A look into the life of the best band in the world

It isn’t easy being in the best band in the world.

You’re held to the highest artistic standards by your obnoxiously obsessive fans, forced to re-invent your music and your approach for every album and are compelled to keep touring 15 years after your first hit song despite being recently married and having a couple of children.

Radiohead has dealt with these issues and many others, and has recently tackled the obstacles of being an independent band. In their internet innovation and dedication to artistic integrity, Radiohead finds itself as the best band of today.

Though it’s become trite and asinine to make such a subjective claim, Radiohead’s music, lyrics, graphic design work, live light show, marketing approach and a plethora of other aspects have all been cutting edge and give testimony to a legacy that will be remembered in musical history for years to come.

Yet, like many musical geniuses, their impact will not be fully understood in its day. Almost 11 months later, most people with knowledge of current pop culture are aware of Radiohead’s 7th album In Rainbows and how it was released on the internet at whatever price one chose to pay, including nothing.

Though this was a relatively new approach, it wasn’t unprecedented. Many aspiring music artists are willing to give away their music just to get it out there.

But since leaving Capitol Records after the release of Hail To The Thief, Radiohead has been experimenting in utilizing the countless possibilities of the internet for communication with their audience and has literally used the internet to create an intimate relationship with their fan base that isn’t a product of a major label.

Within a month of the release of In Rainbows, Radiohead set up a live web cast to be viewed by fans around the world. They played songs off the new album, a few covers including The Smiths and Björk and played DJ, spinning some of their favorite tunes. It was a laid back atmosphere and it felt like you were there with them.

It wasn’t a perfect production as they had some technical problems, but it was live, personal and much like the themes of In Rainbows, had human essence. Two months later, they recorded themselves playing all the songs off In Rainbows, and also made skits that can only be called psychedelic/eerie and aired it on New Years Eve 2007 calling it “Scotch Mist.”

Two weeks later, they announced a free show in London for the first 200 people to arrive at the location and aired it as a live web cast.

It was and still is an extremely exciting time to be a fan. Radiohead, being one of the few bands that is actually well read in politics, economics and climate change, decided to effectively reduce the carbon emissions of their next tour.

They hired a company to analyze their previous tours and came up with ways to reduce their carbon footprint. This resulted in fewer tour dates, shows near venues with public transportation, low-power LED lights for their light show, buying two sets of equipment for Europe and America and the elimination of chartered air travel amongst other things.

Radiohead even gave away a free live MP3 of “Bangers & Mash,” to fans that had attended the East Coast tour dates in May that had filled out a survey on their travel methods to the venue.

They started their reduced impact tour in May and ended the American leg of it last week here in Southern California. They played two nights at the Hollywood Bowl on Aug. 24th and 25th, one night near San Diego on the 27th and the Santa Barbara Bowl on the 28th.

Radiohead had just come off of a show in San Francisco two days before that had terrible technical difficulties, with the sound cutting out completely, twice. Radiohead seemed apprehensive and uncomfortable on the first Hollywood Bowl night.

They made minor music mistakes and the soundman was having trouble with the levels, but they made up for it by playing fan favorite “How To Disappear Completely,” and the rock anthem, “Paranoid Android.” They also played some rare songs such as the frantic “Wolf At The Door,” and the anti-capitalist “Dollars & Cents.”

Overall, it was a below average Radiohead concert. But the second night of the Bowl was such an amazing event that it’s hard to put into words.

On the 25th, Radiohead seemed extremely confident, relaxed and focused on putting on an amazing show. They opened with the ethereal “Reckoner,” from In Rainbows followed right into “Optimistic” from Kid A.

Singer Thom Yorke and guitarist Jonny Greenwood also played a beautiful rendition of Neil Young’s “Tell Me Why.”

In addition, the band played crowd pleasers “Karma Police,” and “The Bends,” along with the lesser-played, yet hauntingly gorgeous “Go Slowly,” and the closing track from Yorke’s solo effort The Eraser, “Cymbal Rush.” It was an absolutely perfect show and left the crowd in awe when the lights came back on. The next show down in San Diego County was even more exemplary to their talent.

“Just,” from The Bends came off as cocky and raunchy. “Where I End And You Begin,” looked and sounded like a whirlpool, with the Ondes Martenot, a primitive electronic instrument made in the 1930s, screaming like a Banshee over the many textures of Radiohead’s dense sonic field.

But the real powerhouse of the evening was Ok Computer’s “Lucky” with its epic guitar riff during the chorus, which invoked strong sentiments and a sense of wonder in the eyes of the audience during the second encore.

Furthering their unique internet approach, Radiohead announced early on the 28th that their last concert in America would be web cast live that very evening from Santa Barbara.

The web cast had crisp audio, multiple camera angles while retaining the intimacy of medium sized concert, as thousands watched it worldwide. They played B-side “Talk Show Host,” which was featured throughout the 1996 rendition of “Romeo + Juliet” as well as executing In Rainbows favorite “Jigsaw Falling Into Place,” perfectly.

Radiohead have six more dates lined up in Japan for October and after that are heading back into the studio to work on new songs.

It’s uncertain whether we’ll get another album soon, an E.P. or if they will just release tracks as singles as they’ve mentioned wanting to do. It is also hoped for by the band and many thousands of fans in South America, that they will try to make it down there sometime around Spring 2009.

As of now, the future of Radiohead is unclear. They are family men with new responsibilities beyond their fans, but also, are musical conduits for aural bliss, and they know it.

Their commitment to appeasing their fans is important to them, but the likelihood of world tours in the future seems to be diminishing as the guilt about their carbon footprint is outweighing their desire to play for people around the world.

The best band in the world seems to be hinting that they’re making the shift into becoming the best band on the World Wide Web as well.