self-titled: ^_^
god loves his children
let me tell you something. what i saw tonight was fucking rock and/or roll.
but first, shameless self-promotion. my recent 2cd masterwork This Must Be... POP! has received top honors over at www.artofthemix.com, that's right, mix of the week. fear.
so i left work at 3, left BC at 3:30ish, got mcdonalds, got lost, and got to suffolk downs at 4:45-5. peed, because despite drinking only a cup of coffee and a coke the entire day, i had to pee badly about 3 times, and then went into the racetrack. The inside pit thingy was still open, so i got in there. saw the dude from planet records and then saw gay eric, who i went over to and he totally snubbed me. after that i worked up to the front a little more. i was dead center, a bunch of feet back. i was basically standing at about club's length, which for a 20,000 GA show is pretty damn good.
beta band got on right around 6. the set was fantastic, but real short. six songs. 4 from the new disc, dry the rain, and then one i didn't recognize. they were seriously great, the stuff from the new disc wasn't cookie cut from the recorded tracks, stuff was actually mixed around a whole bunch they had a trumpet player on "dragon" and "dry the rain." the outro for human being was tight tight tight. and then the last song, which i didn't recognize, started off regular beta band style, then steven did a great scottish rap, and then all 4 dudes played various percussion and dj scratchy scratchy did some scratching, and it was cool. Crowd was into it.
Next up was Kid Koala, or as i like to call him, DJ Scratchy Scratchy. he had 3 turntables going at once and did a lot of scratching and phat beating. the coolest shit was when he went back and forth between two tables making a song by playing each one at a time. that, and the solo he laid down on some jazz track with pitch manipulation and scratchy scratchies. he also threw down a couple of radiohead tracks which pleased the crowd. his set was really short, 20 minutes or so.
and then thom and the boys came out.
the short: national anthem / airbag / morning bell / lucky / knives out / packt like sardines... / no surprises / dollars and cents / street spirit / ? / just / i might be wrong / pyramid song / paranoid android / idioteque / everything in it's right place /// like spinning plates / talk show host / you and whose army / the bends /// karma police / the tourist.
so that's what? 6 from amnesiac, 4 from kid a, 6 from OK, 3 from the bends, 1 b-side and 1 unknown. i can't check that math.
anyone who denies the rock n' rollness of radiohead needs to see them live and then stfu. The National Anthem was raging guitars and crazy thom singing, followed by more loud raw 3 guitarness of airbag. even on more recent tracks, the guitars were in full force. fucking morning bell towards the end had an explosion that suprised the hell out of me. you could tell when an amnesiac song was coming up, because thom would trade guitar for tambourine. and he played that tambourine like a goddam weapon.
my favorite song of the night was "paranoid android." the song itself is cinematic as hell, all those different parts, etc. man, that first explosion, thom just started screaming into the mic and the lights and guitars were all over and it was crazy, then the slow part was hair raising, and then that final screaming "fuck you" of guitars. amazing. i was suprised at how well the two electronic heavy amnesiac tracks went, "packt" and "dollars and cents" were both great, thom playing his tambourine and gyrating and singing, strobe lights all over and phat phat beats. "idioteque" was another highlight. the part starting "ice age coming ice age coming" thom was the scariest motherfucker alive. screaming, shaking, it was, well, frightening. so intense. and then after that, it turned into the thom yorke dance party, as the beats got louder and crazier and he was jumping around stage. interesting take on "like spinning plates", all the weird music and backwards singing was replaced by just a gorgeous piano solo. everything rules. johnny greenwood's guitarwork on "knives out" was a force to be reckoned with. hell, his guitarwork the whole night was. not only that, but on the right side of the stage was johnny's house of electronic gadgetry. he had so much awesome shit back there. choruses would swell up at the touch of a button, and he made scratchy scratchy noises, too. but not with a turntable, no, he had this little remote control thing that he'd slide his finger over and it'd go "scratchy scratchy." "everything in it's right place" was a great end to the pre-encore set, the guys left the stage one by one as the layered noise and electronics just self-destructed. uhh, "i might be wrong" ruled, "just" and "the bends" ruled, it all just ruled. i could've taken a little less from OK Computer, or maybe i could've just used "electioneering." i dunno, closing with two OK tracks was eh. even though "karma" is a necessity and "the tourist" was a hell of a closer. I think maybe i would've liked "life in a glasshouse" to end. I would've enjoyed "motion picture soundtrack" or "exit music" a lot, could've traded them for "no surprises" and "street spirit." and "planet telex" from the bends would've been nice. but i'm being picky. it was hella great. also, before "the bends" in the first encore, thom said "it's educational" and ears all over perked up, and then he played the opening chords of the pixies' "U-Mass" and i thought i was going to get the cover, but no. damn tease.
and now that i've seen radiohead, i can never return to a large outdoor concert ever again in my life. the venue was great, the getting there, getting out, and getting home parts that sucked. it was a little tight down in the pit, especially when the moment radiohead took stage the entire crowd moved forward 10 feet or so, but that was all good. after the show, you had all of us in the pit, making towards two exits that were seriously 4 feet wide. luckily, while a security guard was pummelling some dude, i hopped the fence, but then i faced the greater evil. 20,000 people all making towards one exit that was 10 feet across. i've seen bottlenecking before, but good christ.
anyway, i've never really seen a big rock show like this, save for the lollapalooza experience, and it was cool. it was rock and roll, man. but i'll stick to my clubs.
and thank you firewater and spoon for getting me through my billion hours in a car. i love both of you so much now.