Lolla Main Event: Radiohead (8/1)
Tonight, Chicagoans (and out of towners) were finally treated to the British spectacle that’s been in the cards for four to five months. Riding on a hype that would benefit most summer blockbuster films, Radiohead headlined the first night of 2008’s Lollapalooza. Thom Yorke and Co. were welcomed with open arms, literally, and they responded with a warm, balmy performance.
It’s a wet dream for Perry Farrell that the British quintet matched the hype. The buzz over the past few months has been deafening, with fans scorching up the web and tickets for Friday leaving the box office. This morning, it wasn’t really a surprise to see several fans, well actually hundreds, catapulting through the entrance and racing to the front of the AT&T stage, where they’d be camping for a mere ten hours. As the day aged, more and more eco-friendly Radiohead shirts were bought and worn. It seemed as if they were the only band that mattered.
To some, they were.
An hour before the show, the sizable crowd of fans grew into an out of control madhouse, and quite the diverse one, too. Before the AT&T stage, everyone from your own worst enemy in high school (complete with mutton chops and beer caps) to that nice and friendly guy in the coffee house (one reading Graham Greene’s The Third Man) stood or sat around. The closest word to describe such a scene was, “odd.” As minutes were shaved off, little things, like the movement of stage lights, rattled the audience, bringing applause and cheer. It was painful to hear Stephen Malkmus & the Jicks ripping apart “Real Emotional Trash” without the accompanying images, but especially unfortunate to hear someone nearby ask, “Who the hell is playing over there?” Some other notable “winning” comments include, “That’s the VIP area-when Rage plays tomorrow, we should burn that down.” (Further evidence in my defense for seeing Wilco, instead.) The closest word to ascribe to the moments before the band came on was, “alarming.”
Just a mere twenty or so minutes before the sun went down, “15 Step” clicked into action, coming into full play with a brooding Jonny Greenwood at guitar, and also hiding behind a black hoodie. Any rumors circulating about Yorke’s health were put to rest within seconds, as the acclaimed frontman clapped and twitched about to the In Rainbows opener. Guitarist Ed O’Brien stomped around the edge of the stage with camera in tow, putting the fans on the corresponding screens. OK Computer’s “Airbag” went over well, though some dead air was laced between as the members scattered around for new tools to use. When Greenwood and O’Brien took on drum duties, it meant only one thing: “There There”. The past single from Hail to the Thief sneaked its way over a still gathering audience, the moon slipping in, too.
Most of the set list featured new material, in other words In Rainbows, of which the entirety was played. Songs “All I Need”, “Nude”, and “Arpeggi/Weird Fishes” were knocked out in succession, with the latter exemplifying some jaw dropping visuals: a blue, aqua haze interspersed with little bits of white light, as if the band were undersea. Whether being eco-friendly made them more alluring or not, the light show sold the show in itself.
Both “No Surprises” and “Jigsaw Falling Into Place” saw some major crowd interaction, though it was “Reckoner” where the band felt really into the set. Drummer Phil Selway pummeled without reason, tending to every song with respected due. Even bassist Colin Greenwood seemed excited, jumping up and clapping here and there. This energy brought some life into old songs “Lucky” and “The Bends”, both of which sounded excellent.
Despite the fact that fireworks began in “Everything In It’s Right Place”, it was in “Fake Plastic Trees” that they came to use. With most of the crowd singing along, Yorke, behind an acoustic, belted out the verses with a flavored emotion, all building up into the crash and hurrah’s of the chorus. As the song carried on, with the audience’s contributions pushing it to new heights, brilliant colors from nearby fireworks dazzled behind the stage, even continuing during the softer parts. There’s only one word to describe it, really… “epic.” If other bands don’t take note and put something together, it might possibly be where the weekend peaked.
There were two encores, though the second one felt more significant. Maybe it was the sound, but “Paranoid Android”, while a tight performance, felt tame. The solos weren’t as nail biting and it seemed to finish abruptly, even if that’s how it ends on record. “House of Cards” drolled on and on, and thankfully that wasn’t the means to an end. It took the digital medley of “2+2=5″ and “Idioteque” to bring the band to a rest. Surprisingly enough, the crowd seemed satisfied, moving away with smiles rather than frowns.
