Radiohead snooze for one hour special
Last night a weathered Radiohead performed on a special hour-long edition of The Colbert Report. Watch the full episode above, courtesy The Audio Perv.
Radiohead played two songs from its latest record The King of Limbs as well as an unreleased piece “The Daily Mail” and a surprise ending with “The National Anthem” from the 11-year-old Kid A album. The throwback was like a flashback to how awestruck I was seeing multi-instrumentalist Jonny Greenwood perform with a radio on delay and the obscure electronic instrument Ondes Martenot.
This time around, however, such a performance from an aging band struggling to be relevant did not impress the old man I’ve become.
Granted, the basic cable mini concert was a fine production and the band did give a solid performance, but King‘s “Bloom” and “Little by Little” dragged the set with the spastic loops.
Layered with repetitions of rhythm and three-chord progressions, the sound of the new songs seem to evolve from an awkward beginning into an overlapped safe zone where vocalist Thom York yelps the song into perpetual motion. There was hardly any change in composition or vocal melody, to where the only thing keeping the listener’s attention was the jazz-attack beat.
Beyond the music, Colbert interviewed the band members in two parts, with the band as a whole and a separate global warming talk with York and guitarist Ed O’Brien. Like any guest on the show, the band was left dumbstruck in both instances at Colbert’s fool-proof logic and “nailing” points.
As anti-corporate Radiohead campaigns, it sure makes use of television and commercial breaks exposure after the season premiere of Saturday Night Live last weekend. The television appearances also seems strange since The King of Limbs was originally released almost eight months ago in February.
One thing is certain, Radiohead’s chemistry is unmatched by any other contemporary band. After 26 years they still dazzle mainstream ears with haunted compositions.
Watch Radiohead perform “Lotus Flower” on SNL, courtesy The Audio Perv.
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