Radiohead Headlining 2017

[Ipayne]

That was absolutely amazing. So glad I managed to get in the front barrier, the atmosphere was incredible where I was standing. It's crazy how much of a love/hate response the set received but at the end of the day it IS Radiohead, a band who are very niche. So psyched for Manchester now!

[SomeoneListeningIn]

i did this a couple of weeks ago and it seemed to go down well. i was very happy with the setlist, but i see how for casuals it could have been moved around a bit to keep more people engaged. here's what i came up with, exact same songs, just a slightly different order.

1. Airbag
2. 15 Step
3. Ful Stop
4. Lucky
5. There There
6. Pyramid Song
7. Bloom
8. Exit Music (For A Film)
9. Myxomatosis
10. Let Down
11. Weird Fishes/Arpeggi
12. Lotus Flower
13. No Surprises
14. Everything In Its Right Place
15. Idioteque
16. Bodysnatchers
17. Street Spirit (Fade Out)
     
18. Daydreaming
19. 2+2=5
20. Nude
21. Paranoid Android
22. Fake Plastic Trees
     
23. You And Whose Army?
24. Creep
25. Karma Police

[SomeoneListeningIn]

When you think about it, could you have ever imagined Radiohead playing a show with 7 songs from a 20 year old album but only 2 songs from their most recent, 1 year old album? They certainly played to please the crowd, don't think there's ever been a Radiohead gig quite like that.

[Rose-Colored Boy]

3 minutes ago, SomeoneListeningIn said:

When you think about it, could you have ever imagined Radiohead playing a show with 7 songs from a 20 year old album but only 2 songs from their most recent, 1 year old album? They certainly played to please the crowd, don't think there's ever been a Radiohead gig quite like that.

Yeah considering it was the AMSP tour, the lack of AMSP material was very strange. I know they've been playing it less this year but even so, the absence of Burn The Witch was a disappointment. I remember when it first premiered people were talking up the possibility of them going all out and playing it with a strings section!

[FloorFiller]

2 minutes ago, Zac Quinn said:

Yeah considering it was the AMSP tour, the lack of AMSP material was very strange. I know they've been playing it less this year but even so, the absence of Burn The Witch was a disappointment. I remember when it first premiered people were talking up the possibility of them going all out and playing it with a strings section!

Although what with them instead insisting on playing the shite version maybe its best they didn't play it. Would've liked Identikit and even The Numbers, but considering what we got instead no complains here! 

[Ted Dansons Wig]

Very very good. Sceptic beforehand. Far exceeded expectations.

the wailers, fallers to the knee-ers and the cryers really do need get some perspective mind

 

[Doug85]

It was a slow start for me. Kicked into gear midway through and then I moved further down the field when people left- don't think it helped that people further back were that fucked they fell asleep. Once I was closer the atmosphere was amazing and the final part of the set list/encores was amazing. Fake Plastic Trees was such a moment though. I think I had a tear in my eye and so did a bloke next to me- we both knew we had just seen one of the best Glastonbury moments in recent times. 

[Gozzynoko-Flow]

1 hour ago, jparx said:

I think it's fair to say if you're a huge fan, like many of us here, the set built perfectly to a massive final hour. If you were a casual fan, they probably should have thrown you a bone earlier on in the set (perhaps swap Let Down with Paranoid Android?). I think it was a perfectly constructed setlist and one of the best Radiohead have ever done, but that's coming from a die hard fan.

I love Myxo, but i think the track was a bit out of place. The casuals around me lost a bit of interest at that point and one guy was slagging off Thom's vocals after the song. Might have been a bit too out there for a Glastonbury headline set.

That describes me precisely, casual fan!

I watched for half an hour at which point I couldn't take anymore and wait for the 'big' songs so I left.

[jparx]

The reaction is polarised because they're a band that push boundaries, try different things and are an acquired taste. They aren't the kind of band to blow away a casual viewer flicking through channels. They don't have a back catalogue full of number 1 singles, they're an album band. And seeing the reaction a relatively innocuous album track like Nude received was just amazing. They're a band you have to put effort in to in order to become a fan and it restored my faith in modern music that so many people completely connected with it. The vast majority of people are spoon fed their music tastes, but last night there were x thousand people singing along to largely unknown (in the mainstream) tracks like Let Down on one of the biggest stages in music.

