Reading the Room.

Heads up: This review contains spoilers from the last season of Peaky Blinders. If you haven’t seen it already, that is not our fault it has been out for two years now, sorry not sorry.

The sound of a very unorthodox set of piano keys follows one another, as if they were not supposed to be played like that, because it has never been before. Tommy Shelby lies outside of his carriage, over the grass, right next to the floating ashes and burnt rocks left over from the extinguished fire. We hear Thom Yorke’s falsetto and a bass drop as a crow flies over Tommy.

This is how I found out about ‘Pana-vision’ and The Smile. Throughout the last season of Peaky Blinders, we see a lot of their work, some of it from their first album A Light for Attracting Attention, and some of it still unreleased at the time. I remember the synthesiser stretching and bending as Arthur hugged Tommy after finding out about his sickness, which broke the internet since nobody knew what song that was. That turned out to be Teleharmonic from their latest album Wall of Eyes, which was released earlier this year. 

Apart from unusual piano chords and twisting synthesisers, the latest project of Radiohead stars Thom Yorke and Jonny Greenwood, joined by Tom Skinner, The Smile offers a very experimental musical journey with melodic bass riffs, and a set of instruments like flutes and strings coming together to create an alternative post-rock sound. We were very lucky to be a part of the kickstart of their tour of the latest album in Dublin 3Arena, on the 7th of March. Since it was the start of a tour of a new album, we were extremely excited and did not know what to expect. The Smile has been one of my most-streamed go-to bands over the last two years so as we walked into the arena, I was very excited for the experience that was about to start. 

Performance

The whole concert was about delivering a sound experience. When we look at concerts and tours of the bands in the 21st century, it is usually a show involving different elements such as visual effects, fire, light-shows, confetti, screens and story lines etc. The Smile is all about ‘sound’. Close your eyes and let them take you on a ride. Thom and Jonny already achieved everything any band would want to achieve, so the project of The Smile is all about making music they enjoy playing, without having to prove anything to anybody. Thus, this objective and having this matureness sets the tone of the show quite different from any other. It is like buying tickets to a theatre, where you sit back and focus on the play, holding your breath and get lost in the story.

However this time, it is not the script or the dialogues   you follow, but it is the sound. For almost two hours, it felt like we were watching four great musicians doing a jam-session together, as if we were not even there. They experiment with different sounds and playing techniques, make great music, and the audience is there just to witness it. Thom, Jonny and Tom were joined on stage by Robert Stillman, who seems to be the last fitting puzzle piece adding another layer of depth to the sound of the band with his saxophone.

When talking about performance, for the first time in a long time it was not about how the frontman handled the stage, how well the vocals were delivered, how the artist interacted with the crowd. It was more of ‘how the hell did they make this song?’, or ‘how are they playing this right now?’. We saw Jonny playing the bass as if it was a cello, holding it vertically and playing it with a bow, which made the sound of a glider flying over the arena. We saw Tom using a bunch of small bells tied together as drumsticks, looking like pom poms, slowly dragging them around the snare drum and the high-hats, like a badass cheerleader. Thom joined them with his Halloween-themed escape-room vibed synth keys and his magic box on top of it, experimenting with all sorts of ideas. The whole experience felt like these awkward things were not supposed to be together or make sense, but somehow the outcome was always amazing. 

We have known how unique, soft and beautiful Thom’s voice is in the past couple of decades, so there is no point in describing all that, but it is fair to add that it suits their post-rock experimental sounds perfectly. He looked in pretty good shape and form, still singing all the high notes, and most importantly, he looked like he was enjoying himself very much with this project.

I have already mentioned that they filled the stage in a way that reflected their maturity and satiation of success throughout the decades, so the atmosphere they created in the arena was also calm and elite. This also influenced the crowd interaction. Thom had very little chit-chat and crowdwork, apart from greeting us, and filling a few ‘thank you’s’ every few songs. Throughout the show, he just said a few sentences, but the highlight of it was when he apologised on behalf of their nation for Brexit, which was like an icebreaker for the calmness in the arena. 

It took me a good amount of time to figure out how I felt about the show, hence, it took me a good amount of time to finish this review. This was due to several reasons. I love The Smile. They are probably my favourite band this year. However, their work is harder to connect with live, in an audience since it is very sound-focused and experimental. When you are lying down in your bed with headphones, or in any other calmer environment, you can pick up and focus on all of the elements and layers of their music.

