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Galvanising their creative birthright to follow nothing and no-one, we could either travel with them or get off at the next stop. A sell-out tour with eight thousand here tonight shows the mass bended knee.

Keeping to their manifesto of "if you wanna listen, then fine," five guys amble lethargically on stage before a Jonny Greenwood-sampled Thom Yorke proceeds to shout **"Car-diff" **throughout opener 'The Gloaming'. Slender screens showing grainy photo-booth movie strips of the action flank the stages, disengaging things slightly further.

Thankfully, current album 'Hail To The Thief' has been around long enough to acclimatise us to a lot of the material that's appreciated tonight, with 'Myxomatosis' making short shrift of the emotions and _'We Suck Young Blood'_ morphing into a stunted Darkness clap-along. But smatterings of 'Kid A' and especially'OK Computer' are embraced like the return of dead children. 'Paranoid Android', 'Karma Police' and 'Lucky' release everyone into an ecstatic, expressive lather, even the band. Possible tour fatigue, along with the steely nerve needed to delve amongst the raw turmoil of HTTT makes 'Idioteque' a port in a storm for both sides of the safety barrier. For this brief moment, their creative, communicative essence bursts into an all-consuming inferno. The final encore ends with _'Everything In Its Right Place'_, executed at breakneck speed but as a consequence, sadly bleached of its sensitivity.

I wanted to be immersed into magic tonight but the ultimate feeling is one of something sadly unrequited. That unspoken, emotional element is their greatest asset but its distance in a live setting such as this can also be their Achilles heel.

A window to the soul, or soulless?

  • Radiohead 7 / 10

I was there...

Hey, hey, hey!

How To Disappear completely was amazing!

And so was The National Anthem.

I see what you are hinting at mind you....

Re: I was there...

Hinting aside....
Radiohead are the ONLY band to be able to play a gig like the one on monday. Incredible band, incredible gig. I think its inevitable that people will be over-critical of the most critically 'acclaimed' band of the last few decades BUT i really didnt see what Miss Oriel was on about with this show! Possible tour fatigue!!!! Whaaat?
With a band this big its easy to pick at the cracks but they really do live on a different planet to every other band that plays arena tours. After nearly 10 years Radiohead are as relevant and inspirational as ever and i think most people in the cia on monday would wholeheartedly agree with me.
Sorry...i do ramble when defending my boys.

hey man

I agree!

Totally!

It was just not THE best performance I have seen!

Re: hey man

By Radiohead, it rates among the best performances i have ever seen by and band mind you.

dull

Is it just me who finds Radiohead's records generally great and their gigs boring and introverted?

Re: dull

Yes, it is just you.

Re:dull

i second that.

amazing....did anyone see them at Earls Court?? bloody brilliant.

i disagree

I really enjoyed it. I'd never seen them before so I don't have anything to compare against, but it seemed like a really good show to me. The 2 encores pissed me off a bit, but it was all worth it just to hear There There.

Didn't anyone else notice the rather large amount of people being dragged out after fainting though? That was somewhat worrying.

Re: i disagree

Were they simply overcome with ennui? Or are Radiohead becoming the new Take That?

Kinda wish I'd gone really, since I haven't seem them in years and HTTT is now my favourite 'head album... still, can always see 'em next tour (though when I said that about Fugazi last year they promptly decided to break up for a year or two...)

Re: i disagree

"a stunted Darkness clap-along"????? whaaaaaaa? when the darkness first stepped onto a sizable stage did someone pull the chain and flush away centuries of musical history? 2003 is not rock year-zero. they're not the first lot to encourage an audience to raise their hands and whack them together to a rhythm. in fact the We Suck Young Blood clap-along was more candle-lit mormon ritual than it was stunted Darkness clap-along.

Re: i disagree

The author was hinting at the way the band managed to effortlessly unite the crowd, more than offer a comment on the style of music, I would think. It wasn't exactly Bon Jovi at Wembley, now!

Radiohead

Did anybody else think the sound was crap at the cardiff gig? I couldn't hear half of what they were playing it seemed so distorted.

Radiohead

Does no-one remember when the Head played smaller venues and their power took over... that will be missed forever now but Cardiff's gig was awesome in it's own way.... they are still the finished article and of the 6 times I've seen them now, that was the 2nd best gig I've seen by them... you're never going to recapture the greatness of the Bends tour in Oxford with Supergrass!!!

