★★★★
If you’ve ever wondered whether a reggae tribute to Radiohead would have Thom Yorke shaking his head in dismay or skanking with the best of them, seeing Easy Stars All-Stars perform is the best medicine.
The 19-year-old reggae collective proved to be something else live on stage at the Concorde, with no alarms but plenty of surprises. Whereas some of the tracks on 2008 album Radiodread strayed into reggae by numbers territory, ESAS live were astonishingly original, delivering a multi-layered mash up of Radiohead’s iconic OK Computer, seamlessly amalgamated with a sprinkling of The Beatles (Lovely Rita) Michael Jackson (Beat It) and Pink Floyd (Money) as well as a couple of original tracks written by the band.
Their musicianship was never in doubt, with intense dubby instrumentals showcasing the group’s talents right across the board and varying tempos and levels of reverb constantly keeping the audience on its toes.
The joyful version of High And Dry and triumphant Paranoid Android were only beaten in bravado by the final encore Karma Police, in which the audience took over the vocals.
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