy level.

The only lulls were during the two encores, when the group apparently figured it had earned the right to meander a bit. Instead of possible hits like "Fake Plastic Trees," "High and Dry" or "Let Down," none of which were played Monday, the band delivered unsolvable, drab art tracks like "How To Disappear Completely." Had it not been for the show-closing rock-through of "The Bends," the last half-hour might have been a wash.

Yorke commented that the last time the band played the Woodlands was opening for R.E.M., but he left off the fact that this time the crowd was bigger and the reception far more ecstatic. At the show's end, he uncharacteristically gushed, "We'd like to thank you for being really sweet and lovely to us," a sentiment matched by his band mates' flashing smiles.

Maybe by summer's end, Radiohead will have realized that mass appeal isn't something a band can fight. And when the results are this exciting, why would it want to?

-Chris Riemenschneider

Austin American Statesman
19.06.01