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| Radiohead, Bat For Lashes, MGMT |
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| LCCC, Manchester - 29th June 2008 |
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In November 1851 J.T. Cummerbund wrote a review in The Times (before the internet people sometimes wrote words on slices of tree, or even on the insides of baby calves) of the novel Moby Dick. He liked it, and gave it five shillings out of five (this was his scoring system).
Sadly, the next week Cummerbund’s whole family died from consumption, the trauma of which affected his work. In an angry diatribe he – some may say unfairly – gave the novel Henry The Hungry Caterpillar only one shilling out of five, slating it as a piss-poor allegory for the revolutionary turmoil seen in continental Europe.
Moby Dick became a success, whereas Henry The Hungry Caterpillar was quickly found in charity shop bargain bins throughout the country. Could the failure of HTHC be attributed to the scathing review from Cummerbund, written when the reviewer wasn’t at the apex of the happiness pyramid?
Watching Radiohead should always be an anticipated event, one which you should spend weeks waiting eagerly for, barely able to contain your own excitement as you add more pictures of the band’s bass player to your ‘Colin Greenwood Jotter’.
I thought of J.T. Cummerbund as I sat on a plastic seat at Manchester’s cricket ground waiting for Radiohead to come on stage.
I had a hangover, I was tired and quite frankly not in the best of moods. Why was I never in the best of moods? My legs hurt, I’d just eaten the worst chips the world has ever produced, and Manchester seemed a scary place filled with smiling, happy monsters. I wanted to go home, I didn’t want to watch this band, this band I thought I loved.
I’d already looked harshly upon MGMT, describing them as ‘tinny and unsubstantial’, even though I’d unfairly penned that review in my head before we’d arrived. Bat For Lashes was nice enough but incapable of piercing my grumpiness aura. I didn’t want gentle folk, I wanted a can of coke and my sofa.
And when Radiohead came on stage the negativity remained: it was too sunny and you can have the best light show in the world but if you’re sat outdoors in a cricket ground then what’s the point? Plus, is any band worth over 42 quid a ticket?
Yet, as Nude flicks beautifully across the stadium, you realise that you’ve stopped moping, you’re sulking about life anymore, and that the goose pimples on your skin are not caused by the slightly chill wind.
You’re transfixed by what you’re hearing, loving the chance to hear old favourites but also pleasantly surprised that songs from In Rainbows sound…better. All I Need sounds like the great song it just quite wasn’t on record, and Reckoner makes you just glad to be alive. Watching drunken bald men play air guitar to a beefy version of Jigsaw Falling into Place was a beautiful sight to behold.
What happened to the mood? Why am I staring up at the plump white clouds floating in the sky and smiling?
And, yes, the stage lighting for The National Anthem would look better indoors, but it’s still pretty awesome now. And, was it me, or was the song somehow funkier, dancier and more urgent?
For all the new appreciation of In Rainbows songs it’s the older tracks like the aforementioned The National Anthem that really gel the evening together.
Fake Plastic Trees actually brings me close to tears, and Just isn’t played as a chore, the band really seem to enjoy it.
In fact, Radiohead seem to be enjoying themselves throughout the performance. Thom Yorke calls someone in the crowd “darling”, and spins round the stage like an 8 year old child filled with fizzy pop at a wedding disco.
Plus, not many bands play 3 encores. And, whereas Pyramid Song and Paranoid Android would be highlights in any other gig, it is the final song in each encore that live in the memory.
I knew what to expect with Karma Police, a euphoric singalong, or a moment if you will. But, knowing how good it was live doesn’t lessen the impact of thousands of people singing along as the sun dips behind the horizon.
Idioteque ends the second encore, Thom Yorke’s robotic spasms and the flickering lights mesmerising the crowd, yet as we start to wander away thinking that there would be no way that the band would return for a third time, they bound on stage and as the ghostly first strains of Lucky begin a great evening hits its pinnacle.
As songs like Lucky and Fake Plastic Trees were played tonight I found myself looking away from the stage and staring at the clouds. Not because the performance was anything less than beguiling but the clouds and music told me that everything was going to be okay. Everything was going to be okay.
Four and a half shillings out of five.
Setlist
01. 15 Step
02. Airbag
03. There There
04. All I Need
05. Nude
06. Arpeggi
07. The Gloaming
08. The National Anthem
09. Faust Arp
10. No Surprises
11. Jigsaw Falling Into Place
12. Reckoner
13. Just
14. Bangers ‘n Mash
15. Everything In Its Right Place
16. Fake Plastic Trees
17. Bodysnatchers
Encore1:
18. Videotape
19. Paranoid Android
20. Myxomatosis
21. Optimistic
22. Karma Police
Encore2:
23. Pyramid Song
24. 2+2=5
25. Idioteque
Encore 3:
26. Lucky
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Glenn 30th June 2008 00:00:00 |
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