Other Lives w/ Radiohead @ Scottrade Center, St. Louis, MO

Words and pictures by Duane Clawson

It has been said life is not without challenges and this statement could not have been any truer on a Friday night in St. Louis. The boss had secured my spot at the front of the stage inside one of the largest venues in STL. OK, first challenge: where does one enter the press area? After some instruction from the nice lady at will call, this challenge was overcome. After some confusion on behalf of the security team is cleared up, another photographer from Kansas City and myself were led up to the stage area. My first impressions were that is a big stage and Other Lives takes up a good portion of this stage. Feeling pretty confident I’ve made it to the stage with minimal difficultly, now let the waiting begin. Challenge #2: how am I going to shoot all this with my less than capable camera? Solution: one band member at a time. As if my stress level was not high enough, now security is calling us back to meet up with a press liaison. After a quick briefing, we were led back down to the stage. Challenge #3: now I have eight other photographers to contend with. When the lights of the Scottrade Center went down, it didn’t take long for Challenge #4 to rear its ugly head: bad lighting is reserved for the opening band.

My time in front of the stage came and went in the blink of an eye and truth be told, I was so focused on the moment I really did not get a chance to take in Other Lives' sound. After a quick three song photo shoot, I was escorted up to check my camera then onto my seat. Now I can tell you about Other Lives' music. A month and two days before opening shows for Radiohead, Other Lives was in St. Louis playing the Gramophone. What a change this must have been. Washed in a blue and green lighting scheme, the band played the big stage like it was second nature. Other Lives encompasses a blend of all things musical into their set, including the rarest of musical instruments, a xylophone. The band mixes all of these obscure instruments into an acoustically pleasing version of what one could consider up-tempo chamber music. Fortunately for the band, most of the Radiohead crowd was in the building when their set started and the St. Louis audience was attentive and kind with its applause. Other Lives proved to be a worthy opening act for Radiohead with Jesse Tabish’s vocals, which can at times emulate those of Thom York. The band is remaining accessible to fans, old and new, with after show photo ops and autograph sessions at their merch table. As my time in front of the stage flew by, so did Other Lives' time on stage. The band’s music can be found on Spotify, iTunes, and via their website. Other Lives can also be found in your favorite social media market as well, i.e. Facebook, Myspace, and Twitter. Photos of the show are below: