ACL Review: Radiohead II

Radiohead thrashes against a thoroughly modern fear rife with the paradox of hyper-mediation and isolation amidst a disconnected world. “This is a low-flying panic attack,” quivered Thom Yorke’s moaning wail on Friday night set opener “Burn the Witch,” the stage bathed in blood red lights and screens split in a disorienting, schizophrenic mania.

Radiohead’s power thus comes in thrusting that fear forward, and enveloping its massive audience in a world of uncertain panic.

Such confrontational impetuousness also makes the English outfit a difficult festival band, even as one of the most important rock bands of the past quarter-century. Radiohead’s complexity eschews casual listening. Their aesthetic requires a commitment from fans to let go and be absorbed in the group’s disquieting wave.

On his 48th birthday, Yorke acknowledged as much in thanking the crowd for joining them in their corner of the field, and saying that if they wanted something else, they could “bugger off.” That declaration came as the band veered from last week’s set-list into the spectacular punch of “My Iron Lung” and “The National Anthem,” the former intoning, “If you’re frightened, you can be frightened” to the latter’s “Everyone is so near, everyone has got the fear, it’s holding on.”

Throughout the 23-song, two-hour set, Radiohead pulled at the tension. Quieter moments like “All I Need,” “Pyramid Song,” and “No Surprises” jarred against the surge of frenetic throbbing strobes and electronic pulses of “Bloom” and new songs “Identikit” and “The Numbers.” Jonny Greenwood quietly shifted through instruments at the side of the stage, maintaining the miasma of anxiety in the arrangements through bowed guitar, keys, and complimenting the dual drummer backing.

“Bodysnatchers” brought full rock force before “The Gloaming” dropped into a system meltdown amid the scratched loops and lights glowing command-screen green. The band mined Kid A in closing the proper set, delivering a perfectly paired “Everything in Its Right Place” and “Idioteque.”

The six-song encore spanned over half an hour, pulling the Latin-jazz rhythms of “Present Tense” into “Reckoner.” Yorke’s voice began struggling by the end on “Paranoid Android,” yet as the park’s 10pm sound curfew struck, Radiohead remained onstage to deliver one of ACL’s most memorable moments. With lights dropped low, the band quietly strummed a gorgeous “Fake Plastic Trees,” Yorke’s yearning voice carrying across the cool evening and near-silent crowd.