radiohead

[Mr Ploppy]

Maybe if they were playing a good album people wouldnt have minded. As it turns out the the new album is total nonsense. Just like the last three.

Edited July 6, 2011 by Mr Ploppy

[marktea]

Music is an art form and the good thing about art is that it can neither be good or bad, it is subject to the opinion of the consumer so what you might think is a good song might not be a good song to someone else, but that doesn't mean it is a good or bad song. For someone to come out and say that not just 1 album but 3 are "total nonsense" is laughable, what gives you the right to be the judge of what is and what isn't "nonsense"?? In my opinion, Radiohead are one of the most original bands of all time, they've constantly tried to evolve their sound and not dwell on a particular sound due to the success of an album. Each album sounds completely different from the previous one yet they're still sounding as fresh as ever even after doing this 8 times with 8 different albums.

When I got up on Friday morning I called my dad to see if he could find out any info on who was playing the Park Stage special guest slot. When he called me back telling me that it had been confirmed that it was Radiohead I could not believe it I was absolutely over the moon, but now I was left with a massive dilemma, Morrissey or Radiohead?? I'd saw Radiohead 3 times before Glastonbury and each time I came away from the performance with a feeling that no one has ever given me since, but as an avid lover of The Smiths and Morrissey's solo material (who I've never seen live before) what do I do?? There was 1 of our Group adamant that they were seeing Morrissey so I wouldn't be alone if i wanted to see him (although that wouldn't really be a problem), and the rest waned to see Radiohead. I pretty much knew as soon as I got off the phone with my dad what they were going to play, I knew they were going to play the majority of "King of Limbs" with some more "familiar" songs thrown into the equation. After seeing them play all of their hits on 3 different occasions I wanted to hear them play their new stuff. Sorry Mozzer.

So after Wu-Tang Clan and BB. King we headed up to The Park and got there about midway through Big Audio Dynamite's set to get a good space, it was about an hour before they were due to come on and we got relatively close to the front, about 20 rows from the barrier just to the right of the stage and could see / hear everything absolutely perfectly. They came on and the next hour and a half was one of the best experiences of my life (possibly the best I've saw them live), what they played was sublime in my opinion and the set list was perfect. In fact I would have been disappointed if they would have came on and played "Fake Plastic Trees" and "Karma Police". The people that say they wanted a sing-a-long set which is what a festival is about, they played one of the most anthemic songs of the last 20 years as an encore and that moment will definitely stick with me for the rest of my life.

It obviously wouldn't be the right thing to do if they were headlining The Pyramid, but this was different. I suppose you could say a festival isn't the place to do this but I disagree, I think it's the perfect place to trial out new material on a new crowd because, at a festival the crowd you play to isn't always going to be die hard fanatical fans, they're true music fans yes but not all of them are going to be a die hard fan of your band so to see how the new songs would go down at a festival would be the same as how they'd go down with your average Joe Bloggs walking down your average everyday street, in your average everyday town, but this was most definitely not average this was not everyday this was Radiohead playing on The Park Stage.

[Weekend Cigarette Smoker]

Oh wow! That is absolutely spot on.

I used to love Radiohead.

Pablo was a mixture of fun, pop and rock and just a timeless album

The Bends was perfection

OK Computer took the perfection, twisted it and went in new directions but ultimately ended up being nearly as good as The Bends...

Everything after that (apart from the track Idioteque) is just aweful.

Thumbs up the The Nal

Edited July 6, 2011 by Weekend Cigarette Smoker

[Beaver89]

I know I am slightly fuelling this but I love how Radiohead really does polarise people and cause such a level of debate not just of their own material but about music in general.

[pinback]

Music can only ever be subjective but I think Kid A is Radiohead's crowning glory. From what Ive read online I'd say that these days Kid A is seen on a level with Ok Computer by most music critics and fans alike.

[General Lee]

Oh wow! That is absolutely spot on.

I used to love Radiohead.

Pablo was a mixture of fun, pop and rock and just a timeless album

The Bends was perfection

OK Computer took the perfection, twisted it and went in new directions but ultimately ended up being nearly as good as The Bends...

Everything after that (apart from the track Idioteque) is just aweful.

Thumbs up the The Nal

[tevaburger]

I think they're c**ts. They represent everything I hate about music. The fact that even hardcore Radiohead fans were pissed off speaks volumes. Maybe if they were playing a good album people wouldnt have minded. As it turns out the the new album is total nonsense. Just like the last three.

[pinback]

Pablo Honey sounds incredibly dated. To me it's a very poor album and I've never liked it.

[happinessisawarmgun]

I'm a massive Radiohead fan.

I like all of their albums including their new one, and really enjoyed the first half of the gig, but was getting bored towards the end. I wasn't expecting a 'hits set'. But they did basically the same bloody thing last year, but with Karma Police in there everyone was chuffed to bits. And that's all it took, just a bit of a sing-a-long to keep everyone happy- maybe Just, No Surprises, The Bends, Karma Police or Paranoid Android thrown in somewhere in the middle of the set (the fact that they finished with Street Spirit annoyed me as it was my least favourite of their hits that they could have done).

That's what it comes down to- it wasn't a secret set, whatever anyone says, because there was a massive crowd (and they knew there would be in advance, because the same thing happened last year) and everyone knew about it, and when you've got a massive crowd, you have to make some effort to please them. The Bends, OK computer and Kid A are widely considered their 3 strongest albums, and to play only 1 track from the 3 combined was pretty poor in my opinion.

And I'd like to reiterate, I am a big fan and like their new material. But Radiohead did about the least crowd pleasing set they could have possibly done, which I think is pretentious.

