Eric and I first visited Seattle in July 2003. He bought about 5 used CDs from a music store in Fremont. One of them was The Bends,* which we played quite a bit as we drove throughout the city that would later become our home. I listened to Radiohead before, but not straight through, over and over again, so that I could hear all the details. Eric told me that he really liked the song, Fake Plastic Trees. So I think of him whenever I hear it. (Such romantic lyrics: “He used to do surgery for girls in the eighties but gravity always wins.“) While I was falling in love my with future husband and Seattle, I was also falling in love with Radiohead.
*They had changed their sound since then, but I like all of their albums.
I can’t listen to too much Radiohead in one sitting because they can get slightly depressing (even during our 2003 road trip, we had to intersperse them with Cibo Matto, whose lyrics include “I’m searching the city for Sci-Fi Wasabi, Obi Wan Kenobi’s waiting for me.“) Listening to them in excess can also make me sleepy. What’s to prevent me from falling asleep? Listening to them…
Loud and Live
On Wednesday, August 20, 2008, we finally saw Radiohead in concert in Auburn, Washington. The weather was perfect for it: gray clouds and rain.
I can hear the band’s arsenal of influence from different musical genres.* This is an interesting quotation from Wikipedia : “When [Colin] Greenwood was 15 years old he bought his first guitar,[11] studying classical guitar with influential teacher Terence Gilmore-James. It was Gilmore-James who introduced him and the other future members of Radiohead to jazz, film scores, post World War II era avant-garde music, and twentieth century classical music.”
*Yorke’s work experience at a psychiatric hospital might have had some influence too.
For me it was the classical music influences that stuck out at first. My dad was a classical musician for 41 years, so I grew up listening to it. The other day the husband laughed at me for not recognizing Duran Duran’s Girls on Film. Yeah, I was probably listening to Shostakovich that day. Anyway, my parents call modern classical music “beep-squawk” music. Well, it sounds like Radiohead heard that stuff too. They incorporate the beep-squawking really well and have taken it to a new level.
I think their introductions are the most distinct I ever heard in rock/alternative music. I tend to notice them more. As much quality and effort is put into the intro as in the rest of the song, and it isn’t really separate in the traditional way.
Oh, Did You Want to Read About the Actual Concert and See More Pictures??
The lighting was amazing. Songs were accompanied by red, blue, green, orange, purple, gold. I guess you could say they were playing In Rainbows.
Sometimes the lights would flicker, move around like fireflies, or just stay still.
We were very close to one of the big video screens.
I love that they played Talk Show Host. I have the Baz Luhrmann Romeo & Juliet soundtrack and have loved that song before I realized that they were Radiohead.
There was a frenzy of movement in between songs. They would switch out their instruments and gear for other instruments and gear.
Oh, let’s just call it what it is: Poetic Despair
Taking all of this in: feeling the bass from your feet, watching the lights, the band, the other audience members. Thom Yorke’s ethereal melancholy voice adds more meaning and heaviness to lyrics that are pretty heavy to begin with. I wonder what the story is, who the character is. But it’s not just him. All of the musicians weave together this complicated and haunting sound.
I’m listening to a recording of The Gloaming from the Auburn concert, and my cat is absolutely mesmerized by the heavy bass sound coming out of the speaker.
I love the percussion in Video Tape.
Ha Ha Radiohead
During Faust Arp, Thom screwed up the lyrics. It caused people to laugh and cheer. At a Radiohead concert. Then they started playing Tell Me Why by Neil Young. He forgot those lyrics too. So they went back to their song. He finally just said “Aww f*ck it” and continued. Huge applause and cheers. We loved it. The song continued beautifully.
You can hear a lot of their influences and experimentation in Climbing up the Walls. Did you ever go to one of those shows where some guy sits alone on stage in front of a Mac and you have to pretend to enjoy it? Well they do such a good job with that Mac Stuff, and still manage to be entertainers.
Speaking of entertaining, that’s what Thom’s dancing was–especially while wearing the red pants.
During Idioteque, Jonny Greenwood plugged in and unplugged wires under one of his keyboards, which caused a very interesting and strange sound.
Thom Yorke didn’t talk much in between songs, but when he said “Cheers” at the beginning, the crowd went wild. He also doesn’t do much introducing of song titles. But he did so for You and Whose Army:
“Seattle is lots of things, and one of my favorite things about Seattle is what happened in the WTO…a corrupt and malignant organization it is, and still is. This song is dedicated to everyone who was in Seattle during those days.” A video camera was set up at his piano and directly filmed his face. The set was black, white, and red.
It started out with a quiet, beautiful intensity. The crowd went giddy when he looked right at us. There is a great close-up here.
Just before No Surprises, Yorke asked to see all the rain-soaked lawn people (who were real troopers). “Yay!” He said. (See? He’s not that depressed.) At that point, I could see how huge the crowd was. I’m trying really hard not to be cliche, but it was a sea of people, a really huge orange sea of people.
They ended on Everything in its Right Place. And it was.
Here is the set list:
01. 15 Step
02. Reckoner
03. Optimistic
04. There There
05. All I Need
06. Pyramid Song
07. Talk Show Host
08. The National Anthem
09. The Gloaming
10. Videotape
11. Lucky
12. Faust Arp
13. Jigsaw Falling Into Place
14. Climbing Up The Walls
15. Dollars and Cents
16. Nude
17. Bodysnatchers
Encore 1
18. How to Disappear Completely
19. Arpeggi/Weird Fishes
20. Idioteque
21. In Limbo [Tambourine accompaniment by Nigel Godrich.]
22. Street Spirit
Encore 2
23. You And Whose Army?
24. No Surprises
25. Everything In Its Right Place
The audience left in a chipper mood. It was still raining. Misty rain beneath the lights.
This was a great final concert to a summer of great concerts.
OTHER
Radiohead recorded their drive to Muckleshoot. I wish ours was that fast.
That was my first Radiohead concert. Now that you’ve read my post and seen all of Eric’s pictures, go read the great review from a hardcore Radiohead concert goer. Sean’s incredible pictures are here.
The tour production manager wrote about the LED lighting.
Radiohead song lyrics and information are here.