And that’s why right now it feels like Sunday. Good luck headliners, you’ve got a hurdle to jump.
A personal thank you goes out to our excellent-as-usual photographer, Art Pena, who managed to grab a spot in the sound tent during the killer set. He’s our eyes to our ears. Check his stuff out!
Set List:
01. 15 Step
02. Airbag
03. There There
04. All I Need
05. Nude
06. Weird Fishes/Arpeggi
07. The Gloaming
08. The National Anthem
09. Faust Arp
10. No Surprises
11. Jigsaw Falling Into Place
12. Reckoner
13. Lucky
14. The Bends
15. Everything In Its Right Place
16. Fake Plastic Trees
17. Bodysnatchers
Encore 1
18. Videotape
19. Paranoid Android
20. Dollars and Cents
21. House of Cards
22. Optimistic
Encore 2
23. 2+2=5
24. Idioteque
Click here to download a bootleg of the show (*Updated* with RapidShare).
Radiohead is never big on interaction. The crowd was rapt in attention, being quiet was a compliment to the band, we wanted to HEAR them. The show was excellent, the highlight of Lollapalooza.
Terry, I’m well aware the fireworks weren’t a part of the show.
i don’t think it’s mentioned anywhere, but the fireworks were not at all for the Radiohead performance or for Lollapalooza…though I enjoyed them along with Radiohead’s music…apparently, there was a family night practice at Soldier Field for da bears with fireworks afterwards
i thought radiohead was good, but the sound was terrible. very low volume, no dynamic range…. really a bummer. interestingly during the last song it suddenly kicked in for about 5 seconds
then went back to thin and low. i noticed there were problems during other shows on the at+t stage too. sounded fine for the opening number of kanye though { i fled after that to see NIN },
i’m sure they had to get it right for him. that whiny little jerk would probably have walked off.
It’s amazing. The internet. How we can argue about something for the sake of argument. Radiohead played an excellent set, with some impressive performances… give it a rest, guys.
Concerning all the comments about Radiohead not having enough energy, maybe it was you who didn’t have enough energy. I was fairly close to the stage and off to the right and there was plenty of fucking energy there. Thom Yorke was dancing around and bringing the energy, the lights on the stage were fucking incredible, and the video playing was perfect for Radiohead. Most of the songs that were played had a shit load of people singing to them.
I have to say maybe it was where you were standing because for Rage Against the Machine I was a good ways back and was the only one fucking getting into it. There were also people talking over the band.
Don’t bad mouth the band’s performance because of the fans. As for waiting all day; I didn’t. In fact I skipped out on Raconteurs for Bloc Party (amazing btw) and got a great fucking spot.
A Pure Formality….I can’t say that I or a lot of the 75,000 people were the biggest Radiohead fans in the world, but an energetic show would have been appreciated. I’ve been at Lolla all weekend and believe me, I was never close to the stages but the performances were still great. With Radiohead it felt like there was no stage presence or even energy from the band. You could say that “well, the audience aren’t all Radiohead fans.” Well, that’s just about every band on the bill. Not everyone is a Battles fan, or an Explosions in the Sky fan, or a Gutter Twins fans, etc. but many people took away something at those performances. Is it really that out of line to say “radiohead had an off night”? Many bands have “off nights”….why is radiohead an exception?
Those of you who didn’t like it aren’t radiohead fans. I was not there, but listened to the whole performance on XM last night and it was just fine. What do you expect, flying monkeys shooting out of their ass? Get over it, there are way more important things to complain about.
i was near front for radiohead (4 people back or so from the center.), and waited ALL FUCKING DAY TO SEE THEM.
