Location: Vredenburg, Utrecht (The Netherlands)
Date: Tuesday June-24 1997, 8.00PM CET

Last week I went to Utrecht to see Radiohead in one of their
first concerts on the current tour. And the concert was great,
awesome, superb; from the beginning till the very end. The
newspapers over here gave such great critics too afterwards...

Well the lights went out the concert started with "Fitter,
Happier". After that song the band came onto stage, and started
right away. "Lucky" was the first one they played, and it
sounded even better than on the album. When the song died out
the crowd went nuts and the only way to stop the applause was
to start the 2nd song "My Iron Long". After that they played
"Airbag" and then... the best one of the evening. Thom did such
an awesome job on "Exit Music" that the entire crowd shivered
at every word. And after the song it was quiet for just one or
two seconds before the crowd went nuts again. Next was "Planet
Telex" and "Talk Show Host" (from the Romeo & Julliet Soundtrack
part I). The melody with "Talk Show Host" was great again. After
"Fake Flastic Trees" (shivers again) the crowd welcomed
"Paranoid Android" as if it was their biggest hit ever. I think
this was the 2nd best one of the evening. I was a bit different
from the album version. Same lyrics and so, but this was
"Paranoid Android" live on stage. This version wasn't as catchy
as the one on the album, which probably made it even better.
Next songs were "You" and "Just", which were accompanied by
lots of smoke and great light effects. A white light flashing
on a off very frequently gave Thom a very spooky look on stage.
You could just see him for a fraction of a second, before he
dissapeared in the dark and smoke and so again and again.
Then they played "Bishop's Robes", a b-track from the "Street
Spirit" single. Not a lot were single along with this one, so
I guess not many have bought the single as well. Next songs
were "The Bends", "Climbing Up The Walls" and then "No
Surprises" (great great live-version of the song) and when
Thom started "Street Spirit" they crowd was all quiet again,
listening to his beautiful voice, in perfect harmony with the
music on the song. After they disappeared for a while they
came back to play "Thinking About You", "Let Down", "Bones",
"The Tourist" and "Nice Dream". And when Radiohead finally
left the stage the crowd was still waiting for the band to
come back and play "Creep". We all waited for another half hour
but the band did not come back. The only disappointment of a
great evening. I had never seen Radiohead before but now I'm
glad I also have tickets for their second appearance in Holland
on October 13th. Thom Yorke was different from what I expected
him to be. From time to time he seemed very fragile to me,
and then again he was singing like nothing could ever hurt him.
Funny part was when Radiohead started "Fake Plastic Trees" the
crowd started slow clapping with the song, Thom got insecure,
gave a weak smile and stopped, so they had to start it all over
again. All in all it was a great evening. Just one advice: if
Radiohead ever plays near to where you live and you have the
chance: book yourself for an evening Thom & Co and you won't
be sorry, promised!...

Jasper Verkroost