Re: Radiohead

Radiohead are a joke now.

It's a sad fact of life that they can piss in a bucket - which undoubtedly describes the sound of their last three albums - and gullible people would still shell out upwards of £30 to go and see it.

It's time Mr Yorke removed his head from up his anal passage and rediscovered tune again.

Dom G.

Re: Radiohead

There There
Everything in its right place
Knives out
Idioteque
2+2 = 5
You and whose army?
Motion picture soundtrack
Optimistic
Pyramid Song

9 tune-drenched classics there (admittedly, it took three albums to get them).
But surely it would be a bit silly to say they've forgotten how to write a song, wouldnt it?

Re: Radiohead

Indeed.

Anyone who witness 'Like Spinning Plates', 'Everything In Its Right Place' or 'There There' live, would not have made such an uninformed comment.

Re: Radiohead

I have no desire to witness songs about spinning plates "live". If I had been stupid enough to shell out thirty quid I would EXPECT a proper set full of proper songs such as 'Creep', 'The Bends', 'My Iron Lung', 'Lucky' etc etc.

Having witnessed that godamnawful show of tunelessness at Glastonbury, uninformed is not the correct description of my comment, unimpressed would probably sum it up better.

If Radiohead weren't an established band and released Kid A(trocity) or Hail To The Thief as their first records they would be banished to playing the Water Rats every other night without fail, and before you give me the "they've earned the right to do what they like" spiel, experimentation should not be used as an excuse for making poor, unlistenable records.

Dom G.

Re: Radiohead

Music's got to try and move forward and Radiohead are trying to do that. So what if they make a few mistakes? Hail To The Thief is a good album despite there being some shit songs. If you want bands who are stuck up their own arse, check out Jet, B.R.M.C. & The Strokes.

Re: Radiohead

Agree with you about Jet and co., but this year's 'long awaited' releases by Radiohead and Blur weren't about moving music forward, but more of an exercise in pretentious art for art's sake posturing.

Dom G.

Re: Radiohead

please, please, please;
listen to the records, maybe even once before you start posturing your bollocks for widespread humiliation. i respect your right to not like kid a or whatever. you respect my right to love the same. or you're a twat who cries 'cos he's into music for penis comparison as opposed to
beauty
boys.

Re: Radiohead

Widespread humiliation?!?

Keep on taking the tablets, Zoo, whoever you are.

Radiohead

You're a fucking idiot Dom.

Re: Radiohead

dom- you need to wake from your denial and realise that you love radiohead. 'the gloaming' is your favourite song. we know it. you know it. you need to come clean. you need to escape from the self-hating trap you're in. it's okay to love radiohead.

remember, dom, we love you. whenever you need us, we'll be there for you.

we'll always be there.
XXX

Re: Radiohead

Keir

Good to see you can accept an opinion that differs from yours.
Hail To The Thief is one of Radiohead's lowest selling albums, which to me suggests a few million people can't all be wrong.
Still I'd rather be a "fucking idiot" than an ignorant inbred tosser.

Dom G.

Re: Radiohead

Zoo1

I LOVED Radiohead when they made records that mattered, wrote tunes that meant something, actually responded like they cared.

The thing is since Kid A(bysmal) they've sacrificed any thoughts of making music that is actually listenable for the sake of "art" as Mr Yorke cares to put it.

If you're happy to accept substandard rubbish, fine. As for many of the thousands who witnessed their recent disappointing shows, we'll think twice about shelling out our hard earned cash next time.

Dom G.

Re: Radiohead

okay. maybe i'm getting wound up, but hey-
melody. melodies are nice. one of the greatest myths of post-millenial radiohead is the lack of melody thing. but they have lots and lots!
Kid A. 10 songs. one is tuneless (but actually good). nine have clear, obvious, listenable tunes. one of those is shite. another one is average. the rest are fucking great, and there are 3 songs there that are the greatest ever.
Amnesiac. 11 songs. two are tuneless- and crap. nine have tunes- one of those is crap. the rest are great. pyramid song is their greatest, most moving moment.
Hail To The Thief. 14 songs. All have tunes. A couple arn't great. another couple are good. ten songs are fucking amazing. six of those are collosal.
thom yorke is in print saying that he just does what he does. so fair enough. who gives a fuck about "art"? i don't. i just like great music.
and radiohead are amazing live. i've read reviews of their latest gigs that indicate people absolutely loved them up, apart from the crybabies who can't take they don't do the 'creep' much anymore...
if you hate them, fine. great.
but if you went to their recent gig, knowing you hate these songs, you're a bit dense.
all great records sound shit first time round, in my experience. i mean shit is shit, but kid a did mean something, it grows and grows on you, it is just a lovely, sweet little thng and it needs love.
dom- listen to their stuff again, but don't prejudge it. let it happen to you. you just might like it, you sick little perve you.
fuck me i'm sad for writing all this, but hey. i'm on shit loads of coke right now. i can do anything. i can lift trucks, jump buildings, save babies. it's great.
dom, i'm there for you.
XXX