Achieving this type of connection and focus is much harder in a live show, especially when the sound quality is not as good or when there are a lot of other noises surrounding you. The show seemed to be designed in a way that takes you to a journey and a rollercoaster of emotions, but if you fail to hop on the train from the start, it could be hard to catch up again. We argued that it would be much more captivating if you go to the show high, which would enhance all of the sensations of the journey that they take you, with glowing blinding lights, and the bending sounds. 

Production

Speaking of blinding lights, let me take you through the stage and the production of the tour. The stage was filled with all kinds of instruments and pedals. It was mind-blowing just to look at the stage and see all of the tools and different kinds of instruments they play and use throughout the concert. In this crowd of musical elements, the harp of Guinness found itself a place, as a nice gesture and decoration for the opening Dublin show. The back of the stage stood a skeleton-like metal structure in the shape of bricks of a wall. Small red lights went on-and-off on the wall, looking like eyes blinking. It was simple but entertaining enough, which also represented their latest album “Wall of Eyes”. On top of the structure, there was a very small rectangle, with four different screens showing close-ups of the band and visual effects. 

There were no big screens on the sides, which again, I feel like it is a necessity to have them for a better view and close-ups of what is going on on stage. Especially with the focus being on instrumentals, I would love to have these screens to see the close-ups of their playing. AS we have mentioned in Greta Van Fleet, it was a little upsetting not to have these screens. 

The production did not consist of any big fireworks or confetti, of course not when it comes to The Smile. They used lights as a complementary effect of the journey they took us. In Bending Hectic, the whole venue was blinded by the blue lights, kind of forcing you to close your eyes and let the bending of the strings take you away. In other songs like A Hairdryer, it was much darker and dimmed, making it harder to spot them on stage. The non-traditional musicianship was the main entertainment factor, such as Jonny playing the bass with a bow, removing the need for other visual stimuli to make the show interesting. 

Setlist

I have already mentioned the atmosphere being like witnessing a jam-session of the band. This was also reflective on the setlist. They played two completely new tracks (Zero Sum, and Instant Psalm) even though none of us heard the new album live before, because why not. The show started with Read the Room, a perfect entrance with one of the more upbeat melodic tunes of the new album, followed by the live debut of Wall of Eyes. Since it is the start of their tour, we did not have enough information to compare the setlist to the previous shows, but my only disappointment about it was the fact that they did not play Free In The Knowledge, my favourite song from the first album.

Bending Hectic and the final song You Know Me! (which also made its live debut in Dublin) were my favourite songs to hear live. The band delivered the emotional segments of both of the songs very well, making them the most memorable pieces of the concert personally. 

After checking out the setlists of the following few shows of the tour, I saw that Thom Yorke’s Feeling Pulled Apart by Horses was added just after the encore, and they started with Wall of Eyes instead of Read the Room. So it is fair to say that they were still figuring out the exact order for the start of the show. 

Crowd

Before the show, we got ourselves a drink since we were sitting and had some time to kill before the performance. Looking around, I was pretty sure we were one of the youngest ones in the crowd, (We are 25 guys not that young) at least in the seated area. As expected, the Radiohead influence was huge, as we saw Radiohead t-shirts and merch. I feel like so far with The Smile, I personally can not tell whether it is Radiohead or Thom Yorke fans shifting to The Smile, or whether they have managed to build a fanbase from scratch. It was hard to tell by the crowd in their first show. I like to consider myself as a fan from scratch since I have listened to The Smile more than I ever did Radiohead, which of course could be a generational thing (or not). Honestly, I am still figuring out where I stand between Radiohead, Thom Yorke, and The Smile. 

It is hard to be a part of the audience in this kind of a concert. Most concerts you can jump around, scream the lyrics, mosh-pit maybe, or sob your heart out depending on the artist. With The Smile, you just let the music take you. It is hard to do anything other than shake your head a little bit, which makes it hard to comment on the crowd. 

Finishing Touch

Since the tour was announced, the day of the concert was highlighted on the calendar as one of the days I was most excited for in 2024. It was a big pleasure and a great experience to see one of the most important musical figures of our generation, Thom Yorke, live in the beginning of his new chapter with this tour.

Hot gignwings review

Performance: 🌶🌶🌶🌶

Production: 🌶🌶🌶

Setlist: 🌶🌶🌶🌶

Venue: 🌶🌶🌶🌶

Crowd: 🌶🌶