adriaan@ateaseweb.com

05-08-01

Jean Drapeau Park, Montreal, Canada



01. The National Anthem
02. Morning Bell (Kid A)
03. Airbag
04. Karma Police
05. Knives Out
06. Packt Like Sardines In A Crushd Tin Box
07. Exit Music (For A Film)
08. No Surprises
09. Dollars And Cents
10. I Might Be Wrong
11. Climbing Up The Walls
12. Talk Show Host
13. Pyramid Song
14. Paranoid Android
15. Idiotheque
16. Everything In It's Right Place
--encore #1--
17. Optimistic
18. My Iron Lung
19. Lucky
20. How To Disapear Completely
--encore #2--
21. You And Whose Army
22. Just
--encore #3--
23. Fake Plastic Trees

by Francois Pouliot
Les points forts de la soirée sont nombreux. Un show visuellement intéressant par des jeux d'éclairage efficaces et des "web-cams" qui nous permettaient d'être très intime avec Tom... surtout lorsqu'il était au piano! J'ai été très impressionné par les versions LIVE des chansons de Kid A et de Amnesiac. La plus surprenante fut certes celle de Pack Like Sarines In The Crushed Tin Box.... WOW! Mes moments magiques furent durant Idiotheque pour l'énergie déployée sur scène et l'enchaînement des pièces How To Disapear Completely et You And Whose Army. Ce furent des moment "planants" pour nous transporter dans le monde des rêves! Un seul mince regret et de ne pas avoir eu la chance d'entendre Street Spirit ... ce sera pour une prochain fois je l'espère!!!

by Chris Clark

DISCLAIMER- The following is an honest, critical review from someone with a
little bit of experience who might know a little more. It does not contain
blubbering about loving Radiohead to pieces or claims of Radiohead being
"the most influential band of all-time". This is a concert review based on
the concert that took place in Montreal's Parc Jean-Drapeau on August 5,
2001- not on previous shows and or recordings or anything else.

BASS TRAP

As far as I know, there is no such thing as Radiohead doing a bad show but
if there is such a thing as a bad Radiohead show [in comparison to others
done by the band] then the Montreal show on Sunday may be an example of one.
Maybe "bad" is too strong of a word for arguably the best live act going,
but it was definitely sub-par. It should be noted that the lacking was by
no fault of the band themselves who were more than impressive with both
their enthusiasm and skill- as usual.

The unusual, however, came with the very first note of the set-opener, 'The
National Anthem', and maintained throughout to the end of the third encore.
COLIN WAS TOO LOUD! Now of course it's hard to be too loud for a track like
'Anthem' but it was soon more than evident that the sound boys let us down
on this one. As the band carried on into 'Morning Bell' the rest of the
crowd carried on into denial as Colin's bass drowned and squashed, making
some notes utterly inaudible. Again, this was not his fault. The band had
no idea how screwed the sound was and apparently the audience didn't care.
I guess I know how it is though. You finish paying for the ticket, you wait
and you anticipate and you build up the show in your mind. Finally, when it
comes you've already convinced yourself that it has been the greatest show
of ever before it's even begun. Well sorry kids, you got gypped.

I'm not saying that it destroyed the whole show- far from it. Tracks like
'Packt' and other louder tracks from the set and encores were basically
undisturbed. 'Climbing Up The Walls' was spectacular and Sunday night was
easily the greatest performance of 'Idioteque' I have seen or heard
anywhere. Songs like 'No Surprises' and 'Everything In Its Right Place',
however, suffered under the loud thudding bass. 'How to Disappear' was
'Completely' butchered.

The highlights of the show were definitely the final two encores. After a
great interactive performance of 'You And Whose Army?' with Thom taunting
the crowd through the piano-cam, the band was already to kick into what was
most certainly going to be 'The Bends' based on the stage set-up and past
set-lists from the tour. That is until someone yelled to Thom from the
first row,

Thom - "Huh? Did someone say cheers???"

Ed - "No, they said, 'Just'."

Thom - "Oh, you wanna hear 'Just'? OK."

And with that the band switched up guitars and ripped into a show-stopping
performance of 'Just' that blew the crowd out of the water and sent them
screaming to the top of their lungs. Amazing. Again, they put down their
instruments and headed back-stage.

It looked like nothing was going to be able top that one until they came
back out for the third encore and final song of the evening. 'Fake Plastic
Trees'- a flooring performance that included two broken strings for Jonny,
who somehow figured out how to carry out the track without missing a beat.
It was a brilliant finish to a good night at the Parc.

