Day 15.311: Thirty years a fan

I probably first saw Radiohead live in 1992. It was certainly significantly before their debut album Pablo Honey came out in February 1993. I’ve taken more than a passing interest in the musical output of all of them ever since. 

Most recently, that has included The Smile - perhaps in some ways the most Radiohead-ish of the side projects - thanks to the presence of two of the creative cores of the older band - Thom and Jonny. 

This is no Radiohead-lite however and drummer Tom Skinner is no stand-in. Rather, it is artsy and gutsy and experimental and pop all at the same time. The three members not only take their turns on various instruments (all played keys at some point and both Thom and Jonny played both guitar and bass, Jonny even played a small harp at point with one hand while playing a piano with the other) but also seemed to take it in turns holding things together while the other two were able to indulge their flights of rhythmic and melodic fancy. 

The quiet songs were beautiful, the rocky pop songs really rocked and a lot of the intricate experimental songs landed very well live. There were a few moments that were less perfect, but maybe it’s allowing themselves the freedom to have those moments that allows the free creative rein to produce the best moments - and they were very good indeed.