I'm back home after a whirlwind adventure in New York City to check out Radiohead at the Tibetan Freedom Concert. I must say first of all, that Radiohead is brilliant! I even made a sign to hold up that said "Radiohead is fucking brilliant." Of course, since they did not announce what band was next and which stage they would be on, I saw Colin walk out and rushed to the front, leaving my clever sign on my blanket! Doh!

The Tibetan Freedom Concert was perhaps one of the most disorganized pieces of garbage I've ever been to. Sets were very short. There were two stages, and you never knew which stage an artist you wanted to see what appear on. Luckily, I was on the right side of the stadium divide for Radiohead, as I recognized the instruments (of course, I was still unsure). The transitions between artists were great though. The two stages were sort of a double edged sword type of deal. As one artist played, they set up the other stage for the next group/artist. That way, there was no waiting. Since this show was supposed to be about freeing Tibet, and not artists' egos, I can understand why they did not announce who was next, but the order and times given at the K Rock booth by the entrance were often wrong, not to mention bands popping up and disappearing from line ups. Pearl Jam surprised everyone with a performance on sunday! They played a ticket master show! Egads!

As for the venue, the show was held in a moss coveredcrap "stadium" that looked more like my old high school football field. Vines and ivy were growing all over the damn place which made me wonder how long it had been since this place has peen used. Clouds of dirt flew up from peoples feet and covered everything and successfully coated our lungs with more residue than the already funky cigarette and pot fumes. I've never seen more underage "trendy" children smoking in my life. Actually, last weekend at HFStival I think I saw more.

The audience could be seperated into several groups: monks, children with their frightened looking parents (appalled looks were plastered on their faces), people with piercings, people with tattoos, people with piercings and tattoos, trendy high school kids spending their parents money, trendy college kids ( mostly from NYU it seemed--a wonderfully artsy campus) spending their parents money, and finally the ten or so genuinely intelligent looking people who were most likely the Radiohead fans.  The audience did know when to mosh and when not to. Thank the lord! There was no moshing during our wonderful band. Everyone just stopped and listened. Now on to what you want~RADIOHEAD!

Radiohead made their entrance at around 1:57 and Thom broke right into:
FAKE PLASTIC TREES-- stunning and humorous (the crowd didn't know where the hell to look!). The first ballad of the day, and also the last it seemed (well i left early so how the hell would I know?!?!) it changed the mood of what was going down. During this song, I was fighting my way to the front so I wasn't really watching until the end, but I mouthed the words along with Thom the entire time. I worked my way up to the front right between Jonny and Thom, and really pissed some chap off who wanted to be where I was. I had the feeling that I was surrounded by list members, but what are you supposed to do? After finishing this song, Thom said his proper hello to the audience and then they moved into...
TALK SHOW HOST-- i was surprised they decided to play this. but considering that the Romeo and Juliet soundtrack is the officially the best selling soundtrack of all time (i believe in the alternative genre, perhaps overall), everyone has heard it, a murmur spread over the crowd, and some girl in front of me started squaling like a hog. I loved this song, especially at the end when Ed starts pulsing with the beat as he jams away on the rythym guitar part. Thom wandered about the stage with some great gestures throughout the song. The new ending was absolutely wonderful. Very funky and a true rocker. Thom then began an intro for the next song, along these lines "This is suppossed to be a joyous moment, and this song is about joy..."
PARANOID ANDROID-- fantastic. although I was the only one i could see who knew the words by heart, everyone else looked kind of ... stupified. people were staring at me like i was crazy as i pounded out the rythym by smacking a fist into my palm and danced about like a cobra before it strikes, meanwhile mouthing all the wonderful lyrics. they thought i was mad. i cheered enthusiatically as it began, which earned me a smile from Jonny. A great rendition of an unknown song to most. they launched right into...
LUCKY-- once again, i was the only one in my area who seemed to know the song, which made jonny look at me again with closed mouth grin. i love that feeling when you make the artist happy! now i understand why they want it on the album. so few know it in countries where it wasn't released as a single. a great number, although i could barely hear jonny's gutiar part, something that is very pivotal to the chorus! maybe it was heard better further away. thom does the cutest gesture after the "we are standing on the edge" bit. i little "gun" type of thing. as the song closed, thom talked a bit, but i couldn't understand him, then they played...
THE BENDS-- great. very loud and full speed ahead. the crowd reaction was better. finally a song that more people knew. i was scared for a minute that moshing would rise up, but it did not! good! thom wandered about the stage and i waved to him, and he waved back to me and the audience in my area. another fabulous concert going experience. getting acknowledged. i know at my shows i tend to notice the people that are really into it more than those just standing there because they want to be up front. i like "real" fans. they finished up the bends and announced their fianl song...
STREET SPIRIT-- the best crowd reaction. some guys and girls behind me actually sang along out loud. kind of obnoxious. they acted like it was some sort of national anthem. as jonny waited for his entrance midway through the song, i gave a nice big thumbs up and he kind of shook his head and laughed at me. thanks i suppose! during this song, it seemed there was something terribly wrong with Thom's mike during the fade out's. the output was up to high, so the speaker's distorted it a bit, making it kind of shake. however, they adjusted the levels and it got much better for the end. they began to exit, and a note was tossed to Thom. He opened and read it-- "now (person's name), oh, umm, i hope that was right, will speak with you." it was funny.

i was sad to see RH go, but stayed up front until i could n longer see them backstage. a great set, regardless of the crap 25 minute time restriction. remember, it's not about the music. other festival highlights: missing Pearl Jam (thank god!), watching the stadium clear when Noel Gallagher appeared (heh heh!), Alanis playing her really boring new stuff and actually playing the guitar (wow she is getting so talented!), Bjork! (She was awesome, i went up front for her as well. She had eight string players and a dj. she bounced around with child-like glee, hopping and kicking and just enjoying herself. she was great, second to RH!), U2 playing without their giant lemon and half of a McDonald's arch! (what?! they couldn't bring their egos on stage them in the form of huge citrus? how did they cope?!), and the Beastie Boys bringing the house down (third place award!). a great two days overall!

Mark VK