Radiohead
Arrow Hall
Toronto
August 19, 1997

Seldom does one band come along and breathe life into rock music the way Radiohead has with their current album Okay Computer.

It was a joy to see the band bring their music to life last night at Arrow Hall.

The fact that they did so in the face of several obstacles - mosh-pit antics, shaky acoustics, their own stage fright and a tough repertoire - made their fantastic performance all the more admirable.
"This song is dedicated to the people in the first few rows," Radiohead singer-guitarist Thom Yorke told the sold-out crowd of 6,000 before the group's encore, which included "Subterranean Homesick Alien" and "Street Spirit".

Yorke went on to blast the front section's rather violent moshers, who'd been making life tough for peaceful fans throughout the 115-minute concert.

"Sit back and listen or go the f--- home," he railed.

Indeed, kicking and shoving has no place alongside such intelligent and inventive music.
But such a display of authority was way out of character for the diminutive Yorke, who hadn't uttered much more than a quiet "Thank you, you're very kind" earlier.

That's not to say he wasn't a formidable frontman.

From opening song "Lucky", Yorke's voice came in as clear as some soaring, operatic bell.

Even as his head bobbed and shook in furious time, most of the show's plentiful emotion came from his larynx instead of rock star posturing.

Radiohead - Yorke, guitarist-singer Ed O'Brien, guitarist-keyboardist Jonny Greenwood, bassist Colin Greenwood, and drummer Phil Selway - managed a cathartic delivery without losing sight of their greatest asset: Superb songs.

It must have been a feat to capture the complicated subtleties in tunes like "Just", "Airbag", and "Karma Police".

Where the group couldn't, they plowed ahead with glorious bombast.

Thick stage fog and brilliant strobe lights seemed to blow Yorke out of sight at each crescendo, as on the appropriately filmic "Exit Music (Song For A Film)".

Likewise, a particularly pretty section of the set list - featuring "My Iron Lung", "Paranoid Android", "Fake Plastic Trees", and "Let Down" - benefitted from O'Brien's and Jonny Greenwood's gentle use of electronic guitar effects and keyboards.

Radiohead were as good when they weren't playing as when they were.

All the while, they seemed vaguely uncomfortable with how accomplished they are.

There were some technical glitches in the sound mix. The prepulsive rhythm section's levels threatened to crush the melodies at times. "Climbing Up The Walls" was derailed briefly by a faulty Moog synth.

It was hard to imagine what embarrassed Radiohead more: The glitches, or the fact that they might just be the best popular rock group on the planet.

Rating: 4 out of 5

-Kieran Grant

Toronto Sun
20.08.97