Not on the radio
Achieving fame in the ’90s doesn’t mean playing hits all the time
WITH ’ 90s rock nostalgia in full tilt, it would have been no surprise to see Radiohead dive headlong into its glory years during this week’s brace of shows at Madison Square Garden. But these Brits are a rare beast in music — one that refuses to give more than a glance to their illustrious history.
On both nights, they offered up just a handful of throwbacks from the decade that made them stars.
Not that anyone could have felt shortchanged. They began each show with five consecutive new songs from this year’s “A Moon Shaped Pool,” including the juddering, tension-addled “Burn the Witch,” the chilly but gorgeous soul of “Decks Dark,” and a noisy, electro-funk juggernaut called “Ful Stop.” It’s a ballsy opening salvo that exhibits more daring and creativity than most bands could whip up in an entire career, and underlines their two-decade commitment to relentlessly moving forward.
Radiohead’s ’ 90s material might still have the biggest emotional pull, but it feels slight next to such fresh, forward-thinking work. “No Surprises” (from 1997’s “OK Computer”) now feels childlike, while “Planet Telex” (the opener from 1995’s “The Bends”) has gone from sounding like a rock benchmark to an afterthought. That’s not a criticism; it’s a mark of how far this band has come, and how their best work always seems to be in the present rather than the past.
But Radiohead is also self-assured enough to give its oldest fans a little of what they want. On Wednesday, a communal singalong of “Karma Police” dominated the en- core, and they even served up their slacker-rock anthem “Creep.” After years of making a point of not playing (if not openly deriding) it, the quintet is finally at peace with the single that opened the doors to their success, and they dish it out on occasion as a treat. It was received like a long-lost friend by the crowd, but compared to the five-star gourmet main course served up in the two hours prior, it was like getting a Kit Kat for dessert.
But that’s OK. Sometimes, Kit Kats are nice too.