Support was from the American Laika again. I'm sure they are a good band,
but I think they are badly misplaced opening for somebody like Radiohead.
Thom chose them because he really liked their album, and he encouraged us to
buy it during his set, but they do not stand up to a crowd waiting for
Radiohead's music. 45 minutes of their music is very trying for most people,
in my opinion, and I feel sympathy with them, as I am sure that their records
are really good.

At 9pm, of course, Radiohead walk out of the slightly over-zealous dry ice
to the dulcet tones of Mr. Yorke's Apple Mac performing Fitter Happier,
and into Airbag, a solid set-opener which didn't come off particularly well,
due to inadequate mixing, but that was soon corrected. Karma Police had
everyone singing along, but I still have reservations about the quality of
this song live - it is such a simple song that it needs more to it. My Iron
Lung picked up the tempo again, a great song which keeps getting better live.
Exit Music was a light relief from the manic crush of the first few songs,
lighters out and a great entrance from the rest of the band with Thom's
singing spot on tonight. Vanishing to the back of the stage, Thom played a good
version of Subterranean Homesick Alien (deciding to sing 'angels hover' instead of
'aliens hover', as it used to be before OK Computer came out) which was only
spoilt by the drunk people pushing the crowd around. Thom took great offence
to this, and during the verse, he's stops, "take me on board their beautiful
STOP IT YOU FUCKING WANKERS", looking into the crowd and shaking his head,
but continuing with the final chorus. After that he gets up, and gives
everyone a lecture about how he's been to too many gigs where people start pushing and
shoving, and then people fell over got a broken bone. That just about stopped
them, but Thom was still in a bad mood. Surprisingly, they chose to play
Maquiladora, a B-side off High and Dry, which is in my opinion still one of
their best live songs. Sounding slightly rusty, and with Thom fluffing more
lyrics (starting the second chorus off instead of the first chorus), but
mindblowing guitar work, and a really catchy riff. Explained Thom,
"Aha, bet you didn't realise we were going to play a set of B-sides. Thought
we were just going to play the hits, eh? Collect your money on the way out."
and then let rip with The Bends, a huge beast of a song which everybody
knows the words to! Jonny was slightly more restrained than usual on this one,
but they kept it all together. And then Talk Show Host - another B-side which
everyone knows by now. Their live version of it has to be heard, ending up
getting louder and faster and with a new guitar part by Ed. They were
incredibly tight throughout the whole song, especially Phil's drumming, and
it even though I have recently got a bit bored with the song, they really
gave it new life. Thom is clearly trying to gauge the audience's reaction
by placing Paranoid Android and Creep next to each other on the set - and
in my opinion, they have finally achieved the un-achievable, and Paranoid
Android gets a far louder reaction than the band's ex-iron lung. Cue bad
singing from everyone in the room, but still not enough to drown out the
energy and sheer brilliance the band manage to pack into those songs. Then
the band cool off with Bishop's Robes, a B-side from Street Spirit, a quiet
song with melodic guitars, a catchy melody and a great solo. Planet Telex
has been given a complete work-over for live performance from the album
version, with crashing guitars and the screaming vocals from Thom. Effective
lighting made this one of my favourites and one of the highlights of the set.
Jonny then made for his radio for Climbing up the Walls. It's a tribute to
the band how well they can pull this one off live - all the sounds are in
place to make it sound really weird and haunting, proving that they
don't need the large string section and extensive mixing of an album to still
achieve the effect. Next up one of Thom's favourites from The Bends - Bones,
with Jonny's distinctive guitar sound and Thom's manic gestures leads
perfectly into the rightly placed classic that is Just. The band confidently
give it absolutely everything and more, leaving time for about three lungfuls
of air before Fake Plastic Trees. Now if that can't break down a perfectly
normal person, I don't know what can.

The band left stage, however not all was happy. From a conversation overheard
from backstage, Thom and Jonny were having a vicious row. Thom didn't want to
go back on because of all the "fucking wankers" in the audience, and Jonny
was trying to get him to. After a suspiciously long time, they did, and
played Lucky, easily one of the best songs written by humankind in the last
century or two. Then No Surprises, a welcome patch of calm and glockenspiel.
Next up was a surprise in Lurgee, off Pablo Honey. "This is from our first
album. It's called Lurgee. It's about when you... Oh. You don't care. I'll
jusguitar, scowls a bit at the audience and starts out with a song called
Motion Picture Soundtrack which hasn't been recorded yet, although I had
heard a low quality version before, nothing could have prepared me for this.
The entire hall stood still, and everyone stopped as Thom delivered one of
the most mind-melting performances that anyone could ever do. Thom's voice
alone managed to reduce most people to a silent gibber. And with the words
"I will see you in the next life" drifting over the crowd, he left stage and
it was over.

And I defy you to find anyone else in the world who could do that. Radiohead
just remind us what a poor imitation the rest of music actually is. And if
you haven't seen them yet, you should feel VERY bad about yourself at the
moment.