Gushing about Radiohead. (Or: I can get you a toe, dude. You don't wanna know, but there are ways.)

In my recent fandom of the band Radiohead, I've found their appeal to be polarizing among fans of rock music. People who like them really like them, and people who hate them really hate them. Even though I was late to the game -- even turning down stellar seats to their 2003 Alpine Valley show because I felt like I didn't know enough about them to see them live -- I've definitely come to appreciate them and consider myself in the group of people who really, really like them...to the point where I'd have to say they're the most relevant band of our entire generation.

The location was World Music Amp, er, wait, Midwest First Bank Amphitheater at Tinley Park, IL.  I'd been tempted by some shows hosted there before, but had never actually made it there...one of the few Chicago-area venues left on my list.  I brought friend Joe along, and we discovered that, despite a near trip to the ER in Kenosha, the trip went literally perfectly from the time we left Milwaukee until the time we returned.

That's right, a trip to the Kenosha ER was narrowly averted by my quick, MacGyver-like medical skills. I bought a new pair of crappy, knock-off sunglasses the other day, and without my real glasses, I have shaky eyesight as it is.  Somehow, I swear these sunglasses make my eyesight worse. I was wearing them as I stumbled upon the cement curb at the BP gas station, and at first thought that I simply stubbed my toe.  By the time I got to the refrigerated water section, I realized my sandal was squishy.  With blood.  I cautiously purchased my overpriced Fiji water and exited the gas station, trying not to drip blood anywhere.  I just happened to not only have a whole package of random band-aids in my car, but also a totally random pair of shoes and socks in the back as well, not to mention a full-on medical bag of gauze and medical tape. It was my lucky day to get injured, I guess. Despite being largely uncomfortable for the rest of my night, I made it through the night. Quotes about toes from The Big Lebowski dangled in my mind all night.  Now that it's been a few days, it still looks pretty bad...about a pinky-width patch of skin is flappin' off the end of my toe. Who needs stitches, anyway?

Getting in was easy, despite one missed turn. There was no wait to get into the parking lot, and we were parked pretty close to an exit.  We figured this would benefit us on the way out, but it still took us about 25 minutes to get out. 

Miraculously, as we approached the gates, we ran into Dirty and company, so we were able to catch up briefly before heading in, which we did shortly before Caribou took the stage.  I was in line most of the time for a hamburger, so I can't comment much on their performance, other than it sounded good. I've tried Caribou in the past. They're good and all, but not entirely my thing.

Radiohead wowed me, on the other hand, as I fully expected them to do.  On a visual and sonic level, they left nothing behind as they tore through a 2+ hour set containing every tune from their new album, The King of Limbs, and a hand-picked selection of older tunes, mostly from In Rainbows, Kid A, and Amnesiac. The crowd was an interesting mix of over-the-top hipsters ("smacking of effort," as we commented), lots of non-descript folks in their later 20's and early 30's, and a handful of dirty kidz with Phish shirts on.

(The Gloaming. Still gives me chills. Thom seizuring across the stage. It should be rainin'.)

Instead of a blow-by-blow review of the show, I'll try to highlight my top four thoughts/moments. (Why four?  Because I feel three is short-changing the most relevant band of our time, and five would get a little long.)

1)  Professionalism.  Wow, this band is so tight.  For a band that doesn't really tour regularly, they've got every little aspect worked out to a "T."  (Minus the whole stage-collapsing-in-Toronto-and-killing-one-person-last-night thing, which probably wasn't their fault, directly.)  The lights, musicianship, and overall professionalism of their stage presence is probably second-to-none.  Everything seemed so polished. "In its right place," if you will.  Ar ar ar.

(Idioteque @ Coachella, Indio, CA, April 2012. Not the show I'm reviewing, but the audio and visual of this video is second to none, and it's probably a better version than the Tinley version anyway. I could watch Thom dance around on stage all.day.long.)

2)  Setlist.  I walked out realizing that they didn't play two of the "big songs" that I wanted to (and always want to) hear: National Anthem and Paranoid Android.  But in retrospect, I don't think I would have traded anything that they played for either of those songs.  Their shows are very calculated, which also attributes to their aforementioned professionalism. It's a given that they do a long-ish main set, about 1:45 in length.  They close with a heavy-hitter, ("Idioteque," in our case) and then come back to do two 3-4 song encores.  It really gives them an opportunity to fit in a lot more songs and tempo-shifts than if they were to do a regular, full set with a standard 1-2 song encore. Highlights included Idioteque, The Gloaming, my first Kid A ("A" must stand for amazing), Everything In Its Right Place with an intro to the tune of R.E.M.'s The One I Love, Reckoner, and Myxomatosis. There were a few firsts for me in this show -- 3 new tunes (Staircase, Ful Stop, and Identikit, as well as the aforementioned tunes Kid A, Myxomatosis, bust-out Amnesiac b-side The Amazing Sound of Orgy, and of course everything from TKOL.) Ful Stop was mired in technicolored stage projections, which might have blown more minds than any other tune that night. Watch the video below, you'll see. Pretty sure I was seeing rainbow fractals for days following the show.  (On a side-note, normally I hate YouTube concert vids where you can hear people talking, but in this case, the camera man's "Oh My GOD" pretty much sums it all up.)

3) The soft songs. Radiohead is known for their very slow, intricate, beautiful tunes. Amazingly, these are not lost in a 30,000-person capacity shed. Kid A, Codex, Separator, Arpeggi/Weird Fishes, and The Amazing Sound of Orgy caused a few people to sit, but overall the band executed these songs with full precision that lost nothing in the confines of a giant amphitheater. Softer tunes, especially done solo on a piano, can provide that small breather that the crowd needs, but can also provide that moment of restlessness if not placed properly. Radiohead seems to know how to avoid that lull, or at least keep my attention so I don't notice the others whom have lost interest.

4) Song selection. I guess this could be a subcategory of #2/Setlist, but I'm talking more about the song rotation here than what they played. It's just amazing that they have such a full catalog of songs, spanning 8 official studio albums, and more acoustic mix-tapes and single releases, and I still walk out totally content with what they played, ignoring the fact that they skipped a good chunk of songs on my perpetual "Wanna See It Tonight" list, including How to Disappear Completely, Airbag, National Anthem, Paranoid Android, Pyramid Song, I Might Be Wrong, House of Cards, Morning Bell, Bangers + Mash, Just...I mean, I could go on.  Normally, I'd be a little pissed walking out of a show that left that many of my listed songs without a check next to them -- but again, the playing was so dead-on and enjoyable, Radiohead leaves you wanting more, every time.

And that's the mark of a truly great show -- you leave satisfied but still wishing you could have had more. Since they've been on the iPod nonstop in the last week, I'd have to say they've accomplished that feat.