Tuesday, April 7, 1998
Radiohead show electrifies sell-out crowd
MUSIC: British bands mix powerful, mellow songs from current,
old albums
By Mike Prevatt
Daily Bruin Senior Staff
With current trends in pop music reflecting a more down-to-Earth
manner, it’s refreshing to see bands like Radiohead and
Spiritualized venturing into the unknown.
Wednesday’s dynamic show at the Universal Amphitheater,
featuring the two critically-acclaimed British bands, took the
sold-out, celebrity-studded audience on a journey somewhere in the
ether. Rather than the usual Mexico and Lake Havasu spring break
getaways, 6,000 youngsters found a heavenly escape right here in
Los Angeles, thanks to the two absorbing performances.
Even before the bands took to the stage, a huge buzz surrounded
the show. For headliner Radiohead, this represented their third
L.A. stop in less than a year, having already conquered the
Troubadour, the Wiltern Theater and KROQ’s Weenie Roast. The
Oxford-based guitar-rock band managed to sell out the Universal
Amphitheater show in five minutes. A half-hour prior to the show,
hundreds of scalpers and fans swarmed the entrances, begging for
tickets. A huge line formed at the box office for possible
last-minute ticket openings. (It didn’t happen.).
Radiohead came fresh from winning best alternative performance
and earning a nomination for best album of the year at the Grammy
Awards last February (for their 1997 album, "O.K. Computer").
And Spiritualized entered the show with their biggest L.A. date
yet, one last American tour to cap off a year that saw both its
album, "Ladies and Gentlemen, We Are Floating In Space" receive
mass critical acclaim and its already big cult fan base grow even
larger.
As the rain subsided outside, fans poured inside at 8:15 p.m. to
catch a glimpse of the symphonic rock of Spiritualized. A
surprising half of the capacity audience rushed to their seats,
screaming to the first notes of hypnotic "Cop Shoot Cop." Louder
screams emanated from the crowd as band leader and singer Jason
Pierce took to the microphone.
Seven musicians graced the stage, with guitars buzzing, drums
pummeling and the saxophone blaring. Through this group effort came
numbing yet soulful sound that drowned out any of the
shuffling-about that usually occurs during the first band’s
performance. But that may have been because almost everyone’s
attention was on the band.
Bathed in a sea of lights, Spiritualized performed both older
and new material. Much to their fans’ delight, Pierce and company
played the climactic "Shine a Light," from their 1992 album, "Lazer
Guided Melodies," and the energetic "Lay Back in the Sun" from
1995’s "Pure Phase." And of course, highlights from "Ladies and
Gentlemen …" found themselves on the setlist, like "Cop Shoot
Cop," the gospel-like "Come Together" and "Electricity," which
lived up to its name.
Despite the very laidback nature of its albums, Spiritualized’s
material takes on a much more energetic, vital feel when played
live. Full of appropriate highs and lows, the 45-minute set had the
listeners sitting back and losing themselves in one built-up
composition after another, flowing together into one mass effort
almost like a modern-day "Dark Side of the Moon."
Pierce’s vocals went from cold and bleak in one song to
multi-ranged and colorful the next. Yet while bands like Radiohead
find most of their emotion in the vocals, Pierce and Spiritualized
found their power mainly in the harmonic symphony of the music
itself. It represented blissful foreplay to the climax coming right
after.
Radiohead shocked most of the crowd (once the audience was done
gawking at such rock star attendees as Marilyn Manson) by opening
its near two-hour set with "Exit Music (For a Film)," the slowest,
dreariest piece from the gold-selling-plus "O.K. Computer." But its
intensity and overwhelming aura more than adequately warmed up the
very excited onlookers as Radiohead championed its way through the
dark yet soaring material from "O.K. Computer" and its massively
underappreciated 1995 album, "The Bends."
Despite the stark tone of most of the material (which sadly did
not include material from their first album, "Pablo Honey," which
included the self-loathing hit, "Creep"), singer Thom Yorke and the
rest of the band showed they were in great spirits. The usually
bashful Yorke was all smiles during the performance, even
responding to shouting crowd members. After one of the devoted
expressed his love for the vocalist, Yorke shot back with an "I
love you too!"
Aside from the usual album selections, Radiohead pleased the
diehards with B-sides and rarities. (Yorke introduced "How to
Disappear Completely and Never Be Found" as being "for the benefit
of the bootleggers.") One of the highlights came early on in the
form of "Talk Show Host," the drum-and-bass-heavy offering for the
1996 "Romeo + Juliet" soundtrack. Yorke even revealed the band’s
plans to release an EP by the name of "How Am I Driving?" joking in
a Stateside accent that it was "aimed at the American market."
The distinct quality of Radiohead’s songs was evident in the
loud crowd screams at the start of each song. Many members of the
audience moved about to the harder, faster pieces, like "Airbag,"
"Just" and "The Bends." During such songs, especially "Bones" (from
"The Bends"), Yorke stomped and thrashed about with his guitar,
getting as lost in the harmonic chaos of the music as the
crowd.
Toward the end of its first set, the band proved why it is one
of the best, rocking-est bands on the planet with an explosive
version of "Paranoid Android," the first single off "O.K.
Computer."
And when the band toned it down, the audience relished and
relaxed in the melodic beauty, highlighted like the other pieces by
a superior lighting display and Yorke’s sky-reaching vocals. The
xylophone-led "No Surprises" met massive crowd approval, with Yorke
dedicating the current U.K. single to Phil Spector. "Karma Police"
also found loud audience approval, probably because the song is
still on heavy rotation on alternative radio stations in Los
Angeles. Radiohead also played the melodramatic "Fake Plastic
Trees" and ended its first set with "Lucky."
Radiohead came back on stage with a strobe-light highlighted
"Planet Telex" and the soulful "Street Spirit (Fade Out)," both
from "The Bends." The inclusion of so many songs from "The Bends"
was refreshing, especially because it gave a crowd – most likely
more familiar with the more current "O.K. Computer" – a chance to
experience material that unfortunately didn’t receive as much
attention or sell very well.
As the band reappeared for the second encore, the crowd screamed
louder than they had been all night, leaving the fivesome on stage
beaming with smiles. A very humbled Yorke thanked the crowd and
began with their beautiful hit, "Let Down," which even after almost
two hours of out belting songs had the wide-ranged vocalist singing
with more power and feeling than he had all night. The band ended
the show with a haunting yet glowing version of "The Tourist,"
dedicated to Spiritualized.
Both bands’ spaced-out, emotionally charged performances set
themselves apart from happy-go-lucky alt-pop bands bombarding the
radiowaves and charts today. With bits of Pink Floyd, U2, the
Velvet Underground and the Stooges floating in and out of the
Amphitheater’s P.A. system as both bands played, it was obvious
that Radiohead and Spiritualized didn’t just come up with their
unique sounds without precedent.
To the contrary, both bands also reveled in their originality by
avoiding all the trappings of electronica, modern-day punk and ska.
With the monotonous drone of perky pop and jumpy guitars on the
radio and MTV currently, thank heaven for the uniqueness and
stylish atmospheres both Radiohead and Spiritualized offer music
listeners, looking for substance and passion. Capitol Records
(Left to right) Ed O’Brien, Jonny Greenwood, Phil Selway, Thom
Yorke, and Colin Greenwood compose Radiohead.
Arista Records
The British band Spiritualized opened for the Radiohead
show.