I can now mark number 15 off my list of '25 Things To Do One day': see Radiohead live in concert. Finishing up the last date on the first leg of their '08 In Rainbows tour, I battled the traffic, minor heat and 20,000 plus sell out crowd last night to see the band in person for the first time here in Dallas. Miraculous. Simply miraculous event.. but then I expected nothing less. They took the stage with little pomp and circumstance and proceeded to tear through their set list with minor audience pandering and conversation, playing pretty much every song off their latest and dipping into the past with a strong selection from "Kid A" and "Amnesiac". The first half of the show highlighted mood over rowdy sound, displaying pitch perfect attention to songs like "Pyramid Song" and "Nude". Some people around us in the relatively youngish crowd were getting impatient it seemed (young bastards these days) but I lapped up every second, knowing that seeing the band for the first time in Texas since their 1998 "Ok Computer" tour would be Radiohead the way they wanted to play. Anyone who understands their temperance for performing live (including the moment when lead singer Thom Yorke called out an idiot in the crowd who ruined the perfectly hushed moment as the band performed "Exit Music, For a Film")certainly shouldn't expect a concert full of "Creep" and the 1 or 2 other songs to actually get FM airplay over the years. I'd definitely rank this as the best convert I've ever seen, but hell am I biased. Clips below. Take note of the absolutely riveting stage set-up as they had 36 huge clear pipes coming down from the ceiling that lit up and danced in colors with the music.
And then, they pulled out one of my favs from "Kid A", titled "Idioteque". Huge surprise.
Thanks for indulging me.
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