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Radiohead Continue March Toward Rock Sainthood With Stellar Performance At Thunderbird Stadium
Vancouver
June 28, 2001
Radiohead @ Thunderbird Stadium
June 24, 2001
In a rant about artist integrity, the late Bill Hicks once remarked "You do a commercial, you're off the artistic roll call for ever -end of story. You're another corporate f***ing shill, another whore at the capitalist gang-bang, if you do a commercial everything you say is suspect and every word that comes out of your mouth is now like a turd falling into my drink."
Hicks, to whom Radiohead dedicated their second album, may well have provided the bands guiding ethos, a credo to which they adhere to keep their music pure. Consider the quandary of the ‘world's best band': everything they do is watched with hawk eyes, every note they play is the property of its devoted fanbase. OK Computer was met with so much acclaim that the band's follow-up was doomed to disappoint. Had they produced another rock album they would have been accused of pandering, when they released the deconstructed Kid A, they were accused of being difficult. But the genius of Radiohead is their uncompromising need to produce music for themselves, to make sounds that make not be commercial, but challenge and enlighten their listener.
The crowd at T-Bird stadium last Sunday was nothing short of stunning. 15,000 fans, from all walks of life, crammed on a damp field to see living legends. A ringed fence encompassing the first 1000 ticket-buyers proved something of a let-down, but the audience seemed willing to forgive what was presumably a safety measure and enjoy the show from the 100 meter barrier.
Not content to just bring themselves, Radiohead also brought along The Beta Band, a UK lo-fi outfit whose critical acclaim has yet to win them overseas recognition. The Beta Band play the kind of shambling, introspective stoner-rock that gets even the most cynical crowd up and dancing. Tunes such as Dry The Rain and It's Over prove just how talented and diverse this disheveled four piece are. Avant-garde, yet somehow retro, this is certainly not the last we'll see of this group.
However good The Beta Band were, it was Radiohead's job to blow the crowd away. And they succeeded. Despite the huge venue, the sound coming from massive speaker stack was clear and rich, proving that the best arena for an arena show is none at all.
Skipping the onstage banter and heading straight for the jugular, Radiohead bounced fairly effortlessly from new to old material, studiously avoiding songs from Pablo Honey and The Bends. Surprisingly, the crowd reacted just as well to Amnesiac as it did to Karma Police. Even more surprisingly, Kid A's material, despite being heavily reliant on samples and loops, holds up to the live test.
The show was filled with suitably Radiohead moments, from the sun setting in perfect time to Exit Music (for a film) to the jets from Vancouver Airport flying overhead during Paranoid Android. Thom Yorke's tiny stature juxtapositioned with his giant voice left more than a few in the crowd gasping. Though it was at times impossible to see anymore than the person-in-front-of-you's giant, seven-foot tall head, it seemed strangely irrelevant. Radiohead are, and have always been, musicians first, Rock Stars second.
During Airbag, with Johnny Greenwood's buzzsaw guitar filling the evening air, the be-afro's red-head next to me looked me dead in the eye and declared "This is the best moment in my life, ever". And though the band themselves would probably blanch at this, it's as powerful a testament to their talent as one could imagine.
Like to offer us a second opinion, from a different perspective? We're always open to what you have to say. Send your version of events to info@citygigs.com. If it's meaningful ("They really, really rocked / sucked" doesn't cut it) we'll consider it for publication.
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