Radiohead at Victoria Park
Six months of waiting later, the time had come. Ever since I booked the tickets in December I had been quaking with excitement, which was in no doubt fuelled by an endless amount of activity by Radiohead to build up the excitement. The gig at 93 Feet East, countless interviews and press, the two shows at the BBC, performances from Nigel Godrich’s studio…all making me feel the most excited I’ve ever been for a set of concerts.
And, to be blunt, the wait was worth it. SO worth it. Everything on the two nights just seemed to click. What the punters witnessed over the two days at Victoria Park was perhaps the happiest the band have ever been on tour, with the best lights that the band have ever used on a tour and with two totally different setlists.
Tuesday started off with the electronic sounds of 15 Step and didn’t even let up from there. Instead of choosing to do a set peppered with hits, they decided to do a heap of album cuts. There will be people who moan about this, but the fact that they don’t own Kid A, Amnesiac or Hail To The Thief, which collectively have some of Radiohead’s greatest ever triumphs, is really their loss and the hardcore fan’s gain. However, the biggest hit song of the night, Just, did set the crowd off big time. How I got photos during that song, I will never know.
The songs on Tuesday were glorious and several of the setlist choices left me open mouthed in amazement. Pyramid Song, Climbing Up The Walls, How To Disappear Completely, Airbag, The Tourist and Cymbal Rush from Thom’s solo album, The Eraser, all were ridiculously pleasant surprises. The song of the night though was the occasionally played Planet Telex. 13 years on from The Bends, apparently the band’s best album if you listen to some of the narrow-minded critics, it still rocks hard and had the best lighting display of the whole two nights.
If Tuesday was the night reserved for the true fans, then Wednesday was for everyone. The band finally dug in deep to their back catalogue and played a host of classics including Lucky, Karma Police, My Iron Lung and 2+2=5. No Surprises, possibly (if you can excuse the pun) the biggest surprise of the two nights, was a true highlight and I couldn’t stop grinning through the whole song. They also played The Bends, one of the few ‘stadium rock’ songs that the band have, and the place went nuts.
It’s also worth not forgetting the material from In Rainbows. All the songs on the current album were performed brilliantly. Jigsaw Falling Into Place was jangly, Nude was beautiful, All I Need was eerie, Videotape was atmospheric and Bodysnatchers was rocking. Bangers & Mash from the second disc was also a choice highlight of both nights, whilst the second night got the added bonus of Go Slowly. Kid A was also well represented with The National Anthem, Everything In Its Right Place and Idioteque delighting the audience as ever.
The London Paper on Wednesday described the band as “the Derren Brown of rock”. Where they got that from, I’m not so sure. One line that is probably more apt, and possibly makes more sense too, is that Radiohead have proved once more that they are the best live band in the world.
SETLIST – 24th:
15 Step
Bodysnatchers
All I Need
The National Anthem
Pyramid Song
Nude
Weird Fishes/Arpeggi
The Gloaming
Dollars & Cents
Faust Arp
There There
Just
Climbing Up The Walls
Reckoner
Everything In Its Right Place
How To Disappear Completely
Jigsaw Falling Into Place
Videotape
Airbag
Bangers & Mash
Planet Telex
The Tourist
Cymbal Rush
You And Whose Army?
Idioteque
SETLIST – 25th:
Reckoner
15 Step
There There
All I Need
Lucky
Nude
Weird Fishes/Arpeggi
Myxomatosis
The National Anthem
Faust Arp
No Surprises
Jigsaw Falling Into Place
Optimistic
Videotape
Everything In Its Right Place
Idioteque
Bodysnatchers
House Of Cards
The Bends
Bangers & Mash
My Iron Lung
Karma Police
Go Slowly
2+2=5
Paranoid Android
You can view all my photos from the first night on my Flickr account in this photoset.
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Posted on June 27th, 2008 by Max
Filed under: Gigs, Reviews
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