Radiohead in Dallas

As part of my bday gift from Suzie (one of the best gifts I’ve ever gotten btw), she got me tickets to see Radiohead in Dallas. Radiohead is one of my all time favourite band right up there with the Beatles and Led Zep. I’ve seen them only once in my life but it was in a festival setting back in 98(I believe) and it was a very short set.

Anyways back to Dallas…Radiohead…with my wife…amphitheater. It was great. The anticipation, the atmosphere, the excitement as we walked in, you could cut it with a knife. And that was just at the parking lot!. As we approached the amphitheater, it was my first concert in an amphitheater so I did not know what to expect, we got our tickets scanned and all that good stuff, walking into the place was like walking into a whole new world. There were a mix of very diverse people everywhere. Felt like a festival, a hippie compound on one side, a yuppie-college gathering on the other side but love, I believe for music atleast, was in the air. In our excitement however, I forgot to grab the camera. D’oh!

The facility was excellent.We browsed around all the stands that was set up, mostly from Waste, their environmental organization that Radiohead is associated with and grabbed a drink before looking for our seats.I dare say I was probably acting like a giddy little school boy going to his first day of school.

The opening act was a band by the name of Liars. I am disappointed with myself for not knowing who they were prior to this concert because they were actually pretty good. The lead singer was a joy to watch. He was busting out with all this crazy dance moves on stage. You don’t get to see a lot of skinny little white kids dancing like that on stage in a rock concert. Musically they were tight too. The band sounds like The Battles with a proper singer. They kept the crowd going, hyping the audience into a frenzy for the main event. Dedicating a song to Radiohead and telling us how excited Radiohead was to be here today and how hyped and pumped they were backstage, made me even giddier with excitement. He preluded to a treat we were about to get and what a treat it was!

By now the amphitheater is packed. It is a warm sunny day, with a slight breeze blowing. However the breeze will soon disappear completely just as the setting sun illuminates the band’s entry onto stage. The crowd is deafening. Everyone is on our feet, standing, applauding, making the loudest noise you can hear. For the next 2 and a half hour, we will not sit until the band exits the stage.

Exploding into the air with the opening song from their excellent new album, In Rainbows, they played All I Need ( my favourite song from the album!). I was in heaven. They played every song from the new album and picked 2 songs from every album their discography except for Pablo Honey and even treated us to a brand new song. The band was mesmerizing to watch, having the crowd sway and swoon to every chord. They were in top form. I know now why they are tagged as one of the best live bands out there today. Hands down the best concert I have ever been to.

The whole concert was just very very awesome. But if I had to pick a few stand out songs from the vast list, they would include Videotape, You and Whose Army,My Iron Lung and Paranoid Android. It’s hard to just pick these as the entire set was simply incredible but these 4 simply stood out for it’s imaginative arrangements, superb performance, sheer energy and innovativeness.

Videotape on the album is a slow almost ballad-ish. Live however, it was totally new beast. It was brooding and climbing , getting more and more intense as it keeps going. It keeps building to a climax that never comes.It just stops. It builds and builds and builds to the end and then it just stops!. It was not time yet. They were not ready to climax.We were just getting started.

You And Whose Army is another great song. They did something I have never seen used in any concert I have been to. For the benefit of everyone in the back, there is a huge screen right above the band. Radiohead uses this to their advantage. Five screens showing the band in different states, different instruments and different angles. However for this song, they really went the extra mile with this technology. This is a very aggressive song lyrically. It starts of slow and on a piano but it’s an aggressive song. It’s a song on the current US administration.It’s a “come on and take me on if you dare, you and your cronies,I’m not afraid of you” kinda song. It’s also one of Suzie’s favourite from this concert. The camera focused on the lead singer, Thom Yorke’s eyes. It was actually a close up of his face and nothing more. Then zooming into his eyes and as the song progresses it zooms out slowly to show his entire face. The cool thing though, was that it was mischievous. He just had this mischievous and playful look to him. Then as this song builds up, Thom with his sly smile, looked at the audience and just started almost busting out laughing, because he knew what was coming. The entire screen above goes ballistic, expanding his face on all the screens and the band steps in and the song itself just blows up. Suzie said it was as if he knew what was going to happen and so he just couldn’t control himself and started laughing. She taught that was fun way to interact with the audience.

My Iron Lung is a popular song for Radiohead fans. I think every song from The Bends album could be considered a favourite among Radiohead fans. This song stood out primarily because everyone knows/knew the lyrics to it. It was a whip out your lighter moment. Everyone sang along almost drowning Thom out. Myself included.

Then came the grande finale. After three encores ( Yes 3!!! ) Bringing the entire experience into a climax, the last song they played brought the house down. That actually is an understatement. Paranoid Android destroyed the place. The crowd went mental. The band goes mental. The screens goes mental. The lights goes mental. It was an assault of noise and energy and on our senses. It was a non stop jam fest. Everything was just perfect in the world for that short time in their vortex of sound and lights. In our pop and digital world, we forget the joys of actually going to a concert sometimes. This reminded me why this is an important part of the human psyche. Thru the ages people have surrounded themselves in amphitheaters such as this one listening to musicians, poets, scholars and priests.It’s an enlightening moment to go somewhere, connect with people who I’ve never met and never will meet again and all of a sudden connecting to each other thru (in this case) music.

A truly once in a lifetime experience for me. I enjoyed it tremendously as did Suzie. Going with her and experiencing it with her made it even more enjoyable for me. She is really an awesome person to go anywhere with let alone a concert of this magnitude. I am truly blessed to have someone like that in my life. The entire experience has etched itself in my mind and will not be forgotten.