Anticipation was very high on October 15 as Radiohead took the stage in Tornoto’s Sky Dome for the last North American show of their tour. Having been an avid Radiohead fan since The Bends, I always hoped for an opportunity to see them live. Finally, after a long and completely unnecessary postponement (it was originally scheduled for August 16), the time arrived.

Around 7:30 p.m., Kid Koala opened the show with an arsenal of scratching magic from his latest album, Some of My Best Friends are DJs. His mix of obscure and melodic beats and mastery of the turntables provided a great foundation for the main event. But terror struck me when I took note of the completely inanimate crowd. I was hoping Radiohead would have the power to wake everyone up.

After a short interlude of great reggae tunes, the lights in the Sky Dome went out and the opening sound blips and rumbling bass of “The Gloaming” began to fizzle through the auditorium. The lights grew brighter and flashier, providing a perfect accent to the music.

By the time they finished a stint of songs from Hail to the Thief, including “There There” and “Where I End and You Begin,” I had already reached sensory overload. Thom Yorke’s vocals blended seamlessly with the tightly woven melodies provided by the rest of the band. Jonny Greenwood demonstrated his technological wizardry and highly technical lead guitar playing. As usual, bassist Colin Greenwood jumped around his area of the stage maintaining a tight rhythm with drummer Phil Selway and guitarist Ed O’Brien.

The barrage of melodic sound waves continued as they played hits from all of their albums (sans Pablo Honey), including “Paranoid Android,” “Kid A,” “Like Spinning Plates,” and “Fake Plastic Trees.”

Thom and the gang returned for an encore. Ironically enough, they played “National Anthem.” They finished the encore with one of my personal favorites, “How to Disappear Completely.”

They returned again, closing the show with “Karma Police” and “Everything in its Right Place.” A perfect ending to what could have been a perfect evening had the audience moved around a little bit. This Radiohead show proved to be one of the best live shows I’ve ever seen. The musicianship remained tight throughout the evening and there was a lot of improvisation and unique takes on songs that would have seemed almost impossible to pull off live.

Complete set list:

01 the gloaming

02 there there

03 2+2=5

04 where I end and you begin

05 backdrifts

06 my iron lung

07 myxomatosis

08 paranoid android

09 sail to the moon

10 kid a

11 scatterbrain

12 climbing up the walls

13 like spinning plates

14 go to sleep

15 idioteque

16 fake plastic trees

17 sit down. stand up

Encore #1:

18 you and whose army?

19 national anthem

20 a punchup at a wedding

21 how to disappear completely

Encore #2:

22 karma police

24 everything in its right place