Radiohead: Toronto Sears Theatre

During the most anti-corporate phase of Radioheads career - 'Kid A'
is a noisy, ambient, self-indulgent, polyrhythmic, liberating, unnatural
and, ultimately, defiant album, spawning no conventional singles or videos
- Thom Yorke & co grace the stage of the Sears Theatre, which is named
after a department store and is part of the Air Canada Centre.


Yorke gets a kick out of the paradox and milks it for the duration
of Radiohead's two-hour set, randomly dedicating songs to a series of
Canadian and multi-national corporations. 'Morning Bell' is brought to us
"courtesy" of Labatts, 'Airbag' by Ford, 'In Limbo' by Pizza Pizza,
'Optimistic' by Labatts brewery rival Molson, 'Lucky' by MuchMusic, Nike for 'How To Disappear Completely' ("They're such good
trainers") and 'No Surprises' by EMI-Time Warner - er, "not yet." For 'Paranoid
Android', he teams IBM and Gucci, before asking rhetorically, "Is it boring
yet? I think it's still funny myself."


This is just about the only banter Yorke offers during a set that
includes the as-yet-unreleased 'Dollars And Cents', the heady, otherworldly 'Exit
Music(For A Film)' and old B-side and live fave 'Talk Show Host'.


The 'Kid A' songs', played deftly and intuitively, and surprisingly by
the book, are given as much, if not more, respect from the attentive audience
than old classics like 'Just', 'The Bends' and 'Karma Police'. While
no-one moshed in the general admission area at the foot of the stage, the
crowd are simply smitten.

Karen Bliss