07/19/23
The Midland Theatre, Kansas City, MO
Experimental saxophonist, Robert Stillman, opened up the Midland Stage with what can only be described as unorthodox ambient jazz, a combination of flutes, bird calls, slowly accompanying the show with his saxophone. Hints of Vangelis’ Blade Runner score slowly built up during his set, switching out cassette tapes on his mixing board for new soundscapes to accompany the building din of noises that filled the theatre. Calming and chaotic. A slow burn, swirling the audience into introspective zen. You don’t put this on in the background while you’re working in your office for white noise, this is what you listen to in a dark room, searching for answers, for reason, for a journey. Watching him set up his accompanying sounds and tracks felt like watching a painter create fine details on canvas, or a crafts maker, creating something from this scrap, and that part and this and that, developing a twisted amalgamation of sensory stimulation.
The Smile came out to rapturous applause, starting the show instantly with “Pana-Vision”. Thom Yorke sat down at the piano at the edge of the stage. “Speech Bubbles” moved Thom stage left, taking to guitar with the LED background on stage glowing blue, simulating an ocean of clouds. The Smile, comprised of Yorke, and fellow Radiohead artist Johnny Greenwood, rounded out with Tom Skinner handling percussion. Throughout the evening, the trio created a delicately crafted ruckus through the wide array of instruments at hand, from multiple keyboards and synths, to a harp, violin bow, saxophone. The lighting, along with the music, intensified through the set as a soft waft of herbal stimulation made its way thru the air via the audience. Yorke from time to time looked as though lost in the daydream they were creating onstage, before snapping back into the real world to charge the dreamlike soundscape back up. At one point, he made a note that Shania Twain was playing just down the street, and he appreciated everyone coming to see them instead.
As they returned to the stage for the encore, the applause from the audience went from a steady clapping to deafening, thunderous applause and cheers. Murky vocals bled into the music, creating a spectacle of noise that brought the house down to close the night with “Open the Floodgates”, “People on Balconies”, “Bending Hectic”, and finally “Feeling Pulled Apart by Horses”. You don’t just listen to The Smile, you experience them, as it looks back at you and makes your heart race and blood pump, leaving you with questions of where you’ve gone, where you’re going, the reason for the destination, and no care if you’ll ever get back.
