The law of averages suggests that not every Radiohead concert can be as stunning as last Wednesday’s outing at the Sky Dome Concert Hall. There must be nights when Thom Yorke’s haunting vocals fail, and the Oxford-quintet’s meticulously constructed walls of sound prove relentlessly dull. I know this, but I have trouble believing it.

Despite their image as isolationist loners, Radiohead is best enjoyed live. Across their three performances in the Toronto area this decade, they’ve grown increasingly comfortable in their roles as prog-rock stoner icons. Hell, even Thom Yorke looks like he’s having a good time.

With a set-list heavily in favour of their latest album, the gorgeous Hail to the Thief, Radiohead proved that, while they may not be completely over those introverted days of Kid A and Amnesiac, they’re no longer afraid of simply being rock stars. Whereas it was surprising how well those earlier albums translated to a live setting, the new album’s stage merits were never really in question. Opening with “The Gloaming,” the band quickly set a tone of brooding mayhem and followed through on it for the rest of the night.

Every track was masterfully executed, from the melancholy “There, There” and anti-authoritarian anthems “2+2=5” and “Go To Sleep,” to the exhilarating funk version of “A Punch Up At A Wedding.” The rest of the set so expansively covered the Radiohead canon, from OK Computer’s brooding “Climbing Up The Walls,” to the seldom performed piano version of Amnesiac’s “Like Spinning Plates,” that you’ll have to forgive those of us who held out hope for an acoustic rendition of “Creep.” Radiohead is a band clearly mindful of its past, but unafraid of its future. The highlight of the night was undoubtedly the fantastic sing-a-long performance of “Fake Plastic Trees,” once a staple of Radiohead’s live show, but now rarely played.

Aside from those unexpected surprises, Radiohead stuck firmly to the live performance they’ve been honing over the past few tours. It was really only the novelty of those surprises that made them anymore enjoyable than live favourites like “Paranoid Android” and “Idioteque,” which have never sounded better. And really, will we ever tire of “Karma Police”?