Radiohead/Other Lives in Santa Barbara

RADIOHEAD/OTHER LIVES

SANTA BARBARA COUNTY BOWL

12 APRIL 2012

Radiohead once again made the trip to Santa Barbara County Bowl on a stormy Thursday evening, serving as a warmup for their Saturday headlining spot at Coachella.  Fortunately, they seem attached to a place that they've far outgrown-this being their 3rd appearance there, and the audience braved the elements that turned the night into an unforgettable show.

One way to read the set is as a powerful response to the mixed reviews that greeted last years TKOL. My personal theory is that the avalanche of music available now and the amped up time cycle has led to sloppiness in reviews from not enough quality time spent listening, in the rush to judgement.
TKOL (to me) is the purest distillation of Radiohead, and really came to life the most in the live renditions of the songs.
To translate the rhythmic complexity of the LP, the band brought aboard Portishead's touring drummer, and the experiment definitely worked.  "Good Morning Mr. Magpie" was an unexpected full frontal assault.  The new songs that have appeared during the tour, "Staircase" and "Identikit", surfaced, as well as post King Of Limbs single "Supercollider".

The rain held off for awhile, and when it did make its appearance, it served to heighten the mood, notably during "Lotus Flower", and "These Are My Twisted Words".  It also served to remind one just how often rain comes up in Radiohead songs...The mood was lightened in the first encore during a breakdown in the intro to "Separator", as it was so eloquently put from the stage: "There's a mouse under my pedal".
They slipped in "Planet Telex" at the end of the first encore, and finished out the night with an always epic "Paranoid Android".  Not surprisingly, despite Mother Nature's best efforts, the seats were full of the hardy faithful to the end.

Setlist:
01 “Bloom”
02 “15 Step”
03 “Morning Mr. Magpie”
04 “Staircase”
05 “Codex”
06 “The Daily Mail”
07 “Myxomatosis”
08 “The Gloaming”
09 “These Are My Twisted Words”
10 “Pyramid Song”
11 “Supercollider”
12 “Lotus Flower”
13 “Weird Fishes/Arpeggi”
14 “Feral”
15 “Little By Little”
16 “Idioteque”
encore 1:
17 “Separator”
18 “Nude”
19 “Identikit”
20 “Planet Telex”
encore 2:
21 “Give Up The Ghost”
22 “Reckoner”
23 “Paranoid Android”
 Also, here is the entirety of their Coachella set:

Other Lives, (from Oklahoma), carried out the opening duties with vigor.  Their last Santa Barbara appearance was at Soho, opening for The Rosebuds.  In the fall they opened for Bon Iver, and have spent the spring working across the States with Radiohead.  Their open, cinematic sound-which made such an impression in a small club, took on a new life here.