UK, Gloucester Leisure
Centre - September 9, 1997
This time, Radiohead choose to play in a sports
hall. Interesting...
Unfortunately, this did no favours at all to the acoustics. Compared
to their gig at Blackpool last
Sunday, the sound was bass-heavy and fuzzy. Due to the size of the
room there was a lot of
reverberation as well. But because the stage and the hall was so big,
it was very easy to get to the
front and see them right up close. However, the sound was much better
further back. There were seats up
around the top of the hall still.
Even though Thom Yorke really loves Laika,
I have come to the
conclusion that they just don't work as a support band to Radiohead.
Their music is good - but it is
definitely not good for standing up to for 45 minutes. It is very bass-y
and electronic, with barely audible
vocals and guitars. Eventually, they just ended up making everyone
impatient and bored through
no fault of their own. So much so that the woman singing did at one
point say "Yes, we're crap
aren't we?". But they're not - just badly billed. Ironically the biggest
applause they got was when
they announced that "This is our last song". And, when, before Street
Spirit, Thom said "I'd like to
hear it for our support band, Laika", cue feeble applause and cheer,
so he said "No. I'd like to hear it
for our support band, Laika." encouraging more of a cheer, but not
much. Just bad luck, I guess.
But after patience, and promptly at 9pm, Fitter Happier came over the
PA, and Radiohead appeared out of the over-zealous dry ice. Launching
into Airbag, it was
clear that the sound quality was suffering due to the hall's acoustics,
as Thom's voice and the guitars
were too quiet and got lost. The crowd started the usual crush. Not
as manically as Blackpool, but with
quite a push that made staying alive a priority. They soon calmed down
by the fourth song, which
made it okay. Karma Police had everybody singing along, drowning Thom
out. Not one of my
favourites live, but it went down well. My Iron Lung continued the
fast 'n sweaty theme. But suddenly
something very strange was happening. The band looked happy. Very happy.
They were all grinning at
each other. Thom was really getting into it and even Jonny was smiling.
Prozac anyone? Exit
Music slowed things down considerably. Despite the clapping all the
way through the beginning
(why why why?), it came off really well, even though the mix wasn't
particularly helping.
Subterranean Homesick Alien was, conversely, much better than I'd seen
in Blackpool, as they suddenly seemed
to sort out the mixing problem, and the guitars cut through much better.
Then with a smile and an
acoustic guitar, Thom took the stage and said "This is an old song",
and played Banana Co. - a
great great live song with brilliant solos and vocals from everyone
all round. And then "This is what
we play as a rock 'n roll band", they do The Bends and the crowd start
singing along again,
surprisingly in tune! Next up was Talk Show Host. This had me completely
floored. I had been getting a bit
bored with it recently, and it hadn't impressed me, even the new extended
version they played. However
this time it had so much power and was spot-on that it was easily one
of the highlights of the
evening. Jonny changed the keyboard parts around, and Ed of course
played his amazing outro. And
everybody was still happy. Thom took some time out to shout at the
security guards down the
front, like he does at most gigs saying "I think these people need
some water. Get your fucking arses
in gear, or else you're going to have a lot of dead bodies on your
hands!". And then Paranoid
Android - which they pulled off brilliantly, with everyone singing
along. Next up was 'that' song,
which they've played nearly every night of this tour. But this was
different. Something really was
strange. Thom didn't just stand there with his arms folded like he
normally does. He actually enjoyed it,
and danced along to it, doing all the actions and was smiling throughout.
The rest of the band were
pretty happy too. Have I missed out on something? The coolness of Bulletproof
followed, although
Jonny decided to leave the stage for this one, possibly getting set-up
with his miniature radio for an
excellent Climbing up the Walls. Not followed by No Surprises, but
another one of my live favourites,
Planet Telex which Thom evidently liked too, giving it his knowing
smile. Huge guitars and
screaming vocals - another highlight. Thom then went through his usual
contortions for Bones, before
pulling off a slightly restrained Just, finally finishing off with
a melting Fake Plastic Trees
from Thom. And off they went.
Pity the poor people who started to leave
at that point, as they came
back on and played a great version of Lucky with lots of audience participation.
The next song was No
Surprises, dedicated to "Rachel, whose 21st birthday it is already.
If you're not drunk or passed
out, then this one's for you". Cue screaming from everyone called Rachel
in the audience... Thom took to
the microphone and said "We haven't done much from our first LP tonight.
So here's one from
our album with the stupid cover. It's called Lurgee". I wanted it to
be You or Blow Out, but Lurgee
is a good song, and they obviously liked it. After trying to raise
some interest in Laika, they
finished with a good version of Street Spirit, and disappeared again.
The hall was draining as they came back on
for their last song, "This
is called Black Star". And once again, they were smiling. That closed
another amazing set - from the
new Happy Radiohead. Why'd they have to be so good?