It's no secret that, at several points in the past decade, Thom Yorke has been sick of being in Radiohead. The bridge from OK Computer/Kid A saw him at his most pessimistic and depressed, while the band's hiatus in 2004 and Yorke's underperforming Eraser proved that, though Yorke wants to branch out, he's not yet a solo superstar. However, if Lollapalooza and last weekend's All Points West Music and Arts Festival are any indication, the days of discontent are gone.
Yorke and company have had no trouble putting on enthusiastic two-hour sets backed by a light show that reminds you of a gigantic, psychedelic car wash. Performing twice at All Points West, Radiohead's sets leaned heavily on In Rainbows, with Friday's show hitting all but one or two tracks. Not to say In Rainbows is bad — rather, you can only hear Thom Yorke croon “I don't wanna be your friend/I just wanna be your lover” so many times before you start longing for songs about Dante's Inferno and Marvin the Paranoid Android. When Radiohead actually hit the classics, few were disappointed (In “The National Anthem”, Jonny Greenwood might just beat out David Byrne in the category of “Best Usage of Portable Radio/Boombox in a Live Performance”).
No band in the world is bigger than Radiohead right now, and for the 20,000 in attendance at All Points West, it was worth the wait. Yorke, Jonny and older brother Colin Greenwood, Ed O'Brien and Phil Selway bring every bit of the show that their fans paid to see; hopefully it won't take them another two years to hit the road again.
