Live And In The Flesh
Radiohead / The Flaming Lips - June 15 & 16, 2012
Almost six years to the date of my very first Radiohead show I would be given the opportunity to see them not only once, but twice! Once in Montréal and then again in Toronto the next night. Some friends and I decided to pick up some tickets to their Montréal show down at the Bell Centre. The show landed on a Friday night so it was perfect, nothing better than a weekend show! No worries about needing to take time off of work or making sure we were getting home at a decent time, just sit back and enjoy the tour! I had tried for tickets to their Toronto stop on their In Rainbows tour in 2008 but it sold out quickly. Unfortunately for this tour tickets sold out just as quick for Montréal and we were forced into dealing with some StubHub thieves. Somehow the moment the show sells out, StubHub seems to have hundreds at double the price, lovely! Coincidence that these shows sell out as fast as they do? I think not! This was the first and I'm hoping only time I have to resort to that. This was Radiohead and there was no way that I would be missing them on this tour!
After spending considerably way too much on our tickets to the Montréal stop of their first tour in four years, we decided that we might as well bite the bullet and pick up some tickets to their Toronto gig the following night down at Downsview Park. Why not, right? OK Computer's fifteenth anniversary was that night down in Toronto, not to mention it was an outdoor show. We figured the experience compared to the Montréal stop we had already secured tickets for would be completely different.
We wrapped up our workday and hit the road for our two hour drive to the Bell Centre. We had seats for the show so we weren't too worried about getting down there early. We made our way to Montréal in no time, parked the car a few blocks from the venue and headed to the show. I wanted to head to the merch booth right away to pick up a poster for the night. They had date specific posters and I knew they weren't going to last long as there were only 300 printed. After we checked the merch out we took to our seats. A few rows up from ice-level facing the stage almost directly, our view of their light show would prove to be fantastic.
Caribou (Dan Snaith) a well-renowned Canadian DJ was brought on to open up for Radiohead this tour. After his second album Swim won a Juno for best Electronic Album of the Year in 2010, I figured we were in for a treat. Caribou was only on the stage for a five track setlist, but they put on quite the show. They had us warmed up by the end of it with their track Sun, and we were ready for Radiohead!
The anticipation grew with each passing minute as we were seated impatiently waiting for the band to take the stage. The intermission music finally faded and the lights went out. Radiohead took the stage and the incredible light show began as they started off their set with Bloom, a track off of their latest album The King of Limbs. They quickly transitioned into There, There, and then right into Kid A. By this point in time I was simply loving life. The Gloaming followed not long after, one of my favourite tracks off of Hail to the Thief. I couldn't believe this night could possibly get any better than this. A couple of classic tracks off of their Amnesiac album were thrown into the mix next, I Might Be Wrong and Pyramid Song. I have always enjoyed the Kid A / Amnesiac material and loved getting to see some of it live. Climbing Up the Walls, one of only two tracks off of OK Computer played that night had sent shivers up my spine. Radiohead finished off their regular set with practically the rest of The King of Limbs songs before wrapping it up with Idioteque, another Kid A favourite!
The crowd was going wild, screaming and cheering for more! Encore! Encore! Encore! We had already witnessed sixteen tracks of amazing live music, I wasn't expecting anything more but they decided to come back out for not one, but two encores! The first encore started off with How To Disappear Completely and I couldn't even believe my eyes. The Daily Mail, one of two b-sides from The King of Limbs sessions that was played that night came after, followed by Myxomatosis and Reckoner. Surprising everyone with their second encore of the night they wrapped everything up with All I Need, off of In Rainbows, Street Spirit (Fade Out) which took us way back to The Bends, with Everything in Its Right Place as the grand finale! Complete with a unique True Love Waits intro even. I don't think the twenty-three song setlist could have been anymore outstanding, and to think we had tickets to see them the following night down in Toronto. We were going to get to experience it all over again!
The energy you are immersed in throughout the entire show resonates with you for hours, and sometimes even days or weeks following. The drive home from Montréal seems to go by within a blink of an eye and we are soon tucked away in our beds. We made sure we were well rested before we made our way down to Toronto, just another four hour trek down the 401.
We caught a good night's sleep before hitting the road just before noon. We got ourselves comfortable in our vehicle and hit the highway yet again. After the incredible performance the night before we were getting pretty excited to see Radiohead again. Tonight's show was being held down at Downsview Park. Big enough to hold a 70,000 person crowd, Radiohead had it all to themselves and Caribou. This was the fifteenth anniversary of the release of OK Computer. It wouldn't surprise me at all if they would be able to reach capacity that night in Toronto. We had decided to book a room for the night rather than try to push our luck with the drive home directly after the show. We managed to find our relatively cheap motel after the four hour drive and made our way to the closest subway station to catch the next car down to the park.
Sporting my Radiohead shirt from the night before we were asked by quite a few if we had seen them in Montréal. We had let them know that they would be in for quite the spectacular light show along with an amazing set. After about ten minutes of riding the subway we began to hear an announcement over the intercom that the Radiohead show had been cancelled due to a stage collapse causing death. We couldn't believe it. The park would be closed immediately for investigation and all attendees were requested to stay clear of Downsview so the individuals down at the park already could catch the outgoing cars, and they would need them as empty as possible. After immediately checking our smartphones we were able to confirm the unfortunate events and decided to get off at our next stop. The sheer weight of the lights and stage production would prove to be too much for the frame of the outdoor stage, which had only been brought in for this final night of their tour, collapsing and killing Radiohead's drum tech Scott Johnson.
We were all incredibly saddened by the news and weren't quite sure where we were going to go next. Downtown Toronto on a Saturday night in the middle of Summer, we knew it wouldn't be long before we would figure something out. After a few quick searches online we had discovered that The Flaming Lips were actually in town playing a free show down at Yonge & Dundas Square. Seeing as how we had the entire night ahead of us, we thought this would be the way to go and we made our way down to the Square. It wasn't long before we noticed most of those planning to attend the Radiohead show were thinking the same thing.
Finally we arrived at Yonge & Dundas shortly after The Flaming Lips had taken the stage and I could hear them playing Sweet Leaf, a Black Sabbath cover. What a way to attract a crowd, the Square was already packed as far as the eye could see. We decided to stay side stage and enjoy the closer view from there as opposed to the crowded head-on approach. I had listened to them a bit in the past but couldn't put names to songs at the time. Wayne Coyne was certainly quite a performer throughout the first few tracks of their fourteen song setlist. I had seen them briefly at one of their appearances at Bluesfest down in Ottawa before this and had remembered how much of a stage show they bring with them, complete with giant confetti cannons, balloons and an inflatable hamster ball for Wayne to walk all over the crowd in. It was a spectacle. The highlight of their set would be their cover of Radiohead's Knives Out, dedicated to Radiohead's crew after the unfortunate events earlier on in the day. I can still feel the chills down the back of my neck as this was played that night down in Toronto, certainly a moment I will never forget.
Unfortunately due to the worst circumstances imaginable we weren't able to see Radiohead that second night, but we were able to make the most out of our evening in the city. This night would be one of the biggest reminders of just how difficult life out on the road can potentially be for these musicians and their road crews. Losing a member of their family seems to beg the question of whether it's all really worth it in the long run. Radiohead have yet to return to Toronto, or Canada for that matter. I will be making sure that I will be in attendance to show them my support, for all that they have been through over those decades of touring.