Edited June 24, 2017 by jparx

[jonodillieono]

That was the best set I've ever seen.

[Rose-Colored Boy]

9 minutes ago, jparx said:

The reaction is polarised because they're a band that push boundaries, try different things and are an acquired taste. They aren't the kind of band to blow away a casual viewer flicking through channels. They don't have a back catalogue full of number 1 singles, they're an album band. And seeing the reaction a relatively innocuous album track like Nude received was just amazing. They're a band you have to put effort in to in order to become a fan and it restored my faith in modern music that so many people completely connected with it. The vast majority of people are spoon fed their music tastes, but last night there were x thousand people singing along to largely unknown (in the mainstream) tracks like Let Down on one of the biggest stages in music.

not this shit again. They may be a band that it's very easy to just not 'get' but it's still Radiohead, one of the UK mainstream's biggest acts who sell out massive arenas in 30 seconds, not King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard. Let Down is from an album that sold five million copies and is widely talked up as one of the best of all time

Edited June 24, 2017 by Zac Quinn

[FloorFiller]

Also must say that after a few recent times of Thom clearly half arsing his way through the vocals at gigs it was great to hear him absolutely going for it last night (and the rest of the band for that matter). Even Creep which I really wasn't all that interested in seeing played and they famously dislike just sounded huge. 

[Lemon T-wig]

Not showing the band, hardly at all, on the screens was a shocking error 

In my opinion 

[DownboundTrain52]

I know we've echoed it a lot already but the reaction to Let Down was mind-blowing.

[kalifire]

It was a set for die hard fans. They must have absolutely loved it. Unfortunately others didn't. I saw plenty of people leaving about 45 minutes in. I'm not really interested in waiting for 60 minutes before we get to something for a wider audience. That's what gigs are there for, not festivals. 

Sadly I was accosted by somebody on leaving who epitomised the stereotype of vitriolic RH fans the second anyone doesn't think they're incredible. Wasn't the band's fault obviously, but didn't help my experience. 

[BlackZeppelin]

We are more towards the casual fan end of the spectrum and We loved it.

Thought Tom just totally did the business. When he said Bye Theresa, close the door on the way out,  it felt like they had sonically exorcised a demon.

 

[TomViolence]

Enjoyed it from Bloom onwards. Thought Thom's voice took a while to warm up and had a ridiculous amount of people talking and laughing as loud as they possibly could.

It was quite funny to hear a guy behind me explaining to someone about the OK Computer anniversary and then 5 minutes later moaning that he hadn't heard a song he knew yet (they had played Lucky, Airbag and Exit Music)

Came away happy in the end but it's certainly not my favourite time seeing Radiohead which I assumed it would be

Cracking setlist though!

[Anarion]

Not a die hard fan by any stretch of the imagination, but watching that from the pit was a religious experience. Absolutely fantastic. I love ful stop and myxamatosis (?) though, so unlike other casuals I wasnt stood waiting for the more popular songs. 

[jparx]

58 minutes ago, FloorFiller said:

Also must say that after a few recent times of Thom clearly half arsing his way through the vocals at gigs it was great to hear him absolutely going for it last night (and the rest of the band for that matter). Even Creep which I really wasn't all that interested in seeing played and they famously dislike just sounded huge. 

Yep definitely. I can't begrudge Thom's voice going with age, but it's irritating when you see him sometimes clearly not putting that much effort in. He was on it last night.

[EighteenSixty7]

Didnt like how hey did the screens but I could just make out the WEDNESDAY TIL I DIE sticker on Jonny's guitar. Nearly brought a year to my eye.

 

Loved the set.

[Noeliam]

Listened to it on 6music, so no visuals. I drank and smoked a lot before that watching an Arcade Fire concert (amazing too) so my friend and I just laid down, closed our eyes and... tripped I'd say! So fucking beautiful!!

[arcade fireman]

3 hours ago, kalifire said:

It was a set for die hard fans. They must have absolutely loved it. Unfortunately others didn't. I saw plenty of people leaving about 45 minutes in. I'm not really interested in waiting for 60 minutes before we get to something for a wider audience. That's what gigs are there for, not festivals. 

