Firstly, let’s get something straight: all big venues are bad. Say it again, all big venues are bad.
Next the gig, well we were up in the gods, in fact we were so high we had to get clearance from Heathrow Tower control, I swear there was a jumbo circling the seats above us. However, Radiohead are now consummate aircraft hanger performers, so they had brought along the latest, state of the art, screens. These screens showed various images, all taken from the gig but sometimes using video tricks which have not been seen since the 70s Top of the Pops (and very welcome they were too). In fact they seemed to fit Radiohead very well, at times the visuals were straight out of Dr Who and Jonny Greenwood may be the new doctor.
The venue was, of course, designed and built in the 1930s for exhibitions and therefore we can forgive the designers for not foreseeing the invention of rock and roll and the subsequent growth of monster sound-systems. That said this is a bit of a bucket as far as sound goes but it does suite the bombast of Led Zeppelin (see the fantastic double DVD that was released earlier this year for proof) or the new electronica sounds of the Oxford boys. It has to be said that there is something strangely retro about the band whether it is Thom’s jeans and sneakers outfit, their use of effects peddles to create moody synth sounds or their oblique song titles I cannot decide but they would not look out of place in 1972.
What about the music? Good question. They played almost all the tracks from their last magnum octopus “Hail to the Thief” (which Thom Yorke has said is not named after the dumb Texan, if not then why all the political cut-ups during the show and the anti-Bush/Blairisms? Not that I have anything against that at all but it is a spade, we all know that). These songs worked very well live and hearing the crowd slow clap in rhythm to “We Suck Young Blood” was quite spooky. They played something from every album including a stupendous “Creep” and a sublime “Paranoid Android”. Though for my money the highlight was the final encore version of “Everything in it’s Right Place”, which was monumental live and used to be my soundtrack as I walked to work through St James’ Park. One final point to note, this show was broadcast live on xfm, so I have now appeared on a Top 10 album and a live radio show!Links:
The best fan site (officially endorsed – at least they link to it)
Originally posted on November, 2003
