Doxologist ContentWhat I learned from seeing Radiohead last night…
Radiohead is still one of the most creative, longest running rock bands in the world.
They just are!
Despite giving their album away it hasn’t hurt their CD or ticket sales.
This is a powerful statement to an industry obsessed with extending more and more control over created works. Maybe it’s more profitable to just let it go???
Seattle does not physically respond to music.
It’s not just Sundays at Mars Hill but one of the most popular bands in the world could barely elicit more movement from the audience than the photograph above. Over and over again the lights would flash revealing a crowd of over 30,000 people standing almost completely still. Maybe it’s just Radiohead fans and we have a church full of them. Hmmmmmm…
If you’re going to fork out the money for a big show don’t go cheap.
I choked on the ticket price and settled for the lawn in far back. I could see much and with a band like Radiohead it’s all about seeing how they’re doing what they’re doing (at least for me). Lesson learned.
Even if it’s August 20th I still live in Seattle.
It rained. It poured. It was around 55 degrees and windy. It seemed like a particularly wet kind of rain.
Think twice (or maybe 3 or 4 times) before I go to another show at White River Amphitheater.
This is a pretty remote location. Narrow roads and lots of people to get in and out. I left my house at 5pm. Had a brief stop for dinner and arrived just in time for Radiohead to start at 9pm. The show was over at 11:15pm and I arrived home (still wet) at 2am. I REALLY like Radiohead and this was just, almost, barely worth it.
All in all it was a great show and both my wife and I really enjoyed it. It has always surprised me how much my wife Beth likes Radiohead. She is a fairly casual music fan. She doesn’t go looking for much music and she doesn’t have to with me around as there is always a constant flow. There is a lot of music that I like that gets on her nerves but she has always like the ole’ Radiohead. I will always remember when she was in labor with our first daughter, Trinity, and she demanded I put on Radiohead’s Amnesiac album. Our doctor, who is likely the coolest gyno Dr. ever, started talking about recently seeing them live on that tour at the George. Beth and I were there as well and so an enthusiastic conversation ensued on the greatness of Radiohead between contractions. It was a strange and beautiful moment.
It was a great show and if you haven’t done so already, check out their latest album “In Rainbows”.
I don’t want any cool gynos coming close to my wife. I want my wife’s gyno to be as geeky, socially retarded and ugly as possible, it just makes me feel more comfortable when he’s checking the unmentionables.
As for Radiohead, I mentioned to Joe D. the other day, they’ve played in my small hometown of Santa Barbara a few times now and I’ve never secured tickets for various reasons, one big one being resale price. And someday I’m going to have to explain to my son how one of the greatest rock bands of my lifetime played down the street and I didn’t see them. I’m already ashamed.
Tim - I agree wholeheartedly on your love for Radiohead. I saw them from the 5th row in Tampa back in May. I decided two things after seeing them up that close:
1. They just might be the most creative rock musicians who also have commercial success. Being that close meant I could see how much goes into performing each note, bleep and blip.
2. I don’t ever want to see a great band from any farther back than 5th row!
I was thinking about you guys up on the hill in the rain. I can’t even imagine how much that would have sucked. We were soaked walking from the cover of our seats to our car.
At a few points when the lights came on last night I was thinking the exact same thing about how stoic Seattle crowds are. It must be so frustrating for the band! They work their tales off for a bunch of people who passively critique one of the most important bands of the last 20 years!
However, the band was amazing. This is the 3rd time I’ve seen them and it’s always amazing. Idioteque was a highlight for me…the way they destroyed it and then resolved it was amazing.
All I Need was another highlight. Seems like such a simple song, but there are so many slight variations in the progression, and that electric xylophone thing sounded amazing.
But the highlight of highlights was when they screwed up Faust Arp and Johnny started playing one of my all-time favorite Neil Young songs, “Tell Me Why”. Once they got back into the actual song, I was amazed at how great it sounded with the two acoustic guitars. Sooooo good.
They are amazing for sure.
Are they really the longest running rock band of all time though? That might be far reaching. Wasn’t their first record out in the 90’s?
U2? Rolling Stones? others?
My kids and I were on the rail for the whole concert (including Liars, who were great). The pit crowd was quite demonstrative, so my guess is that is what the band saw for most of the show. The show was incredible. Certainly in my top 10. The rest of my top 10 includes two U2 shows (one in 1985 at the Paramount and a Key Arena Vertigo show), Brian Wilson’s Smile tour, Elvis Costello, Bob Dylan, etc.
John, I think he means you have to tie “longest running” to “creative,” not longest running all by itself. Those other bands certainly have been around much longer.
Brings up a good question. Are there any other bands with as much creative tenure as Radiohead? Can anyone make that case for U2? Rolling Stones? Pearl Jam? Dave Matthews?
Joe did you really just put Dave Matthews in a list with Radiohead, U2 and the Stones? I forgive you.
i love the discussion.
the thing that intrigued me about this post was that i just recently saw perhaps the SAME show that you guys have been discussing from chicago at this year’s lollapalooza. it was by far the highlight of the festival, and worth the ticket price in and of itself. i was fortunate enough to get within a hundred yards or so of the stage, and i too was enthralled with examining the musicianship and everything that went into the show all together. truly an amazing experience.
the site was beautiful. 90+ degrees, a see of 20,000+ people packed into the south end of grant park, with the skyline of chicago in the background. granted, it wasn’t the pac-nw, but it had its own feel to make up for it.
a truly mesmorizing experience. the lights, the HUGE lcd’s on each side of the stage that corresponded with the light show and the colors used on the stage, with 6 windows each displaying a seperate camera view that focused on each individual musician in some abstract form (i.e. the profile of yorke, a bird’s eye view of the drums, etc.). it was almost too much to take in.
all in all, an experience that i will not forget.
as for dave matthews… no comment.
in retrospect, what i meant to say was that i was about 100 FEET from the stage… about 30 yards. regardless, i was able to see everything happening on the stage - and it was amazing to watch!