It’s been 19 years since British Art Rock giants Radiohead did their first tour of the U.S. Tonight, Radiohead finally finds time to perform in Cincinnati, bringing its tour behind last year’s Grammy-nominated album The King of Limbs to Riverbend Music Center. If there’s any band worth waiting that long for, it’s Radiohead. The world’s biggest avant garde group is also one of the best live acts on the planet, playing with a fervent intensity backed by a dazzling light/stage show.
The group’s two-hour-plus sets of late have been heavy on Radiohead’s “post Pop” albums, though they often treat fans to “oldies” like “Karma Police” and “Paranoid Android.” If you are even the remotest fan, you need to see Radiohead once in your lifetime. You don’t want to wait another 19 years, do you?
Only lawn seats remain ($30) at the box office for tonight's show.
Radiohead Live at the 2009 Grammy Awards from cinserrajr on Vimeo.
Electronic/Indie act Caribou — a MidPoint Music Festival alum — opens up the show at 7:30 p.m. Read more about Caribou here and check out a clip for the tune "Irene" below.
• Rising Hip Hop MC Yelawolf performs tonight at the Madison Theater in Covington. Tickets for the all-ages show are $20. Showtime is 8 p.m. Special guest Rittz opens.
When Michael Wayne Atha was born in 1979 in the relatively small Alabama town of Gadsden, it’s doubtful that his mother looked at her new son and said, “Future Rap superstar.” But that’s just where Atha — now known by his stage name Yelawolf — is heading.
Yela moved between Tennessee and Alabama as a child and later traveled the country in pursuit of skateboarding stardom; he also hit Alaska in pursuit of a fishing-boat job. The MC grew up on Southern Rock before discovering Hip Hop. The geographic wandering and his love of a variety of music likely explain the diversity within his own. On his official 2011 debut album, Radioactive, Yelawolf’s own geographical origins are hard to pinpoint as he filters influence from southern Hip Hop to the Detroit scene and spits it out in his own unique voice. Even the guests on Radioactive were from all over, from Lil Jon and Mystikal to Eminem (whose Shady label released the record) and Kid Rock. During his recent performance at the huge Hangout Music Fest (see an interview from Spin with Yela at the fest below) along the ’Bama coast in mid-May, he showed off the full range of his influences, paying tribute to The Doors, Johnny Cash, Easy-E, Metallica, Lynyrd Skynyrd and The Beastie Boys.
Yelawolf is set to begin recording his sophomore record for Shady — tentatively titled Love Story — after his current tour wraps up.
Click here for more live music events in Greater Cincinnati tonight.
