Transistor Radiohead: Thom Yorke and co. in T.O.

Tag : Mining Boot


Singer Thom Yorke of Radiohead performs at the Molson Amphitheaterin Toronto on Friday August 15, 2008. (Jim Ross/Canadian Press)
Happily, unlike my esteemed colleague Andre , I was lucky enough to experience Radiohead's transcendent show inToronto from the relative comfort of the sheltered, reservedseating section of Toronto's Molson Amphitheatre. Instead ofcursing the apocalyptic downpour, I had only wayward splashes fromthe beer glasses of overly-excited hooli-fans raining on my parade.
Having seen Radiohead almost half a dozen times since theirearliest days, I find it fascinating to note that, as their musichas veered away from anything resembling conventional college rockand grown increasingly weirder, avant-garde and dense, theiraudience has seemingly become much broader and more mainstream. Notthat I'm complaining -- there's something quite remarkable aboutwatching throngs of drunk dudes who wouldn't look out of place at,say, a Dave Matthews show, enraptured by deconstructed bits ofmelody that have more in common with experimental contemporarycomposers than they do with typical pop songcraft.
Andre summed up the show rather nicely (in short, Radioheadkilled), but some additional points of note: Openers Grizzly Bear, a lush indie rock ensemble from Brooklyn,fared far better on the Amphitheatre stage than I would'veanticipated. Their music -- a sort of jagged-edged folk-inflectedpop with emphasis on meaty Rickenbacker basslines and broad washesof vocal harmony -- sounded far more expansive than it does onrecord; a good thing when you're trying to engage thousands oflisteners in a massive stadium. I wasn't the biggest Grizzly Bearfan before taking in their warm-up set, but now I'm officiallysold. Radiohead's spectacular (and environmentally-conscious) light showcertainly contributed to the magical atmosphere of their show, buteven that elaborate set-up -- a collection of suspended LED columnspowered by solar batteries -- was outdone by nature. As GrizzlyBear frontman Ed Droste noted during the sunshower-spotted openingset, a gorgeous rainbow (he claimed there were three; I counted atleast one and a half) arced over the lake-side stadium. You'd thinkThom Yorke and co. made some negotiations with the heavenly spheresin honour of In Rainbows (material from which made up the bulk of their performance). While the rather academic nature of Radiohead's more recent workmight suggest that they're a bunch of po-faced eggheads, thoseBrits do let their hair down every so often. On Thursday, the nightbefore Radiohead's big show, the arty scenesters who'd showed up atWest Queen West hotspot the Beaver for an evening of weepy slowjams inspired by Twin Peaks were shocked to discover a guest on the decks in the wee smallhours. After being led to the bar by Broken Social Scene main manKevin Drew, Thom Yorke made a DJ cameo -- spinning Foreigner'sprimo power ballad I Want To Know What Love Is , no less.
--Sarah Liss
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