Trailblazing band Radiohead casts hypnotic spell

August 26, 2008

LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - While millions around the world spent Sunday watching the closing ceremony of the Beijing Olympics, 7,000 fans lucky enough to score a ticket to Radiohead’s show at the Hollywood Bowl witnessed not only a band at the top of its game but also an act that at times seemed to be the best on the planet.

Certainly that’s high praise, but during its two-hour set — the first of two sold-out nights at the Bowl — the quintet from Oxford, England, managed to cast a spell over the crowd without resorting to fist-pumping anthems like U2, Bruce Springsteen, Pearl Jam or even Coldplay. Radiohead simply operates on a completely different level: It connects with the audience through sublime and hypnotic intensity rather than by pummeling a crowd into submission via bravado.

Even its politics are subtle. Throughout the set, two Tibetan flags were draped on the backs of keyboards; this was never addressed but nonetheless sent a message as the rest of the world celebrated the Olympic Games in China. And, in the jaw-dropping, fuzz-bass-fueled "The National Anthem," the band employed snatches of audio hijacked from infomercials that effectively mocked mindless consumerism.

Thom Yorke of the band Radiohead performs during the All Points West Concert August 8, 2008 in Jersey City, New Jersey.
REUTERS/Keith Bedford

More of the story,
click image

Posted in Arts and Culture, Music