Radiohead @ The Greek, June 29

As expected, they were great. What’s amazing about Radiohead is how good they sound live, especially in an open-air venue. The sonics were crisp and impactful, and their range of produced sounds is astounding. Yorke was quite the showman – whining and screaming like only he can, and bouncing around like a pugilist who finds himself at an African tribal ritual. I’ve been following the setlists from this tour, and this one was pretty unique:

01 You And Whose Army?
02 The National Anthem
03 2+2=5
04 15 Step
05 Morning Bell
06 Arpeggi
07 Videotape
08 Kid A
09 Dollars And Cents
10 Street Spirit
11 All I Need
12 Nude
13 Paranoid Android
14 Bangers 'n Mash
15 The Gloaming
16 Idioteque
17 Follow Me Around
18 Everything In Its Right Place

Encore 1
19 There There
20 Down Is The New Up
21 The Bends
22 How To Disappear Completely

Encore 2
23 House of Cards
24 Lucky

The new songs were great. I was going in most looking forward to the new “Videotape”, which we heard, but it was massively upstaged by “Down is the New Up”. The band, as ever, continues to evolve and as soon as this song started, I was knocked back - it’s new ground for them for sure. In it I hear jamband sensibilities: major chords, upbeat tempo, vocal harmonies. Then, of course, it’s made their own with Yorke’s signature drawl and that gorgeous but slightly eerie piano riff that comes in midway through. Check it out (from an earlier gig): Down is the New Up.

“Idioteque” was a standout - wicked beat and the whole place was bouncing, dancing. “Paranoid Android” was extremely powerful, throwing down the full force of their angstful energy. “Everything in Its Right Place”, of course, had the place going off – everyone singing along. “Street Spirit” was a huge surprise and beautifully done. Same with "The Bends". The only thing I felt was missing were the early songs from Pablo Honey – I don’t think they played one.

From a fan review this morning online: “Mr. Yorke stuck it to a few people demanding Creep, explaining something to the effect of, ‘all the monkeys are asking for creep...that's SOOOOO yesterday.’” :lol

Good shit. Will def have to catch them next time around, as many years as that takes. In the meantime, I can’t wait for the new album – I think it’ll be their best since Kid A, easy.

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PS Here are a bunch of bootlegs from the recently completed tour: Radiohead live 2006