All Points West: Radiohead. Maybe You've Heard Of Them.
The last thing the world needs is another blog post about how zomgzmazing Radiohead is live. Tough shit, world. Of the three shows I saw this week (it's ok to hate even I'm jealous of me), APW Night Two was The One. Since the only way to fairly and meaningfully gauge a Radiohead show is in comparison to another Radiohead show, I'll say it was near or at the top of my seven nights with the band. I took my own advice and treated the day as a glorified Radiohead concert, everything else just a chance diversion on the way to Yorke. This made the even longer wait for the ferry and thus missing everything but the last song of Animal Collective ("Brother Sport," yay), and a few of the Roots, just charming little pitstops of frustration to spice up the latest entry in my ILU Jonny Greewood diary.
So can we talk about how much bigger, happier, more conductive the crowd was yesterday? About how clearly engaged the band was with the field from the opening "Reckoner" and on, each song the perfect thread to the one before? About how by the time "Exit Music (For A Film)" came on you could hear a pin drop anywhere in Jersey? That was a chills moment. Thom dedicating "Airbag" to Kings Of Leon ("If we were that good looking, we'd be famous") was a goofy moment. (You get one with each Radiohead ticket purchase.) "Bangers & Mash" meant Thom on the kit. "Planet Telex" meant the already arresting stalactite light show spurting into higher, rainbow-psych gear. "Kid A," and "Idioteque"'s noise breakdown, meant I wet myself. Etc.
The great thing about seeing this band: No matter what they play, it's the Greatest Hits. But when all is dialed in like Saturday, the material comes together like a vessel for five guys onstage, and every person in earshot, to get lost in something. At that point it's not lights and music ... it's Radiohead. After the jump we've got another photo spread from Abbey Braden, the full setlist, and a few vids. More pics from APW Saturday tk.
SETLIST
01 "Reckoner"
02 "15 Step"
03 "The National Anthem"
04 "Kid A"
05 "All I Need"
06 "Nude"
07 "Weird Fishes"/"Arpeggi"
08 "Where I End And You Begin"
09 "The Gloaming"
10 "Faust Arp"
11 "No Surprises"
12 "Jigsaw Falling Into Place"
13 "The Bends"
14 "Bangers & Mash"
15 "Everything In Its Right Place"
16 "Exit Music (For A Film)"
17 "Bodysnatchers"
----
18 "Pyramid Song"
19 "Videotape"
20 "Airbag" (for Kings Of Leon)
21 "Fake Plastic Trees"
22 "There There"
----
23 "House Of Cards"
24 "Planet Telex"
25 "Idioteque"
Lots of pics for ya (see Friday's here):
[All photos by Abbey]
Here's some vid from last night (thanks again, mardybum):
"Fake Plastic Trees"
"Bangers & Mash"
'"Airbag"
"All I Need"
Posted at 2:36 PM by amrit in Concert, Video
Tags: All Points West | Radiohead
As a person who went to Night 1 (and had a superior stage view, about 10 feet in front of the left-hand screen) I want to personally pulverize Thom Yorke. The only thing that consoles me is that Night 2 didn't get Paranoid Android or Just. There's almost an insanely unfair disparity on the setlists.
Score = -1
tremendous. well worth standing up for over seven hours to keep a good spot.
Score = 1
They kind of put the other bands at these festivals to shame, regardless of how good those bands tend to be. If only Creed were still on the festival circuit...(joke) In all serious, I find there to be a large disparity between certain bands at these festivals.
Score = -2
Radiohead is the next Creed. Don't worry. They soon shall fall.
Score = -36
finchmeister, i think ed o'brien does the setlists. so you might want to pulverize him
Score = 0
i'm glad they got dr. gregory house play guitar....
Score = 2
Greatest set I've ever witnessed from any band I've ever seen. I only wish that they would have played Let Down.
Score = 3
thom phil and ed get together before each show to put the list together. see their secrets here:
http://nymag.com/arts/all/process/17306/
Score = 2
what a let down, haw haw.
why did animal collective only play with three members?
Score = 0
i was there both fri & sat as well. my personal favorite highlight was on saturday when thom danced by himself from one end of the stage to the other, and back again.
some more videos at my own lil write-up:
http://sarahspy.blogspot.com/2008/08/thank-you-apw-for-reminding-me-that.html
Score = 0
Look, I know everyone was super-stoked to see Radiohead for the first time in the NYC area for the first time in five years, as was I, but Saturday's show was a HUGE letdown, especially compared to Friday. It was a set full of inexplicable miscues; was I the only one who noticed how low Thom's vocals were on Reckoner, only the best song on In Rainbows? Or Colin's constant wrong notes? Or Phil's propensity to slow down the beat by 1/16 of a second, and then speed it back up again? (Or Ed's general pointlessness?) Or Thom's forgetting lyrics (Pyramid Song, anyone??)? Maybe it was me, but I've been to enough live shows that I sensed a pissed-off dynamic between the band members -- that they were deliberately fucking each other up and perversely sort of enjoying it.......