I've seen quite a few bands and in them quite a few great performers-
R.E.M., Pearl Jam, NIN, STP, U2. I've seen Radiohead now three times in
three different cities in the past year. Friday night in my hometown of
Barrie, ON was the best show I've seen them do and the best show I've seen
anyone do. Sunday night in Montreal was the worst show I've seen them do.
It was a good night, not a great night.

Chris Clark
clarkinatorclark@hotmail.com

by Ian Nathanson(for Ottawa Sun)

Very few bands can boast a loyal fan base who are able to grow with a group that is dead-set on plugging new material, rather than revisiting their past glories.

Then again, there are very few bands like Radiohead.

Barely any convincing was necessary for the 20,000 who congregated last night at Jean Drapeau Park, on Montreal's Ste. Helene Island, to be seduced by the Oxford, England quintet, whose latest foray in a category-defying genre of (for lack of a better term) rock eschews your basic catering-to-radio formula.

Hence, to think Creep or High and Dry would even be touched during the band's two-hour set -- drawn largely from last year's seminal Kid A and its kid brother Amnesiac, released this past June -- missed the exercise completely.

Or did it? Against the weight of such electronica-based monsters as Packt Like Sardines In A Crushd Tin Box from Amnesiac and Kid A's Everything In Its Right Place, second-encore surprise Fake Plastic Trees (from 1995's The Bends) almost seemed far too commercial. Yet to drop it in as a show-closer once in a while doesn't hurt -- for the fans' sake, anyway.

SURPRISES

But then, Radiohead always have been chock full of surprises. Compared to the dour treatment frontman Thom Yorke, multi-instrumentalist Jonny Greenwood, his bassist brother Colin Greenwood, guitarist Ed O'Brien and drummer Phil Selway came across vis-a-vis the Grant Gee-directed flick Meeting People Is Easy -- filmed during Radiohead's 1997-98 OK Computer tour -- last night's visit was far more upbeat.

Musically, and visually.

Two giant screens on either side of stage showed every move, every smile, every wince. The collage of players resembled, at best, an European art film, at worst, a well-placed security camera. Yorke in particular had fun with the "piano-cam," pointing out all the insects on the white keys before launching into a riveting Pyramid Song.

Riveting doesn't tell the half of it. From the opening one-two-three punch of The National Anthem, Morning Bell and OK Computer's Airbag, the star of the show was, in essence, the band.

SURPRISES

Yorke's vocals rang crystal clear among the park audience, Jonny Greenwood's guitar, keyboards and sonic effects hit all the right grooves, Selway's time-perfect drum beats, with O'Brien and Colin Greenwood rounding out the precise rhythm section, struck all the right notes, in all the right places. Faults, if any, would only stir minor quarrels.

Fact is, much of the new material -- with honourable mentions to the rockin' I Might Be Wrong, Yorke's head-about-to-explode techno-crazy Idioteque and ethereal You and Whose Army? -- was greeted with the kind of loud cheering usually reserved for the likes of Karma Police and that epic-of-all-epics, Paranoid Android, which garnered likely the loudest response on the audience-meter.

With all the trappings of a bona fide live show -- bouncing strobes, illuminating fluorescent bulbs and a coat of many screen colours -- there was little doubt that Radiohead have raised the bar on live performance.

Let's hope that Radiohead -- and perhaps Montreal turntablist extraordinaire Kid Koala and Scotland's The Beta Band -- will be full of future surprises in the years to come.

by Scott

Wow! What can I say? They rocked!!! They played everything from old to new, which kind of surprised me. After reading interviews and stuff online it seemed to me that they aren't too fond of their old work. I guess I was wrong!!! "National Anthem" was a perfect opener, it really got the crowd going early! "Talk Show Host" was definitely another welcome surprise!! They rocked the park with "Paranoid Android". Playing ''Just" out of the blue because a fan requested it was incredible! That song was flawless!! And what a perfect choice to close the set, "Fake Plastic Trees"!! Geez I can go on forwever! I loved every song they played!
If I could add two disappointments, it would be that they didn't play my favourite song, "Subterranean Homesick Alien", and they kinda slowed down "My Iron Lung" and "Paranoid Android", but don't get me wrong, the good points of this show FAR outweighed the bad! Great show, guys!! It was by far the best concert I've seen!!!

Scott