Re: Radiohead

a few million people are behind your gene pool, dom. the result is definitely 'wrong'...

Re: Radiohead

A few million people also went off Radiohead the day your make believe genius buddy Yorke declared that he'd undiscovered tune.

Radiohead haven't mattered since 1998 and won't do in the future.

End of story.

Dom G.

Re: Radiohead

Zoo 1

So you need to be on shitloads of coke for Radiohead's recent output to make any sense!

I rest my case sir, I really do.

Hail To The Mighty Dom G.

Re: Radiohead

I like Radiohead still.
That man makes funny faces and makes me giggle.

Re: Radiohead

dom, check your door for money and groupies 'cos your wit is off the scale.

Re: Radiohead

I don't judge people/music/anything in general on the scale of "money and groupies" matey.

In the 21st Century, Radiohead are a joke. A caricature of their former selves.

Fortunately for them (and their bank accounts and groupies), they have this mythological trademark that makes tonedeaf suckers like you and Keir continue to buy their records.

Dom G.

Re: Radiohead

Hail To The Facially Inept.

Re: Radiohead

"Radiohead haven't mattered since 1998"

So the DIS pole is wrong?

Get with the times. You can't use record sales to back up your argument. HTTT may be one of their lower selling records, but think about all the hype that surrounded its leak. It's possible that more people downloaded it.

Record sales in general are down.

Radiohead's newermusic has just as much emotion. It's just not as pop and you have to listen a bit harder.

Re: Radiohead

Future

Aside from being unsure of what a "Dis pole" is, you cannot argue with the fact that Radiohead's current popularity is due to 'The Bends' and 'OK Computer'.

If they hadn't released those two albums, no one would give two hoots about anything they've released since - FACT.
The national press wouldn't be cockfighting each other to give unlistenable relics like Kid A(bsurdly crap) and Imsoniac's Dream (which it was) 10/10 without listening to the damn thing - FACT.
If Either of those two or Hail To The Thief had been released prior to The Bends or OK Computer no one would be calling them "experimental, ground breaking geniuses". Instead they'd be dropped, unheard of by about 99% of the population and probably working in a library somewhere in Abingdon.

The problem is that because some people missed their aforementioned classics while they were too busy listening to Cast or 'Be Here Now', they feel they have to pretend Radiohead are these emotional geniuses who are getting better with every record when in actual fact they've got progressively worse with every album since '98 to the point of being aurally unbearable.

I do agree with your point about record sales however, as if that were a trademark of quality would all be listening to Westlife, Dido and the Cheeky Girls (all of whom considerably outsold Radiohead incidentally in either/both the singles and albums chart during 2003).

Dom G.

Re: Radiohead

Yeh, so what if you don't like the new stuff Dom. You have to admire the band for having the balls to do what they did with Kid A and Amnesiac. People like Dom would have loved to see them making another OK Computer. But they didnt and you gotta praise them for that. Their new stuff is still good, just in a different way.

And you're livin' in the past if you expect them to play Creep anymore. They've evolved, and if you don't adapt and evolve you die. They evolved.

Re: Radiohead

well last time i looked you didn't end up with a number one album both sides of the atlantic, with no promotional singles from it, by being a "joke".

:)

you know the one i'm talking about i'm sure...

Re: Radiohead

c'mon then, what - indeed, *who* even - would you consider as 'moving music forward' currently, in the way you speak of? Seeing you dismiss 'kid a' for one with such a pithy jibe.......and anyway, isn't playing all yer old simple and jangly hits (creep, the bends) more a step back, surely, given your desire for radiohead (and Blur) to 'move music forward'? mmm?

ps, i am as much a huge fan of yr aforementioned fave radiohead songs as you are...

Re: Radiohead

No, you're wrong.

