Radiohead
Tweeter Center
Camden
August 18. 2003

Rating: 95/100

“This is the gloaming,” Thom Yorke declared with the opening of Radiohead’s more than memorable show. Singing about the coming darkness is a sinister way to open a rock show but only moments later Thom broke into a spastic dance that I can only assume lies somewhere between Michael Stipe and Ed Grimley. The local press being what it is, has managed to fulfill its quota of poorly written “Radiohead is in town” articles. You know - doom, gloom, misery. Apparently Thom read the local rags and decided to show them. He smiled, he danced and the band whirled up a hurricane of sound. They proved that Kid A and Amnesiac are accessible and danceable - that people do know the words.

I am usually embarrassed to be an American in audiences such as these. Everyone wants to hear “Creep” and the frat boys just don’t “get” it. Tonight was different. The set was liberally sprinkled with songs from every album except Pablo Honey. They didn’t play “Creep” and no one complained. They had no right to. We were treated to a visually packed and entertaining show. For all the whining about the lack of guitars I sure didn’t see a lot of people sitting. Hail to the Thief was the apparent body of the show. Most of the guitar tunes were brought to the fore and beefed up. “2+2=5,” “There There” and “Where I end You Begin” were stomping. Thom sat at a piano for “Sail to the Moon” and “Like Spinning Plates” but there was no drop in momentum. The dirge of “National Anthem” was unstoppable and the 3 different freak-outs during “Paranoid Android” had Johnny Greenwood spastically bouncing across the stage. Kid A itself was a show highlight. Intricate rhythms and a soulful Yorke was a laugh in the face of anyone that wrote that album off as “prog”. “Fake Plastic Trees” and “Nice Dreams” satisfied anyone who was scared off by the band’s left turns and “Karma Police” deteriorated into an acapella audience sing-along. “Idioteque” was a mix of club beats and stadium rock. I wouldn’t write that in a review everyday and there is a reason for that. While everyone is busy writing about this being the most important band of the moment, they forget to write why. Here is one of the rare bands that actually deserves the title. Thom and co. have made the right choices. They have surveyed the mainstream landscape, saw what was right and what was wrong and they did something about it. Radiohead is pushing music forward. “Modern Rock” is usually an empty marketing term but tonight it was something I witnessed. I promised myself I wouldn’t write some clichéd over the top “Radiohead are Gods” article but that was before the show. If I wrote anything else I’d be lying.

David Iskra

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20.08.03