Sadly I was accosted by somebody on leaving who epitomised the stereotype of vitriolic RH fans the second anyone doesn't think they're incredible. Wasn't the band's fault obviously, but didn't help my experience. 

Sorry but this is just daft. A lot of this subjective so it's fair enough to say you didn't enjoy it, but to say it was a set for "die hard fans" is ridiculous. They played four songs from OK Computer in the first 8 songs! They played just about every big song they've ever put out. 

Very difficult to have any respect for your opinion when you claim they made the crowd wait 60 minutes before they played something for a wider audience. It's just demonstrably false. I've been to Radiohead festival sets where they've done something similar to what you describe. This was the exact polar opposite of a set for die hard fans. 

The criticisms people have of the screens though is entirely valid. I don't know what possessed them to have those visuals on the big screens. 

[whoozyschmoozy]

3 minutes ago, arcade fireman said:

Sorry but this is just daft. A lot of this subjective so it's fair enough to say you didn't enjoy it, but to say it was a set for "die hard fans" is ridiculous. They played four songs from OK Computer in the first 8 songs! They played just about every big song they've ever put out. 

Very difficult to have any respect for your opinion when you claim they made the crowd wait 60 minutes before they played something for a wider audience. It's just demonstrably false. I've been to Radiohead festival sets where they've done something similar to what you describe. This was the exact polar opposite of a set for die hard fans. 

The criticisms people have of the screens though is entirely valid. I don't know what possessed them to have those visuals on the big screens. 

I'd say you're both kinda right. The set was filled with hits yes, but I can easily see how the first six songs would have lost the casuals in the crowd before the hits came out however. Daydreaming, 15 Step, Myxomatosis and probably Airbag/Lucky too would be unknown to the people that only know their main singles, and unfortunately you need both fans and non-fans on side for headline sets. If they'd have put Paranoid Android somewhere in those first 6 songs I think there'd have been less heading elsewhere

About the visuals - yeah they're bloody annoying. They had them when I first saw then in '08 and clearly they haven't learned since. People were complaining back then so I've got no idea why they insist on them. The combo of bad sound mix (for first few songs) + poor visuals + lack of hits during the early part of the set would certainly have put some off

[GlastoSimon]

8 minutes ago, whoozyschmoozy said:

I'd say you're both kinda right. The set was filled with hits yes, but I can easily see how the first six songs would have lost the casuals in the crowd before the hits came out however. Daydreaming, 15 Step, Myxomatosis and probably Airbag/Lucky too would be unknown to the people that only know their main singles, and unfortunately you need both fans and non-fans on side for headline sets. If they'd have put Paranoid Android somewhere in those first 6 songs I think there'd have been less heading elsewhere

How many bands do you think can fill 2h15 without a bit of a lull for casual fans?

Aside from playing the Bends and OK Computer in full I still reckon it was pretty crowd-friendly given what it could have been.

[arcade fireman]

14 minutes ago, whoozyschmoozy said:

I'd say you're both kinda right. The set was filled with hits yes, but I can easily see how the first six songs would have lost the casuals in the crowd before the hits came out however. Daydreaming, 15 Step, Myxomatosis and probably Airbag/Lucky too would be unknown to the people that only know their main singles, and unfortunately you need both fans and non-fans on side for headline sets. If they'd have put Paranoid Android somewhere in those first 6 songs I think there'd have been less heading elsewhere

About the visuals - yeah they're bloody annoying. They had them when I first saw then in '08 and clearly they haven't learned since. People were complaining back then so I've got no idea why they insist on them. The combo of bad sound mix (for first few songs) + poor visuals + lack of hits during the early part of the set would certainly have put some off

Radiohead are an albums band, not a singles band. Even a lot of their big singles haven't charted that highly. Whereas it's their albums which have consistently charted at #1. Playing four songs from OKC in the first 8 is huge. The second song of the night was a single. You'd expect the majority of a Glasto crowd seeing Radiohead will at least know OK Computer. 

I mean Kid A is a classic but they only played two songs off that last night because that wasn't a hit album in the same way OKC was. 

Playing too many big songs too early means the set peters out. Having a bunch of big songs at the end too is important.