Radiohead live!

Radiohead
Auditorium Theatre, Chicago
Monday, June 19, 2006

It’s all too appropriate that one of their songs (“Like Spinning Plates”) would prove to be the perfect metaphor for Radiohead.

The version that originally appeared on Amnesiac features disembodied vocals that float among a disjointed soundscape that barely passes as structure. The reinterpretation the cryptic quintet unleashed during the first night of a sold-out, two-night stand at the acoustically pristine Auditorium Theatre reimagined the piece as a lilting, delicate, minimalistic piano ballad.

The point being that since their breakthrough sophomore effort (The Bends) up through the most recent, Hail To The Thief (now some three years old), the band has continued to straddle the strata between arena-ready rock anthems and jazz-inflected, Dada-esque art pieces.

With no new material scheduled for release until sometime in 2007, Radiohead hit the road anyway, test driving recent compositions in intimate theaters in select cities this summer. And if said material is any indication, a return to guitar-heavy construct and straightforward songwriting is on the radar.

Still, a band this enigmatic isn’t always what it seems. Given its history, freshly minted songs like the guitar driven “Open Pick” and the surf rock instrumental “Spooks” could dramatically shape shift by the time they’re actually committed to tape. “Down Is The New Up” was the most fully realized new song; a double-drum attack married to guitarist Johnny Greenwood’s sledgehammer string thwacks and Thom Yorke’s soulful, operatic wail.

In all, nine possible candidates appeared as contenders for inclusion on a forthcoming collection. What surprised most was the economy with which each was offered. “House Of Cards’” pretension-free presentation was rewarding in and of itself and “Four Minute Warning” played out as a no-fuss beauty. During the latter, the band pressed and huddled around Yorke’s upright piano in full-on Crazy Horse fashion, seemingly oblivious to its audience. It felt like an intimate glimpse of four lads fleshing out a post rock hymn in a dingy rehearsal space.

Aesthetically speaking, it feels as if the band has completed a perfect circle, arriving back at its original departure point. Meant as a compliment, the music and the musicians have had to dissolve completely before they were free to grow. In the past, Thom Yorke has referenced such a sentiment, claiming his band had to kill rock ‘n’ roll to save its very being. As the looping embers of “Everything In Its Right Place” finally faded, it was obvious Radiohead were more than willing, and able, to exhume the corpse of the devil’s music.

— Curt Baran

Category: Live Reviews, Weekly