I know as well as anybody the beauty of live performance is by and large the capacity for imperfection; but for a band that inspires such reverence in its fans as though it were a bid for immortality, on Saturday night they seemed deeply deeply human.
Score = -6
Yeah, it was just you.
Score = 4
They played the Theater at MSG, which is in the NYC area, in 2006.
Head out of ass (on all counts)!
Score = 0
adam-you're delusional.
Score = 1
Adam-that's the only remotely negative thing I've heard about Saturday at all, especially compared to Friday. I think it's notable that Jonny isn't involved in the setlists, if that's still the same process they use. Thom making fun of Jonny multiple times on Friday was definitely a highlight.
Score = 0
Really great pictures
Score = 0
not as good as Clipse, therefor i dont give a fuck.
Score = -10
I was in the same spot in up close front of the screens and both shows were great. I would not be able to choose a fave. I thought the sound was absolutly perfect and I have worked as a soundman/engineer. Yes Radiohead are human. That's what makes them so fucking great.
adam at 08/10/08 7:12 PM - have you come down off your trip yet? All bands make mistakes. "I sensed a pissed-off dynamic between the band members" You are out of your mind!
Score = 1
Radiohead on Saturday was absolutely brilliant. I've always liked them and was excited to see them live, but was not at all prepared to be blown away. If you weren't blown away, you're dead inside.
Score = 2
I thought Radiohead were good both nights. What's everyone's take on the festival (I hesitate to even call it that) itself?
I don't go to many festivals, but I thought it was poorly run. Too many lines (even by festival standards) and overall a bad, over-crowded vibe.
Score = -1
are the pictures not showing up for anyone else? all i see are little bars...
Score = 1
Really well put, Amrit. I have to agree that Saturday night was much better, at least from where I was standing, on the left side facing the stage, which was happily devoid of blathering tools in my immediate vicinity. That is, until they started playing the song I'd wanted to hear all weekend, Exit Music. Naturally, the assholes showed up right on cue. But we managed to escape for the remainder of the show. Absolutely transporting and ultimately beyond my ability to articulate in words. More, please.
Score = 0
FEstival organization sucked big balls. Radiohead was the only good thing about it all. And those t-shirts made of recycled materials. Saturday's set list was excellent, I am so glad they didn't play the hits all thos bros and oc girls were waiting for all night.
Score = 0
I'm supremely jealous of Amrit.... saw RH in Montreal... it was a wet, muddy show and I loved every minute of it!! :D
Score = 0
adam it must really suck to not be able to have fun. that was a really great show. i can only imagine how you talk about sex "yeah baby it was good but i ate pizza earlier which made my tummy hurt and then wheni was about to cum i thought of my boss yelling at me for not making more coffee when she saw me take the last of it. you know as well as i do that usualy im like a machine in bed but i now realize im merely human." Or "Mom the Thanksgiving dinner you made was pretty good but the gravy was a little watery this year and i dont know who the fuck made those mashed potatoes because there was so much butter and cream in them i almost shit myself, you know im lactose intolerant , shut up dad just cuz i dont wanna watch football doesnt mean im gay, im human, and judging by moms cooking she is deeply deeply human too."
Score = -1
no, I just like Clipse better than Radiohead
Score = -1
Those photos are amazingly clear. I wonder if the LED lighting has any effect on the settings photographers are using for this tour.
Score = 1
I liked the festival. But I always like to take an hour between the time my brain tells me I have to pee and the actual performance of the act. Of peeing.
Score = 0
I am jealoouusss also.. I seen radiohead in montreal too just recently with grizzly bear, one of the best shows ive seen so far, it rained at the most perfect times and montreal is beautiful
Score = 0
Perhaps you haven't noticed that Radiohead has stopped playing Paranoid Android and Karma Police all together.
As far as I know this is the case, though I wouldn't be able to tell you why, I guess they just got sick of playing it. I know I was mildly disappointed when they didn't play those two in Tampa, especially since I had brought along a friend who only knew those two songs, but that didn't stop it from being my favorite concert-going experience ever.
Score = 0
They played both of those songs in Boston this week. They've been switching up the playlists throughout the tour.
Score = 0
they played both in montreal about a week ago and incredibly well i might add
Score = 0
Those pictures are awesome. If you want to see some really unprofessional photos of the saturday APW radiohead show, check out my blog www.theShimm.com. I've only seen radiohead 3 times (if you count when they opened up for R.E.M. on the Monster tour in 1995...man I'm feeling a lil' old) and that was by far the best radiohead show I've seen. I feel like I was listening pretty attentively and I thought the band sounded totally on point, but I was pretty far away. The lights, video and the sound were amazing. Not that anyone cares at this point in the comments. Check out www.theshimm.com; I've posted new Stills, KOL, sort of new Studio and a bunch of other stuff.
Score = 0
to answer ians question, animal collective's fourth member deakin is/was taking a little break from the band. i believe he was focusing on his family? never the less he has not been playing in any of their shows for the past year and a half or so.
Score = 1