Everyone knows that Radiohead is a band that does what they want. They
record what they want, when they want to – they play where they want,
when they want to – they do interviews with people they want to, only
when they want to and so forth.
Last night’s show in New York City, at a filled to capacity Madison
Square Garden, was a perfect example of this “we call the shots, because
we can” mentality. (Side note: Radiohead weren’t even supposed to play
this show, when the tour itinerary first came out this date was reserved
for Philly but a venue could not be agreed upon) So there was Radiohead,
Thom and the boys playing arguably their biggest gig in America, on the
biggest stage in New York City, just because they can. When you are
Radiohead, you can make stuff like this happen.
On to the music… the now far-to-traditional, time to change it up,
opening song “National Anthem” kicked off the show at a near deafening
volume, which was only matched by the thunderous applause that greeted
the first couple of bass lines. A run through the Kid A version of
“Morning Bell” followed, nothing special. Then the fun started. “My Iron
Lung” made an early appearance to the delight of the die-hard The Bends is the best album ever” fans. Thom, Jonny and Ed were in full force
three songs in with Jonny venturing to the other side of the stage to
fully rock out with his other mates.
Moving on with the force of a band on a mission to not only have fun,
but to also please their adoring fans they ran through their staple of
crowd pleasers like: “No Surprises”, “Lucky” (dedicated to Michael Stipe),
“Paranoid Android”, “Karma Police”, “Idioteque” (stirring, crowd jumping up
and down version), “Fake Plastic Trees”, “Climbing Up The Walls” (which had
Thom singing into his guitar), I” Might Be Wrong”, B-Sides: “Permanent
Daylight” (intro-ed as a “song that sounds good in New York,” “Talk Show
Host” (intro-ed as a “a song we wrote after being up for four straight
days licking the asses of radio stations”) and the Ultra Rare: “Follow Me
Around” (an unreleased song that only appears in their film Meeting
People is Easy and has only been played live once in Toronto last year).
The highlight of the show came during the first encore when Thom sat
down at the piano for “You and Whose Army”. With his face as large as
ever on the video screens flanking the stage, Thom ran through a “you
had to be there to feel how great it was” version of this soon-to-be
anthem. With the confidence of man on top Thom smirked and pointed to
his band mates and the audience as he sang “Come on, come on You and
whose army? You and your cronies, Come on, come on, Come on if you
think, You can take us on…” Who is going to take Radiohead on? With a
devoted audience, a sold out tour and amazing music, who can argue with
the statement that they are the best band in the world, sorry U2. You
could see in Thom’s eyes the cocky confidence you only see in people
like Michael Jordan, Sean Penn, Tiger Woods or anyone else who knows
that they are at the top of their game. No one can challenge the
position Radiohead is in, and if anyone does, they don’t care. In an
age where bands are worried about radio airplay and record sales
Radiohead prove that you can do what you want as long as you have the
talent and perseverance to do it. Four years ago, Thom Yorke would have
never thought he’d be doing three encores at Madison Square Garden, well
look at him now dancing around and waving like there is no tomorrow, but
more importantly having a great time.
If you haven’t seen this tour, make sure you get a plane/train/bus
ticket or rental car and check it out, if you don’t you’ll be sorry.
Complete Set List
The National Anthem
Morning Bell
My Iron Lung
Karma Police
Knives Out
Permanent Daylight
Climbing Up The Walls
No Surprises
Dollars & Cents
Packt Like Sardines In A Crushed Tin Box
Fake Plastic Trees
I Might Be Wrong
Follow Me Around/Pyramid Song
Paranoid Android
Idioteque
Everything In Its Right Place
Encore:
Lucky (false start)
Optimistic
You And Whose Army?
How To Disappear Completely
Encore 2:
Talk Show Host
Street Spirit
Encore 3:
Exit Music
Source: Patrick Schmidt – WPLY
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