Last night, the Changes and Office shared a bill at the Darkroom in Chicago. Office was, as always, wonderful. One thing I did notice that they weren't wearing their signature suits. When I mentioned this to drummer Erica Corniel, she quickly replied that it was "casual Friday!"

The Changes came on right around 11 pm and it was immediately obvious that there was something different and more serious about their playing. They were tighter and more polished than I've ever heard them, putting a new spin on some older tunes and introduced a couple of new songs from their forthcoming CD. After the show, I heard some serious music snobs commenting that they're never heard the band sound so good. It's a good sign that late 2006 could belong to this band.

Speaking of the new CD, I just got a voicemail from lead singer Darren Spitzer that the CD has gone through its final mastering and he's ready to play it for me.

So, I wish I had more to report but until I hear the music -- which I hope to post MP3s here -- just know that the boys are ready to blast off and are truly geeked about finally releasing their first full-length CD.

I wanted to call this post "Toilet Trained and Dumb," when I heard Thom Yorke sing that great and poignant line in the first encore opener "My Iron Lung." Now I know it's not protocol to begin a live show review by talking about what the band did for the encore, but who said a review had to follow any particular criteria?

This thought crossed my mind while reading some reviews of recent Radiohead shows. The critics talk about the band's flair and artistry with gorgeous prose, describing songs in intricate detail, not necessarily making me want to hang on every word, but fast-forward to the end.

For me, I don't necessarily need to know every little detail about a live show, just the big parts.

And tonight's second Radiohead show at Chicago's Auditorium Theater had a lot of big parts.

For starters, the band walked onto the stage in darkness to the familiar sounds of overdubbed computer-generated chatter. Next, a dark screen behind the stage fell to the floor revealing about a dozen non-symmetrically shaped video screens projecting the band's live performance throughout the night. Shadowed in black and white, Radiohead's moving, singing, playing images reminded me of a 1950's film noir revealing layered scenes from a murder mystery -- and this was its soundtrack.

As has been reported, the band pulled out about nine new songs throughout the night, many of which show yet another level in the band's ever-expanding, experimental repertoire. But two in particular, "15 Step" and "Bangers 'n Mash," got me into a groove that reminded me the boys had just been to Bonnaroo. I forget that Radiohead, hailed as a champion of experimental space rock, can really boogie down. Thom Yorke was doing a little bit of the hippie, hippie shake, especially on "Bangers" when he was cutting loose with a tambourine. The guy has a great amount of jiggle and soul in his little British body -- and Phil Selway's funky drumming helped kick up the dust.

Interspersed throughout the two-plus hour, 23-song set were a mix-up of tunes from all their albums -- "Airbag," "2+2=5," "Street Spirit," "No Surprises." But, and here's where we bring things full circle, it was during the two encores that the Auditorium Theater saw 14 years of fantastic music come to a head. "My Iron Lung" -- BAM. "The Bends" -- BAM. "Myxomatosis" -- BAM BAM. Crunchy licks. Haunting Vocals. Scintillating percussion. Not to mention Jonny Greenwood. Need I say more?

I've had the pleasure of seeing Radiohead now three times -- all in small venues (Chicago's Metro, the Rosemont Theater and now here). Every time was as big and powerful as the last because the band can make the largest space fit into their enormous presence. And while Thom has been known to be a little mopey and not always talkative to audiences or the press, he created an atmosphere where it was obvious he didn't want to be anywhere else tonight. He danced and cavorted, smiled and gleamed and looked out into the audience as if to say, "remember this moment. we're all lucky to be here sharing this night."

And for the few thousand of us inside the space, we nodded in total agreement.

(thanks to Green Plastic for posting the set list so fast.)

Sipping a beer at Heathrow International Airport in London last month, Dave Matthews took some time to chat with me. The front man for one of the most successful touring bands in history was relaxed, mellow and soft-spoken while he discussed this summer's tour, the band's new recording studio in its hometown of Charlottesville, Va., and plans for a new album set for a late '06/early '07 release.

This interview was originally done for the Associated Press in story format, but you can read the entire un-edited back-and-forth below. Or, just stream it and have it on in the background while you're working.

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Q&A with Dave Matthews:

SomethingGlorious: How long have you been in England?
Dave Matthews: About a week. We have a new record deal. We got all the territories outside of the U.S. back from BMG. We have a fresh outlook here and I've been coming over and meeting people and talking and introducing myself to promoters and publishers over here. I did a few shows and some recordings. I took advantage of being here and did some small solo acoustic shows.

SG: Why don't you tour England and Europe that often?
DM: It's just more than anything because what has driven our career is touring touring touring. It started with a van. It did focus very much on the U.S. and Canada. Our relationship with the record company came out of that. We've always been off kilter a bit or on a different page with BMG International for obvious reasons. There's always been this strange attempt or methods of trying to get us over here. It's always made us hesitant. Now I think we're all much happier with the way the approach V2 records is dealing with us here in Europe. We're still with Sony/BMG in other areas. Now it's more of a humble approach to let people discover us as opposed to coming in with trumpets blaring. Some music works well that way. Our music, it makes me feel kind of gross. IT didn't work in the states that way so ...

More Q&A after the jump...

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