Radiohead Concert Review Wow, what a show! Cuyahoga Falls, OH, a warm, idyllic summer night, lots of stoners who shared my taste in haircut and crummy clothes, and a friend (Sarah) who really got it - all combined to make it a very magical evening. This being my first lawn experience, I wasn't quite sure what to expect. The sound was very low, almost conversation level, and while this made it hard to lose myself in the music, it also made it very peaceful. The band opened up with "The National Anthem," probably the only danceable song on Kid A, and proceeded from there to spin off some of their hardest to grasp and obscure songs. Of course I'd have it no other way.
Thom Yorke, a fellow nerd who shares my penchant for dancing like a weiner, dedicated the song "Optimistic" to "anyone who still feels that they can make a difference." That was the first song I really flipped out to (and reclaimed, for the briefest of moments, the title of "That Guy" at the show, the one everyone thinks is blown out of his mind on acid; soon, however, another guy got it back, but he may really have been on acid.) Other highlights included "The Pyramid Song" which was even more moving live, "Lucky" which came off even more hauntingly than the OK Computer version, and "Everything in It's Right Place (which I feel that they could have turned, very nicely, into a 25 minute jam. :) Cest la vie.) "Exit Theme For a Movie" got so quiet that you could hear the crickets, with just a soft acoustic guitar and some very spacy Pink Floyd style sound effects. Very groovy, baby. But the best two songs of the night came as encores. "You and Whose Army" just seemed to explode all over the place, making every sense tingle. "Oh, so sad." And, I'm getting chills just thinking of it, "How to Disappear Completely" rocked my music world on it's foundation. There was something so magical in the guitar line, something that flashed me back to my first listen, freezing alone under the stars at a remote state park in southern Indiana, that just cut through all my defenses. Sarah felt it too, and we just sort of exchanged glances that held everything unsaid. I've been unable to listen to that song since I've gotten home, because I think that there is just too much emotion there right now.
I'm going through some real transitions, and there is no better soundtrack for them. Radiohead, in my opinion, is justly deserving of the evangelical fervor that greets them on every review page. I feel changed by the experience, something I can't say about most of the many shows that I've seen. But the moments already past, yeah it's gone. The memories linger of a real pinnacle of the summer, tho. I'll never forget that night, and I doubt Sarah will either (right?) :)
Thom Yorke, a fellow nerd who shares my penchant for dancing like a weiner, dedicated the song "Optimistic" to "anyone who still feels that they can make a difference." That was the first song I really flipped out to (and reclaimed, for the briefest of moments, the title of "That Guy" at the show, the one everyone thinks is blown out of his mind on acid; soon, however, another guy got it back, but he may really have been on acid.) Other highlights included "The Pyramid Song" which was even more moving live, "Lucky" which came off even more hauntingly than the OK Computer version, and "Everything in It's Right Place (which I feel that they could have turned, very nicely, into a 25 minute jam. :) Cest la vie.) "Exit Theme For a Movie" got so quiet that you could hear the crickets, with just a soft acoustic guitar and some very spacy Pink Floyd style sound effects. Very groovy, baby. But the best two songs of the night came as encores. "You and Whose Army" just seemed to explode all over the place, making every sense tingle. "Oh, so sad." And, I'm getting chills just thinking of it, "How to Disappear Completely" rocked my music world on it's foundation. There was something so magical in the guitar line, something that flashed me back to my first listen, freezing alone under the stars at a remote state park in southern Indiana, that just cut through all my defenses. Sarah felt it too, and we just sort of exchanged glances that held everything unsaid. I've been unable to listen to that song since I've gotten home, because I think that there is just too much emotion there right now.
I'm going through some real transitions, and there is no better soundtrack for them. Radiohead, in my opinion, is justly deserving of the evangelical fervor that greets them on every review page. I feel changed by the experience, something I can't say about most of the many shows that I've seen. But the moments already past, yeah it's gone. The memories linger of a real pinnacle of the summer, tho. I'll never forget that night, and I doubt Sarah will either (right?) :)
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