Last night was my fourth Radiohead experience. As usual, the band put on a phenomenal performance, this time kicking off their North American tour at the Cruzan Amphitheatre in West Palm Beach. Outdoors, a little overcast, a packed lawn and a couple of beers in the tank set up the night.
First thing I had to do during the week or so leading up to the show was really, really listen to “In Rainbows”. If you read my earlier blog on the album, you know that I really didn’t “get” this album at the get-go. Look, I’ll admit, most Radiohead records don’t jump off and grab you right away, but “In Rainbows” was really a challenge. I knew if I listened enough, the subtleties would rise up and greet me, but here it was five months into it and I STILL wasn’t getting terribly moved by the thing. Maybe it really is a failed product of un-monitored self-indulgence, I begin to worry. So here I am with my Friend Big Tall Geoff, sitting in terrible traffic on the Florida Turnpike, in the middle of “All I Want”, and it starts to make sense, grow on me even. By the time we got into the venue, I was pretty OK with the “In Rainbows” material.
In conveying my show experience, one must understand my situation. I am legally blind, in case you don’t know. I have a little telescope that I spy on people with, but from where we were it was useless. If you are looking for me to tell you whether Thom was wearing an Obama shirt, I can’t. There was a Tibetan flag on stage apparently as Thom referred to it. He had a clever little bit about being on South Beach for 3 days and finding himself “proud to be white, pale and English, which is rare.” That was it for crowd interaction. The stage, from what I could tell, was a colorful affair, with shinny, lit vertical, shit; I don’t know what you would call them. Lots of lines of light, video behind it – nothing too exciting. Maybe I can’t see. Maybe I am desensitized to all that fancy gadgetry and would rather see them on a barge. Big Tall Geoff shrugged when I asked him about the visuals. “Kinda cool, but nothing special,” he said, adding that the video was somewhat obscured by the vertical light board. I’m sure you can find pics somewhere.
Ok, so what did they play? “In Rainbows” was pretty well covered, with the set opening with “All I Need” and followed with “Bodysnatchers”. The set took a turn with bits like “There There” and “Morning Bell”, but it was when they broke out “How to Disappear Completely” that I realized how this band was challenging the audience. There would be no “Kharma Police” tonight, which was ok with me, but I don’t know about the rest of the South Florida crowd. In other words, there was plenty of texting going on during the middle part of the set.
“Weird Fishes” presented a really weird moment where the band played the last section over again once the song ended, like a rehearsal. Thom then made some remark about how you’d think they’d get it right after all those rehearsals. That was fun.
The rest of the set was a mix of material from “The Bends” and “Kid A”. In the encore, they played the beautiful “Faust Arp” which still mystifies me musically. I don’t know HOW they keep count of that one. For the real hardcore fans, Thom took to the drums as they played “Bangers and Mash”, a fitful b-side from the Limited Edition “In Rainbows” package. Manic and probably over this crowd’s head, but rewarding for the 50 people in the crowd who recognized it.
There is one thing that I will say about Radiohead: They are the best SOUNDING band I have ever heard. I am amazed at the array of sounds produced by these guys, the execution, and the precise adherence to format, no matter the time signature or complexity. It always sounds so solid, the subtleties all there, a great sonic demonstration. I find myself just closing my eyes and drinking in the sound, and it’s never disappointed me. Ok, when I saw them open for REM many years ago, that wasn’t so good. But this show, like the previous 2 I have seen here and in Atlanta, the audio is about as good as it gets live. Maybe a bit more volume would have been cool, as my ears aren’t ringing today!
All in all, a great live show for Radiohead fans. Was I left longing? Yeah, of course. I mean, they probably could have played another hour and still not satisfied my craving for another nugget from “The Bends” or something like that. But it’s Radiohead – for me, it can never go bad.
Here is the Radiohead setlist from 5/5/08 at the Cruzan Amphitheatre in West Palm Beach:
All I Need
Bodysnatchers
There There
Reckoner
The Gloaming
Morning Bell
Nude
How To Disappear Completely
15 Steps
Weird Fishes/Arpeggi
Idioteque
Bullet Proof… I Wish I Was
Where I End And You Begin
Airbag
Everything In Its Right Place
The National Anthem
Videotape
ENCORE 1:
Optimistic
Just
Faust Arp
Exit Music (For A Film)
Bangers + Mash
ENCORE 2:
House Of Cards
Street Spirit (Fade Out)
