Radiohead – Live At Via Asiago – 1995 – Past Daily Morning Soundbooth

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– Radiohead in Concert at Via Asiago, Rome – Recorded May 2, 1995 – RAI Radio 2 Planet Rock –

Taking a brief step back to the 90s tonight with a concert from Radiohead, recorded at via Asiago in Italy on May 2, 1995.

Entire websites have been devoted to the music of Radiohead and all the comings and goings of each of the band members. So there is really nothing new to offer in the way of insights. Suffice to say, Radiohead have been a major influence in music and we’re all fortunate to have been witnesses to it.

Radiohead are cited as one of the foremost rock bands of the 21st century. By 2011, Radiohead had sold more than 30 million albums. Their 90s albums The Bends and OK Computer influenced a generation of British acts, including Coldplay, Keane, James Blunt and Travis. Radiohead’s experimental approach is credited with expanding alternative rock.

According to the AllMusic journalist Stephen Thomas Erlewine, in the early 21st century, they became “a touchstone for everything that is fearless and adventurous in rock”, succeeding David Bowie, Pink Floyd and Talking Heads. In 2001, Johnny Marr, the guitarist for one of Radiohead’s early influences, the Smiths, said that Radiohead was the act that had “come closest to the genuine influence of the Smiths”.

In 2003, the Village Voice critic Robert Christgau wrote that they were “the only youngish band standing that combines critical consensus with the ability to fill a venue larger than the Hammerstein Ballroom”. Gavin Haynes of NME described Radiohead in 2014 as “our generation’s Beatles”. In 2020, the academic Daphne Brooks described Radiohead as “the blackest white rock band to emerge over the past 30 years”, citing their black jazz influences, influence on black artists, and their “introspective other worlds”, which parallel the work of radical black artists.

But Radiohead early-on is always an interesting adventure to dive in to. This particular concert was their first in Italy to kick off a tour promoting The Bends in May of 1995. Fortunately, RAI Radio 2 was on hand to record it, and that was fortunate because it’s a great concert.

But don’t take my word for it  – crank this up and give it a listen.

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