Their popularity is down to Creep.

Without that, they would have been dropped before having the chance do do The Bends

The simple truth is that without the success and the freedom to create which The Bends and OK Computer gave them, they would never have created Kid A, etc.

To dismiss the widespread media acclaim as everyone not have listened to it is rather short-sighted - there's nothing the media like more than a fall from grace.

Just because their last few albums haven't been made in the straight off chord for chord, four-four, seven-eight songwriting structure we all cherish, doesn't mean its bad.

Does anyone seriously wish that Radiohead had done what Oasis did and remained the same?

Kid A is a truly classic record and commands continued and repeated listening. Admittedly, I didn't fully appreciate this until listening to it back-to-back with Amnesiac, but that is the whole point here.

The rest of the reasoning is set out <b><A HREF="http://www.drownedinsound.com/articles/7193.html"target="_blank">here</A></b>

It's not right to dimiss something you don't understand.

Re: Radiohead

The Kidz

Jayne McDonald and Mariah Carey can sell number one albums with little or no promotional singles from it.

Does that make them "inspirational geniuses" too?

Re: Radiohead

Future

Kid A is like a paper tissue.
You use it once then realise its not as good as you thought it would be so it ends up in the bin.

Nobody wanted Radiohead to end up like Oasis.

However, it would have been nice of them to at least treat their audience with a little respect and A) Release something resembling a tune every once in a while; B) If they're going to charge upwards of £30 to see them at least play a fair quota of the songs that got you there in the first place.

Dom G.

Re: Radiohead

Err no...

You have to baulk at the fact that now they can afford to take the piss out of their fans by releasing any old substandard rubbish without fear of being dropped, courtesy of the sales of The Bends and OK Computer.

Re: Radiohead

You can see the set lists from recent shows on VirtualFestivals.com so that covers that.

The 'tune' issue has also been mentioned. If you fail to respect how Everything In Its Right Place, Spinning Plates, Knives Out, Idioteque, There There, 2+2=5, I Will et al are considered TUNES then you're just peeling away the remaining layers of respect that I have for what you say.

Andy

Re: Radiohead

What the heck is the DiS pole? Sean's willy? I read the poll, but have no idea what Mr Adam's schlong has to do with Radiohead.

Re: Radiohead

Future

To be perfectly honest, I care not whether you respect what I say.
The fact is, and you have provided NO evidence to dispel this, that Radiohead have not made a decent, tuneful album since 'OK Computer', and looking at various setlists compiled on your website DOES NOT substantiate your argument one bit.

Re: Radiohead

Christ, you're not stupid Dom, so why pretend to be so?

The setlists show they still play old stuff.

The albums have tunes, that's a fact. Listen to the songs. The review I wrote of Hail To The Thief makes it quite clear why it is album of the year.

A

Re: Radiohead

U should know u have yr
mouth round it most offten

Re: Radiohead

He turns the light off first, so I'm never really sure if it's his or not.

Re: Radiohead

Future

You and every other PR licking writer who reviewed it had little option but to give it a 5 star review, or the freebies would have dried up!

And since when was stating a fact about Radiohead not releasing a decent album since 'OK Computer'tantamount to being stupid?

You collect setlists, great. I collect Nottingham Forest football programmes.

Likewise, as with your setlists, the songs that were played prior to them being hyped as "geniuses" would have been better than what is being trawled out now, as was the team listed on the back of the programme that won the European Cup in 1979 better than the one currently languishing in the bottom half of Division One.

My point being, that just because Kid A, Hail To The Thief and Amnesia (because it was forgotten about after the 2nd track) carry the Radiohead trademark, as does the curent Nottingham Forest football team, it doesn't mean the quality is there any longer.

Dom G.

Re: Radiohead

I really disagree with you. I think 'Kid A' is Radiohead's finest work and don't enjoy their earlier albums much at all.

Personally, I think the songs on Kid A are extremely emotive and generally wonderful.

I guess it just depends on what floats your boat.

I know it hurts when a band you love change their style and it's not to your taste, I am very pleased that Radiohead moved on from their more formulaic guitar rock style.

Re: Radiohead

Depends on what you call moving music forward.
If you mean being different for the sake of being different but sounding like a cat being dragged through a lathe backwards, then I'm really not interested.
If you mean using your inspirations in a positive manner and then creating something worthwhile and beautiful then I'd go with people like Adult., Punish The Atom, Muse even, to name but three.

