It’s pretty safe to say that last Monday night changed my life. Call me over-dramatic, but with the ridiculously high standards I had set for my first concert experience with my all-time favorite band, I thought I was sure to be let down.
Radiohead exceeded my expectations; they blew them out of the water. It was a slightly spiritual experience, to say the least.
Radiohead continued their American tour last weekend, Aug. 24-25, playing two shows at Los Angeles’s historic Hollywood Bowl, on Sunday and Monday nights. The Bowl’s 18,000 seats for both nights sold out in about four hours when the tickets went on sale two months ago; needless to say, the place was packed.
I, having dropped the ball, missed my chance at tickets and had to Craigslist it three days before the show. I ended up with just about the worst seats in the house – but it didn’t matter at all. From my bench, at the top of the Radiohead world, looking over a sea of people, I soaked in the best concert of my life.
Radiohead began the set playing “Reckoner,” a track off their newest release, In Rainbows, with an explosion of neon light and video projection filling the stage and the Hollywood Hills behind them. It was about two minutes into the song (right when bass and piano fade in, and the treble sound fades to the background) that I knew the show would be better than I ever dreamed it could be. Radiohead followed the hit with “Optimistic,” a track from their groundbreaking 2000 release, Kid A. Then they played “There, There,” a track from their 2003 record, Hail to the Thief.
After the third song, I knew I had no idea what I would hear next. The band would play songs from their whole repertoire, creating an eclectic array of sounds, showing off their impressive timeline; there was a piece of every bit of Radiohead’s 15-year existence displayed that night.
By the end of their 27-song (yes, 27 songs!) set, Radiohead had played their entire In Rainbows record, four songs off Kid A, two songs from Hail To the Thief, one from Amnesiac, two from OK Computer, three from The Bends, a handful of randoms including one song off Thom Yorke’s Eraser and even a duet cover of a Neil Young song.
The set was flat out impressive. The band would allow songs to play out to their full potential on stage, expanding in parts from the original recordings. Most notable in this was the live rendition of “Videotape,” the closing track off of In Rainbows.
With each song, the neon color scheme on stage would drastically change. From blood red, to psychedelic green and everywhere in between, the stage show was almost as impressive as the music itself. Almost.
Numerous fluorescent tubes dangled from the top of the stage behind the band, creating a sort of cage. These tubes would light up synchronically, complementing four projection screens showing close-ups of the entire band on the back of the stage.
The sounds of Radiohead and their thousands of fans attempting (and usually failing) to sing along, echoed through the Hollywood Hills. From my seat at the top of the Bowl, surrounded by the stoners, I could see the entire arena and the faint glow of the Hollywood sign in the distance. When I would look down and stare at the band like ants on the stage, surrounded by exploding neon light, I’d feel the overwhelming urge to dance.
After two and a half hours of Radiohead, I wanted five hours more. It was a night unlike any other, thanks to a band unlike any other.
Take that for over-dramatic.