IT WAS WORTH IT. THIS BAND IS INCREDIBLE. THE SHOW WAS VIRTUALLY FLAWLESS.
concerning drunk people not paying attention: some guys sang the us anthem when the firework display went off. embarrassing.
radiohead’s arrogance crystallized in this announcement: “we are from engeland”. the whole set sounded like a major playback show.
from the looks of the set list this was an AMAZING show
Good stuff good coverage! Try to get more concert reviews though. I liked the Black Lips Interview.
Absolutely.
Whats up? You excited for today?!
Schavez, I agree. That’s why I tried focusing on the fans/audience in the beginning. I had forty-year old, former frat boys lauding the band in such an annoying manner that people were literally screaming at them to stop. It was an odd start, but eventually subsided.
For the most part, I was surprised at how many people knew some of the lyrics. They did better on songs “The Gloaming” than people did two years ago with more celebrated hits, “Dani California” or “Scar Tissue.”
So, that was a relief.
Btw, hey Phillip.
Yeah I highly disagree with BK, when I went to Radiohead in West Palm I was moving, dancing, singing, hugging, with anything and everything that moved and so were others. Radiohead was easily one of the greatest shows I have ever been to and I’m not THAT big of a fan I simply enjoy the music. So when you say a statement such as “Worthless” I find it hard to believe.
The performance was amazing. The problem was the audience. For all of the people around us (in the middle of the crowd) who claimed to be the biggest Radiohead fans (one even claiming he was such a big fan he was the president of fans???), there was a lot of talking, messing with stupid iPhones, and general rudeness toward the band and those of us who wanted to see them. It is a shame when a band puts on an amazing performance and people don’t have the ability to shut their mouths and put away the phones for one minute.
BK, what show were you watching? Everyone around me was singing along to their particular favorites and I didn’t see anyone who wasn’t at least a little bit into the performance. I was a casual fan before, but this really cemented Radiohead for me.
Worthless. Thats how I would describe that performance. I’m not a huge radiohead fan I admit but when I go to a show, particular a headliner at Lolla, I expect to come away with something. There was no fan interaction whatsoever and everyone around me was just standing there looking around waiting for something to happen. I am actually a little upset now because my friends made me leave The Raconteurs (who were amazing btw) early so we could grab a drink and whatnot before radiohead. Bad move.
Even Death Cab from two years ago would have been a welcome sight over this boring show. I was excited to see radiohead but after a show like this, I can’t say I’ll ever really listen to them again.
PS - you need to be registered at DIME to download the recording, and their registrations are limited.
I decided to throw caution to the wind and see Malkmus. Shockingly, I came about 15 minutes before the performance and it was everything I could have asked for in a Lollapalooza performance–I got to the front ridiculously quickly. I’ve never really done the whole “line up for one band and sacrifice everything else just to see them” shtick. I have a review coming for that show, since I was probably only one of about perhaps a few hundred that was paying attention to the Jicks.
As for Radiohead, I was extremely disappointed. A few of my friends who had seen them live more than I had agreed. The sound was horrible - for a second I thought they were playing the record on stage because it sounded so tinny! The other thing was the screens. In past Lollapalooza performances, people who aren’t exactly willing to sacrifice a whole day’s worth of seeing other bands, move around the park, experience other stuff, etc - were at least allowed to enjoy the experience in the end through the screens. In fact in prior years, the stage behind the main stage (myspace stage this year) had its screen used to show the performance on the main stage as well. Not this year. And on the two screens that were being used, Radiohead HAD to use their what-now-seems-like-extremely-pretentious “split into six mini shots” thing so those who had any hope in understanding what was going on the stage were now hopelessly squinting, only being able to hear.
The music itself was great. But little - to - no crowd interaction, seemed as though they were just going through the motions (something that three of my Radiohead-loving-friends agreed upon), and in the end ultimately not worth it if you weren’t less than 150 feet away (which Mike and Art appeared to be). Would I have sacrificed Malkmus’ amazing set for that? As much as I like Radiohead, no - probably not. The 2001 show in Grant Park blew this one away. Here, they’re falling in love with their own legend, sounding happy to just be there.
Maybe next time I can enjoy or appreciate whatever I’m missing. Maybe I must just be nuts.
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