Yow!  A hot and really generous set, played to a house full of music industry fucks who
didn't deserve it.   They played everything off the new album, the best stuff off of The Bends and
some other stuff as well.
     Teenage Fanclub came on promptly at 8 to an almost-empty house, seeing as how
everyone else was concerned with making a fashionably late entrance.  The band was friendly
and good-spirited, which helped because all of their songs sound the same after a while:
identical tempos and open G/C chord progressions.
    After a mercifully brief intermission, the lights went out and "fitter happier" came on the
PA while the band came onstage and then played "Lucky."   Thom Yorke, resplendent in a blue
Polo shirt, sang his heart out while Jonny Greenwood stalked around and alternated between
keys and guitar. ( During "No Surprises," he played a miked toy xylophone!)  Cool though he
was, I was just as impressed by Ed O'Brien's guitar playing.  It's amazing how the three
guitarists never trip over each other or muddy up the sound.
     Highlights: The rock breaks in "Paranoid Android", which were practically as heavy as
Led Zeppelin; Thom's vocal performance on "Creep", which drove the otherwise lackadaisical
crowd insane after the bridge; and great, great versions of "Bones" and "Talk Show Host."
     But my favorite moment came five or six songs in, when Thom told the sell-out crowd
"This song is for all the people outside who didn't get in.  They've got to be disappointed."  And
right into a winning version of "Let Down," my favorite Radiohead song.
     The set ended with "Fake Plastic Trees", during which I had to shush the asshole from
Capitol Records standing behind me. Why do people come to rock shows to talk?   ( A brief rant:
this was the most egregious "look-at-me-I'm-cool" L.A. celebrity-fuck I've ever been to.  It
seems like most of those in attendance were there to be seen and didn't care much about the
band.  And it showed after the main set ended.  There was no vibe of love in that room at all, for
a band that had just played their hearts out. I look forward to seeing Radiohead in a venue with
an audience of real fans.  Still, at least Rick Rubin didn't talk once during the show, unlike the
gaggle of trendy fucks he came in with.  Thanks, Rick. ) Radiohead make more of an impact
when they're whispering than other bands do on 10.
     The crowd finally came alive when the band came back out for a second encore of  -hurray! - "Subterranean Homesick Alien," with Thom on Rhodes piano.
     Fantastic show.  I hope they come back here again, when the heat's died down a little.

Jay