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Boards Of Canada premiere video in Tokyo
By Andy Malt | Published on Thursday 23 May 2013
Two years ago, Radiohead decided to premiere the video for ‘Lotus Flower’, the first single from their album ‘The King Of Limbs’, on one of the big screens overlooking Hachikō Square in Tokyo.
One of the busiest places in the world, the band thought that, for maximum impact, the right time to show the new video would be rush hour. The only flaw in that plan, though, was that, well, it would have been rush hour. Safety concerns were raised, the screening was cancelled, and the video went out first on YouTube instead.
What is the lesson to be learned here? Don’t try to premiere a video somewhere where thousands of people are rushing to get home. No, do it when they’re drunk instead. That’s what Boards Of Canada took from it anyway, pulling off exactly the same stunt at midnight yesterday (Japanese time) to promote their upcoming new album.
The difference this time was that the video was actually played. Reporting from the scene, The Japan Times’ Music Editor Shaun McKenna tweeted: “Song was quiet, video was filled with landscapes, when it was done someone yelled, ‘Is that it?!'”
A success all round then, I’d say. And now you can watch a video of the video thanks to YouTube:
