Free Radiohead
Radiohead's popularity continues to amaze me. After the show they put on last night, which was split about evenly between great guitar heavy performances, crazy songs where samples were recorded and looped live on the spot, and new songs which sounded a bit in the middle, I found myself thinking that Radiohead is the kind of band that 99 times out of 100 will be confined to a fate of shows like Arrested Development, movies like Cinderella Man or bands like Spoon, ie "The best show/movie/band that nobody is watching/listening to." The strangest thing about Radiohead is that they truly became who they are when they started taking steps towards becoming wierder and paring down their audience from the straight ahead rock sounds of Creep and The Bends. I don't think that this band circa The Bends would be selling out two shows in every city they play and inspiring the ticket gouging and headlining spots that come with that kind of popularity. Radiohead has succeeded in spite of our tastes, and for that I salute them.
The top secret of last night, that I imagine will be about 5 times less of a secret tonight, is that you can go watch the show for free, without endangering yourself, risking arrest or looking through a knothole. The Embarcadero is behind the convention center, and has a long path along a harbor before you have to present your ticket. There's a clear side view of the stage, and the sound is far more audible than the Rolling Stones concert we sat outside of last year. People had picnics and coolers, and enjoyed themselves on the rocks, or yachts, or dinghys. If people have been mocking you for how little you use your dinghy, trot it out tonight and see who's laughing then. I imagine there were quite a few people who left last nights show vowing to return again for free tonight, so I would say getting there early is a must. Also, to whoever put on the twenty minute long firework display off in the distance right after sunset that coincided with the set from Paranoid Android through Idioteque, I can only say "thank you."
Setlist available here.
Comments
two observations: there's a pretty steady trend of starting out encore 1 about every other night with a wolf at the door, so all the more reason to go again tonite and hopefully get to hear it! second, it's worth checking out the comments left on the linked-to post with last night's setlist--"ken borden" sounds pretty pissed. its intense!
Posted by: lauren | June 27, 2006 01:18 PM
yeah, it was pretty surreal, i couldn't get over how amazing the show was, i only went to night one, but couldn't believe how amazing they were..they only draw back was the crowd, they kept on shoving pretty hard, but overall, the show was amazing, i was sad that i couldn't make it for night 2, i had to come back home and report to work...
Posted by: Julio | June 28, 2006 04:03 PM