review

USA, D.C.: 9:30 Club - August 12, 1997

Last night, on the August 12 I saw a much anticipated rh concert at the
930 club in washington d.c. I arrived at 8:00, bought a shirt, and at
about 8:45 Teenage fanclub came on. The guys I went with were really
looking forward to seeing Teenage Fanclub. TF had a keyboard player, why
they did I don't know. And the bass player, my friend pointed out, is a
guitar player playing bass. But I think they were satisfactory, playing
some familiar tunes to me. After Teenage Fanclubs set, it became quite
crowded with people, me and my friend had a problem with people pushing to
get in front of us.
After a half hour of the crowd moving around, Fittier, Happier came on,
just as I anticipated. Near the end, the band came on, with Thom coming on
last. They all took their usual places, with Phil in the back, and Colin
standing to the right of Phil, Jonny to the right, Thom in center and Ed
on the left. I was standing 15 feet directly in front of Ed, although I
wanted to get a better view of Jonny. They opened, as usual, with Lucky.
The balance for Lucky seemed off. Jonny and Ed's parts were difficult to
pick out, but after the first song everything sounded great. The next song
they played was Just. The crowd went nuts at the intro, and Jonny really
showed off here. I liked when Thom said the "holy cow" part and making
little horns on his head with his fingers. At the outro Jonny was gettin'
down, he was spinning around real fast, i think that was the only time
during the concert where he did that.
After Just, they went into Airbag. Colin and Phil sounded really tight.
After a good rendition of Planet Telex, they went into Bullet Proof.
Thom's singing on this was very good. In general Thom's singing for the
night was great. He didnt have any problems, like i have heard
occasionally in past performances. After Bullet, Thom changed from his
black electric acoustic (the same one Dave Matthews uses) to his acoustic
"I love NY" guitar, and went into Electioneering. Jonny's intro was very
highly charged. and the song came off very energetic.
After Electioneering, they roadies brought out a xylophone set for jonny.
Jonny never smiled the whole concert, he looked serious the whole show.
When he was playing the xylophone's, he looked like he was performing
surgery. Ed played "No Suprises" with a capo on the 15th fret. Thom played
with a capo on third fret. The next song they played was Climbing Up the
Walls. Ed played the chirping noises in the beggining by fooling with the
pickup. Jonny played the radio transistor for this song(!), while also
doing a little keyboard work. The transistor looks just like a hand held
radio, and controls feedbac. I think at the end of Climbing Up the Walls,
it was the loudest then, then at any other point in the show. Jonny
cranked the dial all the way up. Also at the end of CUTW Jonny was playing
some weird computer voice samples on the keyboard (while everyone else was
preparing for the next number). The next song they played was Fake Plastic
Trees. The crowd really seemed to get into this.
After My Iron Lung, they played Paranoid Android, a song I was much
anticipating. For the first verse, Colin was playing percussion, as was
Ed. Jonny was playing keyboard. Colin joined in after the first "Whats
That" from Thom. Colin's bass solo, unforuntately was hard to hear. After
the rockin part, Colin and Ed left the stage, while Jonny was playing the
"monk chant" part. Colin and Ed came back (colin had a ciggarette and a
new beer). Ed took over singing the "rain down" part very well, (as was
all his back-up singing), while Thom did the other part. The outro was
well done.
Another Highlight was Exit Music. Colin left the stage on this song too.
Thom's singing was perfect, and the Breathe keep Breathing was so moving.
They closed out the set with Talk Show Host, (which everyone has been
saying what a good live song it is). Well I feel the same way. Talk Show
Host is an awesome live tune. Very Groovy. Also Thom has some interaction
with the crowd.
For the first encore they played Lurgee. Then went into Karma Police. For
K.P. jonny goes off stage somewhere playing the keyboard part, but he
didnt really play the intro from the recording. Ed plays the slowing down
part at the end of the song. Also Ed does something coo with the back up
singing here. They then played Street Spirit, which they dedicated to
Teenage Fanclub.
The second encore, though is what really got me. Thom came on by himself,
and said he's dedicating this song to the people who flew over from
Britain. (I was thinking: Well heres Thinking About You), but then Thom
said, this one didnt quite make it to the new record, but it's still good.
The crowd quited down and listened closely. It was a song which I had
never heard, and was immediately captivated by. Thom kept singing "I think
you're crazy". This was one of the best radiohead songs Ive heard. It's
called Motion Picture Soundtrack. I said to my friend afterward "It was
worth coming here just for that". Then the band came on to play "The
Tourist", another brilliant song. The came back for one more encore to
play You.
Interaction with the crowd: Thom really didnt talk to the crowd alot. At
one point, there was someone yelling for Let Down (rh doesnt play that
song I read because its too hard to know where to come in), Thom looked at
the guy and starting applauding him. Then Jonny came over to Thom and
started applauding. Jonny moved around alot, switching sides of the stage,
etc. Colin remained still with his side facing the audience. (Colin plays
Bass synth on CUTW). Ed looked around the audience the whole time,
occsionally Ed would jump up, or laugh, etc. Thom didnt do that much of
his patented jerkiness.
As far as clothes, I think they were all were the army pants with all
those pockets down the leg.
Overall, a very excellent show. They are all very entertaining to watch.
I had a great time.
-Mike
(fit and happy)