As for Radiohead and Blur, it's time they split up, along with the Manics, Oasis, the Bluetones and many other remnants of the Britpop era whose sell-by dates passed years ago.

And before you ask, yes I have been/still am a fan of all of those artists at one point or another.

Dom G.

Re: Radiohead

I have no problem with a band changing their style and I have no problem with experimental electronic music, hence my love of stuff like Add N To X, Epic 45, The Boards of Canada and The Telescopes.

What I do have a problem with is the way people fawn over something (and I'm not having a pop at you JIgga - there will always be exceptions to the rule) that is quite horrific in comparison to their earlier works yet because it was made by a certain artist, they are seemingly allowed to get away with it.

Oasis have made a career out of it (for different reasons), Blur are treading the same path and even U2 did with their Zooropa stuff before realising that music was all about TUNES after all.

Dom G.

Re: Radiohead

Muse! ! !!!!
(dies in howls of laughter)
And it was all going so well too.

Re: Radiohead

Couldn't disagree more, I'm afraid. All the bands you mention are great, and as "experimental electronic music" are quite probably better than Radiohead in that capacity. Unfortunately everyone fails to recognise one crucial point here - "Kid A" is a beautiful, beautiful record. The British press have this tendency to slate Radiohead's newer work because they did a surface-listen and it didn't sound like "OK Computer". But if you'd given it any time at all you'd realise it goes waaay beyond just half-arsed attempts at Warp-tronica.

If anything I'd say Radiohead have been denied the acclaim another band would have had, if they didn't have the history. The problem is that people can't assess their work for what it is - unique, articulate and deeply emotional. While I'm here I may as well mention that "emotional" doesn't just mean wrist-slitting in this context as so many short-sighted people often say. It means they successfully convey a wide range of emotions, which they do - there's so much more hope in their music than so many people make out.

Maybe the reason I *bought* the reocrd is because it's Radiohead, but that's not why I love it. If people weren't concentrating so hard on trying to be so hip and obscurist, they might actually listen to it and realise it's, y'know, good.

Re: Radiohead

You've got to admire Radiohead for having the balls to do something different as well. They could have gone and created space-rock all they liked, but they saw they had to do something different, and although not everyone liked it, they did what they wanted.

Re: i disagree

In that case, it wasn't exactly the finest piece of music-crit writing I've seen recently by some way then, either...that above post gets the wrong end of the stick, ok, but it still rings quite true...

Re: Radiohead

McDonald had a fucking reality tv show she became the star of
Carey had millions $$$$$$ worth of promotion, the Sony boss as husband, MTV, etcetcetc........

Both of those are from totally different spheres - both musically, and the entire machinations of the industry behind their fame/progress to the 'top' (of the charts..). You're an intelligent person though so that was surely just to wind me up, i can't think of any other sensible reason. wherever did i mention "inspirational geniuses (sic)" anyway?

Radiohead put out a record that in comparison to the first 3 was 'difficult' / 'obtuse' / 'pretentious' / 'unfriendly' / sundry other accusations from eg: people who wanted them to remake OKC for the rest of their careers. and in no way at all were expected to perform so well beforehand, let alone once you'd heard what was on the record. no press saturation, no singles, no mtv videos, very scant interviews. summat *happened*, and they went stellar. in the midst of nu-metal, bad Steps-pop and the rise of uk-garage. and i think of all of this, then look back at Kid A, and just can't reconcile the two, can't work out how the hell it happened. Other than what a stunning album it is, alongside The Bends it's the best album they've done (imho..)
And perversely, given those accusations, that album set them up as being more popular than they'd ever been before, and they're only getting bigger. I think those who stoutly insist Radiohead in the 21st Century are a joke are rather the minority of old fans who whimper about them not playing Creep live when they see them. and some IDM heads who look down on em with mirth/disdain for their programming and edits not being as hot as Gescom's or whatever. And your good self (wouldn't want to stain your dignified superiority you preen so much in this thread above by claiming you whimper).

This refers to several things you've posted really...though with that last reply either you're being thoroughly awkward or just plain stupid , I'll give you the benefit of the doubt as its Christmas ;)

I think things are getting on my tits even more than usual the longer we've no hot water here.....

Re: Radiohead

(smileadelic) - my, that was a more on-the-money post than i've seen on here in fucking aeons! can't fault a word of that.

Radiohead

rhubarb.

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