These concert reviews have become quite a task. But now it’s time for the final (I think) concert of the summer, #9, Radiohead.

I had to travel a good bit to see this show. Being exhausted from all the previous concerts, I was considering just staying home and skipping this one, but I’m glad I made the trek out to Wisconsin for this one. It was hands down the best concert I’ve seen all summer.

The opening band started 20 minutes early while I was still trying to get a nap in on the lawn. As I laid there, I thought, “That voice sounds familiar. Who is it? Wait a minute…it sounds like Pavement. That must be Stephen Malkmus!” Sure enough, it was Stephen Malkmus and his new band, the Jicks. They had a similar, gleefully dissonant sound like Pavement, but slightly more refined. It was fun, unpolished music and I just might consider investing in one of their albums. The only problem I had was with Malkmus’s annoying stage banter (“Thank you….and you…and you and you and you.”). But all in all, I thought they were a good opener for Radiohead.

Now Radiohead, well, what can I say? They were amazing, even better than I remember them from two years ago on the Amnesiac tour. Radiohead is one of those bands whose live performance adds a whole nother dimension to their songs. I quite honestly cannot come up with one negative thing to say about this concert. The setlist was phenomenal, about 50% Hail to the Thief, 50% old material. I realize that most of the people who read this blog don’t have clue when it comes to Radiohead, so I’ll refrain from giving a song by song analysis. I’ll just try to hit some of the highlights.

“2+2=5” was a great, strong start, but the first song that really got me was “Where I End and You Begin”. There was lots of energy from the whole band, but lead singer Thom York, as usual looking either like a just-hatched baby bird or a toddler just awakened from a nap, was as charged as I’ve ever seen him. He sang his heart out, mugged for the piano-cam, and danced like a madman. I also heard some of my favorites like “Lucky”, “Paranoid Android”, and “Fake Plastic Trees”. They played some great tunes to get the crowd dancing like “Just” and “Idioteque”. I really enjoyed hearing “Idioteque” live again. The arrangement was amazing and no one in the crowd could help but dance. I was also impressed with the live version of “There, There”. For this song, three of the five members of the band got on percussion to give the song an unbeatable drive. The final encore started with a wonderful crowd sing-along to “Karma Police”. Gorgeous song. And they closed the concert as they usually do, with “Everything in Its Right Place”.

Concert highlight? Can’t really pick one. Watching Jonny Greenwood race among his various music-making contraptions was fun though. At times he even played guitar and keyboard simultaneously, hitting keys with the headstock of his guitar. The light show was also magnificent, complimenting the music without drawing too much attention away from it. Worst part? Wandering inebriates, hopelessly lost from their group in the sea of people on lawn. Nothing worse than someone shoving by you and screaming out somebody’s name while you’re trying to enjoy the music.

This was my sister’s first exposure to Radiohead. I’m curious what she thinks. She didn’t say much on the way home, so I’m not sure if she didn’t like it and was afraid to say so because I was nice enough to take her to the concert or what. Regardless, I’m glad we went together. It was a great evening.