Creeped out
I went to see Radiohead play in Victoria Park on Tuesday night. Having been a fan since I was a teenager, the anticipation of watching them live was like regressing to having wet dreams all over again. However, like a 15-year-old boy heading to the bathroom in the middle of the night, conscious of the damp patch slowly seeping into his mattress, I came away feeling a bit disappointed.
Let me clarify first of all that they were absolutely brilliant. The sound quality was amazing and at times, if you closed your eyes, you could have been sat at home listening to them coming out of Bose speakers, such was the pitch perfection and the harmony of Thom’s warblings to Johnny’s strummings.
Thing is, I sang Creep at my school karaoke when I was 17 (there’s video evidence; it’s embarrassing). I’ve grown up listening to Pablo Honey, The Bends and OK Computer, and it’s those albums that embody what Radiohead are all about for me.
Hence I was a bit narked that the emphasis of the set was on more recent material, from Kid A onwards and particularly In Rainbows, their latest. Just and Planet Telex were all we got from The Bends; OK Computer got a nod in the form of The Tourist and Climbing Up The Walls, while Pablo Honey, like an ill-judged ex-girlfriend at your wedding, was roundly ignored.
All of which got me to thinking: do bands, specifically very successful ones that have been around for a long time, have a responsibility to perform a healthy proportion of their back catalogue at gigs? Are they obliged to sing their way through the ditties they wrote when their voices hadn’t broken yet to please their paying public, or do they have every right to concentrate on their latest outpourings and sod anyone who doesn’t like it?
Before you all rush to let me know your thoughts on that one, I should add a postscript. Living, as I do, within walking distance of Viccy Park, I popped along to hear them again last night after watching Turkey’s last-minute luck run out against Germany (and having the pleasure of listening to Alan Green commentate on BBC One when coverage was buggered up by a thunderstorm. Can they not get him on there permanently and confine Motty to Match of the Day round-ups?).
And what do you know: during the 40 minutes I listened to them (and watched them through a gap in the perimeter fence, bonus) they managed to fit in singalong classics The Bends, My Iron Lung, Karma Police and Paranoid Android.
Which begs the potentially more pertinent question: if a band is playing multiple gigs at the same venue, how do you pick which fricking night to go to?
We are listening to The Killers
I’m definitely in the play-the-hits camp. That said, there was a lot of truth in that Big Train sketch, with Ralph McTell deperately attempting to play something, anything that isn’t Streets Of London.
Comment by Chris Hughes — 26/06/08
i went to both nights!
i think bands have to consider the atmosphere of the album and what will fit with it, as well as considering how many songs they can realistically rehearse for one tour. radiohead could have played for 5 hours and there will have been good songs missed out.. personally, i prefer the new stuff, anyway!
Comment by Phil Brooks — 26/06/08
I’m with you Mr. Poole though I’m now starting to wonder whether they are just uber intelligent (maybe it’s the Oxford link), in that we’re debating their gig like no other, feel cheated and yet amazed and definitely feel the need to go again to see what they feel like playing, in the hope that a few old favourites are on their minds! Warped geniuses.
Comment by David Inglis — 27/06/08
I went to the Glasgow Green gig lastnight and while i agree that many songs were not played, Radiohead have such a vast back catalogue that it would be impossible to play all their hits. Yes, Pablo Honey was left out totally, I myself would love to hear Stop Whispering live but as more songs come out it is going to be the older ones which were less successful (Pablo Honey sold much fewer albums and got much less air-time than The Bends and OK Computer) that are going to be overlooked.
As for the encore, in Glasgow we heard Karma Police, Idoiteque and Paranoid Android as well as Just. Their are always some sing-a-long classics included but unless you want a 24 hour set you;re never going to get it all into one gig.
I think the moral of the story is don’t sneak a peek at the second gig and you wouldn’t have been so disappointed.
Comment by Rob G — 28/06/08
Radiohead are exceptional in that their new stuff continues to be amazing, unusual and interesting. I accidentally saw The Verve recently (I went to watch the support act) and they played about two of their old hits, not including Bittersweet Symphony, and then expected us all to sit through their entire, very un-amazing, unusual or interesting, new album.
Comment by Emma — 30/06/08
I saw Radiohead at a festival in Arras, France. Firstly, they played 2 hours. 2 HOURS. Pretty amazing for a festival. Secondly, while I think that every concert go-er is entitled to an opinion and has specific expectations of what he/she hopes to see, I think that you have to put aside your naustalgic 17 year-old memories sometimes and realise that just as you have grown up so, too, have the band (or so one would hope). The reason that Radiohead continue to be relevant and inspiring is that they have evolved in tandem with their fans and did not decide after the massive success of the first albums to stick with the same sound. Thirdly, given the variety and depth of their music not only do there have to be cuts but they need to reflect the feel and atmosphere the band want to create and therefore require some sort of coherence. It would seem that this is currently in the direction of the new album and what more closely preceded it - and I for one say good decision. Lastly, I love love LOVE the first three albums and would be over the moon to hear a concert overflowing with those songs but I feel more strongly that to wish that the amazingness I experienced Sunday night could be replaced by my musical whims would be an abominable shame and waste of a ticket. Here’s to looking forward (and not backward).
Comment by Jen — 9/07/08
Radiohead remix of Big Ideas - by ZX Spectrum. Awesome. Must be seen:
http://www.vimeo.com/1109226?pg=embed&sec=1109226
Comment by Dan — 3/08/08