Daydream Festival

If this feels like déjà vu, that's because, well, it is. DiS is back in Barcelona's Parc Dél Forum for the second time in as many weeks: first it was the wonderful Primavera Sound festival, and now we're back to see Radiohead headline the inaugural Daydream one-dayer.

With a supporting cast that includes Bat For Lashes, Clinic, Four Tet, Liars, Low and M83, to say it's a stellar bill is something of an understatement. It's also one handpicked to ensure all the bands relate to each other in some way, be it a direct musical influence or merely a mutual appreciation - a good idea, says us. As is Radiohead's wont, it's an eco-friendly festival. No glass or plastic beverage containers here: instead, you pay an extra euro for your first beer and get a special, refillable green cup which also doubles as a handy souvenir. A good idea, says us. If this feels like déjà vu, that's because...

First up are Clinic, who open the smaller of the two stages and, indeed, the festival itself. Our excitement at this - we love 'em - soon turns to relative bemusement as they simply fail to spark in these surroundings. Material from their latest album is interspersed with older tracks in what is, all told, a pretty strong setlist, with Internal Wrangler cuts 'The Return Of Evil Bill' and 'The Second Line' proving particularly great. Overall, though, they just don't quite, erm, Do It for us this afternoon.

Not so Liars, whose often less-than-accessible sound translates surprisingly well to the enormous main stage. Opening for Radiohead is no easy task, but it's one Angus Andrew and company rise to with aplomb. Resplendent in a white trousers, black blazer and tie combination, Andrew bounds around the stage while his band tear through material from their enviable back catalogue, and by the time throbbing set-closer 'Plaster Casts Of Everything' is dispatched the burgeoning crowd is pretty much totally won over.

On record, Frenchman Anthony Gonzalez is_ M83. His dizzying _Saturdays = Youth LP (review) is one of 2008's better releases (shoetronica, anyone? No?), and here he employs a three-piece backing band to bring those creations to life. Comparisons with My Bloody Valentine are probably a little unfair - aren't they always? - but, in the early evening haze, the material soars. Considering we were half expecting just a man and his machines, it's a thoroughly pleasant surprise.

Natasha Khan and her expanded Bat For Lashes line-up (bolstered by a drummer and guitarist) take to the main stage next. Seemingly more an ethereal presence than a conventional human being, Khan has no trouble at all in commanding the crowd and her magical music leaves us completely captivated. Tracks from superlative debut LP Fur And Gold are mixed with new material, much of which sounds equally promising, to intoxicating effect. We're left punch drunk.

It's Radiohead, though, who deliver the sweetest of knockout blows. Given the band's attitude towards their early material, it's hardly surprising only two songs from The Bends and three from OK Computer are given airings, but that's not a problem when latest, music-business-rearranging LP In Rainbows proves so utterly compelling in a live setting.

If they didn't make sense before (and they almost, almost did), tonight each of the record's ten tracks sound as good as anything we've ever heard from the Oxford quintet. 'All I Need' and 'Nude' are truly haunting, 'Bodysnatchers' rocks our socks off and 'Reckoner', well… 'Reckoner' renders words almost redundant. And how many other singers can make 'ballads' sound as affecting as Thom Yorke does with 'Videotape' and Amnesiac _cut _'Pyramid Song' tonight?

They also look a world apart from the angry young men who dragged their heels around the globe circa OK Computer (as documented on Grant Gee's revealing Meeting People Is Easy film). Instead, they actually look pretty happy to be here. Jovial, even. When Yorke and Jonny Greenwood lock heads and acoustic guitars for 'Faust Arp', the camaraderie is tangible. It's a moment.

But there are so many others. 'The National Anthem' - complete with Amnesiac’s 'Hunting Bears' as an outro - and 'Idioteque' both remind us just how progressive things got around Kid A (as if we'd forgotten); rare outings for 'Optimistic' and The Bends opener 'Planet Telex' demonstrate the embarrassment of riches in their back catalogue while 'Paranoid Android' might just be the best six-and-a-half minutes of live music currently available for public consumption.

Half of the DiS team has seen them five times previous (with their 2003 Glastonbury set probably his favourite ever), while the other arrived a 'Head virgin - but it matters not. Stage and songcraft of this quality offers an instant fix regardless of experience, and if we're talking in those terms then Radiohead must surely be the musical equivalent of heroin. Certainly, few nights are as intoxicating as this; a Daydream from which we're loath to wake.

Live photos: Rob Webb

Promo photo: Kevin Westenberg