Radiohead rule the heart
Radiohead/
Asian Dub Foundation
Earls
Court
London
November
26, 2003
The band first appeared in the half light and played an otherworldly electronic oddity with hardly a hint of a melody, entitled The Gloaming. They should have been performing to 30 or 40 intellectuals in some east London arts centre, but this was Earls Court, habitat of Ronan Keating. By playing here, Radiohead continue to break every rule in rock.
Plenty of bands have produced an album that people fall for in their millions. Unsure how to follow such success, some repeat their hit formula, others try to scale down the fanbase by becoming more obtuse. Radiohead took this option to extremes, and when they followed their huge 1997 album OK Computer with two albums of impenetrable experimentalism, many thought their fans would run.
Amazingly, as they arrived in London for the first of two arena shows promoting their sixth album, Hail To The Thief, the band were as popular as ever. Melodies and rhythms that would cause even the broadminded fan to feel slightly dizzy were greeted like warm friends.
People clapped along to 'Kid A', an icy piece of electronica, and danced during cerebral rock numbers such as '2+ 2 = 5' and 'Paranoid Android'.
Hail To The Thief was rumoured before release to be Radiohead's return to the much loved guitar-based sound. While the guitars are more prominent this band have certainly not retreated. The techno bassline of 'Myxomatosis' and jerky drum and bass of 'Sit Down, Stand Up' showed that creating bold new sounds remains their priority.
Not all experiments were successful. 'We Suck Young Blood' and 'I Will' were dirges, no matter how open-minded the listener. They said little, apart from singer Thom Yorke's introduction to 'You And Whose Army?': "Last week the nation's capital was hijacked for some election campaign. We didn't agree to it, but that is the power of our Prime Minister."
If Radiohead can't scare off fans with persistent awkwardness, Blair and Bush are unlikely to be too rattled either.
Evening
Standard
27.11.03