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“Good evening everybody.” These are the first words spoken on the U.S tour for Radiohead and they were said in West Palm Beach, Florida. That’s right, Radiohead decided to kick off their tour in my hometown and, without sounding too biblical, I was blessed.

It all started with opening band Liars, who were tolerable. I could see why Radiohead would want them to tag along on their U.S tour, namely due to the nature of the band’s frontman. His random outbursts of screaming, mixed with operatic wails while flinging a guitar about his own body, would make any Radiohead fan, at the very least, listen. Thumbs up for Liars, who tackle the inevitably high hurdle of opening for what many consider to be the world’s greatest band at the moment.

However let’s focus on the main event, Radiohead. What couldn’t I say about tonight’s performance? The sound was great, with the exception of the guitar-less version of “Weird Fishes/Arpeggi”, in which Thom Yorke had such a problem with it, that he forced the song onto us again, seemingly making a scene. The perfectionist even half mumbled, “I think we need a bit more practice”. Beyond that, the set changes were phenomenal, with no delays, which was a relief because one would assume it would take much longer to set up the array of lights and screens that Radiohead decided to bring along this U.S tour.

As you’ll see from the pictures I snapped (and the video below!), the stage was illuminated with over a dozen different, tranquil lights, certainly setting up the stage, as well as the mood. One fairly drunk Radiohead fan described it as, “A fucking rubix cube of light!” He wasn’t far from the truth. Often the lights would mimic sparks of light, rain or various, bizarre colors of what seemed like magma dripping on the stage.

Aside from the amazing light show, fans had a chance to see them even closer, considering the screens held closer than comfort shots of superfriends: Thom, Colin, Johnny, Ed and Phil. Rather than screens filled with dull and boring shots of musicians attending to their instruments, the images (thanks to the clever camera work) were quite artistic and even eccentric. Some screens barley showed the band at all but objects on the stage in which you could somewhat still see the band at work. It certainly gave the people from the lawn, who were watching what seemed like an ant show, “something to actually look at”, as one discrete fan put it.

The set list was delicately selected, to the point where it was almost artistic in its own. Every song had a different emotion in which to trigger the crowd either to move, sway, or dance, which was usually instantaneous. Every song went over well, with folks imploding in the crowd, much like that scene in Back to The Future, where Marty McFly plays Chuck Berry’s “Johnny Be Good”, before destroying it in a sea of distortion. With such songs as “Bodysnatchers”, “The National Anthem”, “Optimistic”, “Planet Telex”, “15 Step”, and “Bullet Proof… I Wish I Was”, what more could you ask for?

The British gods played much from Kid A, The Bends, and nearly all of In Rainbows, ignoring much of OK Computer. Surprisingly, Hail To The Thief was not the bastard album left out to dry. The band culled many songs from it, including “The Gloaming”, “There There”, and “Where I End And You Begin”, all sounding as if they were played directly from the album with a bit of a twist.

The crowd was well over what I expected, a melting pot of people, all of different genres, if you will. We had the muscle heads who were fashioning the usual Abercrombie and Fitch shirts with clever motto’s that read as far as” C is for Crunk” to ” I put out”. With that, you then had the usual hipster crowd, reluctant to move or even stand up, that is until they couldn’t see the stage. Maybe it’s just the Radiohead crowd… or that I’m in Florida.

Once the show began, however, everyone was at the same level. It was as if we were one huge family, all gathering for that Sunday dinner accompanied with the friendly but not so friendly next door neighbor. For instance, when “Idioteque” came on, everybody in my row, as well as the entire amphitheater, began to dance and move their limp bodies to the synchronized bass and drum beats, and with that, everything felt right. When songs were finsihed and the lights dimmed, people I didn’t even look at or speak to hugged me or the person in the row in front of them, and it wasn’t weird, we were all just…there.

That was the kickoff, folks. Hopefully it’s a field goal by the end of this tour. Though, if what I witnessed is any indication, it will be.

 

 

 

Set List:
(Click links for recorded video!)
All I Need
Bodysnatchers
There There
Reckoner
The Gloaming
Morning Bell
Nude
How to Disappear Completely
15 Step
Arpeggi (literally looped it)
Idioteque
Bulletproof… I Wish I Was
Where I End and You Begin
Airbag
Everything In Its Right Place
The National Anthem
Videotape

Encore #1:
Optimistic
Just
Faust Arp (only Thom & Jonny)
Exit Music
Bangers and Mash

Encore #2:
House of Cards
Street Spirit

Categories: Concert Reviews, Features
Tags: Radiohead