Edited July 6, 2011 by happinessisawarmgun

[Filthy]

I don't really know why I'm reiterating this as the diehards don't seem to want to hear. I like later radiohead albums, In Rainbows is brilliant and I like a fair bit of the new album. I enjoyed a lot of radioheads set. However I think it could have been improved if they'd added 2 or 3 classics to the set and considering the situation they'd have overall been better received. It all just felt a bit flat.

It was widely known that Radiohead were playing the park, however it was not widely known it was going to be 95% stuff off the last two albums. Therefore many people in the crowd were bored in the rain.

Edited July 6, 2011 by Filthy

[Wooderson]

Fairly low expectations for the mighty Radiohead though, no?

[Luke The Lersh]

It was widely known that Radiohead were playing the park, however it was not widely known it was going to be 95% stuff off the last two albums. Therefore many people in the crowd were bored in the rain.

[ukslim]

I'm late to this thread.

I'm disappointed I missed the Radiohead set, although I'm sure I was doing something fun elsewhere.

It's 2011. Kid A was released 11 years ago. Radiohead don't want to be a nostalgia band, and why should they?

If you don't like In Rainbows, it's probably not a good idea to show up to a Radiohead gig -- let alone a "secret" Radiohead gig.

They all hate Creep.

[ThomThomDrum]

It's 2011. Kid A was released 11 years ago.

[fowls]

I thought it was great, just a shame there were so many posers who turned up only to chat through the entire thing. I was near the sound booth so couldn't see a great deal, but the sound was fine there and that's all that matters really. The set flowed really well, I was really surprised how all the songs gel together in a set without sounding like a hodge podge.

As for the argument about mainly playing new stuff: This is what secret sets are for! If there's anytime to try out new material it's without the pressure of a named slot. Personally, I was surprised they didn't play King of Limbs in full.

Edited July 6, 2011 by fowls

[happinessisawarmgun]

It didn't take a genius to figure it out though.

[LondonTom]

In a way, it was sort of what Pulp did the next day.... SORT OF. I know I'll get critcised for this but if you compare the set list's of Glasto and Wireless, there are a lot more less well known songs in the Glasto set. Obviously, not for any Pulp fan worth his/her salt but for those who just went for 'Common People', they might not have known 'Acrylic Afternoons' or 'Like a Friend'... possibly not even 'Joyriders' or 'Raamatazz' if they came to Pulp during 'Different Class'.....

[happinessisawarmgun]

There was barely any one around me who knew Babies and I thought that was quite a big hit for them (Not as big as Disco 2000/Common People but known enough)!!

Crowds quite often kill gigs atm, even at own gigs where I'd fully support any band doing new stuff so to some extent its not the bands thought but the crowds!!

[ukslim]

I agree with the crowd thing. If the whole crowd were die hard Radiohead fans it would have been great, but they weren't, and the band knew they weren't. The band has to play to the crowd's needs, and not just for their own.

[happinessisawarmgun]

Seriously, why?

If you're not a die hard Radiohead fan, why are you at a secret Radiohead gig?

If you're Radiohead, what have you got to lose, by playing whatever the f**k you want, at a secret gig. It's not like they're worried about sullying their reputation, is it?

[The Nal]

So the “Radiohead – what do their fans think?” thread gets 3 postings on the first page from Efest’s well-known biggest Thom Yorke fan, with a 'review' written about a mile away in the field where Morrissey was playing...

not to steal from what’s being discussed on the U2 “real fan” thread, but I think it was RussyCarps over there who made a valid point about comparing the RHead and U2 approaches to just getting up there and playing the music, and i think you have to give credit to RHead for doing what they did on the Friday, without worrying about a pleasing setlist.

I think that Hedge and Audio Farm were spot on about it being a great opportunity and perfect venue to hear first-time ever performances of stuff from KOL. I think KOL is a great album, but you have to be a fan to have gotten into it. It seemed that punters were warned – or should have suspected – that this wasn’t going to be a 'Baby’s got the bends, high and dry' type of gig. If you were’t into the new album you were always going to find it a bit different of a gig seeing this stuff played (Tony Blair??? “bored”???). If you're going to criticize it, do so because you thought it was a poor performance. Don't go on about the setlist, you knew what you were getting. Sod the 'hits', if that's what you call them. Save that for the Pyramid in 2013 please.

I was thousands of miles away, but Separator and Reckoner (as Woods points out) would have been classic to see performed live.

I think it was the perfectly spotted place to do a gig like this. I'm devastated to have not seen it, and I hope these types of things continue at The Park in the future.

[ThomThomDrum]

Not just referring to you here mate but...... I love Radiohead fans, hilarious. The most militant, detatched and defensive in the world. Admirable in a way. People are more worried about offending Radiohead fans than offending militant Muslim fundamentalists. (The crazy Jihad types). No other fans in the world are as snotty, close minded and "elitest" (in their own mind) as Radiohead fans.

Its shocking really. Its almost like Radiohead fans see the band and themselves as seperate from normal society. Some sort of cult or parallel society which is closed to other people (or "them", as Radiohead fans sometimes refer to us mere mortals.)

You can trawl to Efests or any other music forum online, speak to fans of bands anywhere in the world, and you'll never see a hardcore fan of any band who feels the need to defend "their band" as much as Radiohead fans.

I love, for example, Wilco, but I'm not going to throw a shit fit everytime someone says they don't like them.

Radioheads success is totally baffling to me. I just dont understand it. Radiohead fans sadden me. The whole thing is in total contrast to everything that good music is about.

[Wooderson]

I love, for example, Wilco, but I'm not going to throw a shit fit everytime someone says they don't like them.

[General Lee]

I am a die hard Radiohead fan.

It wasn't a secret gig. This is probably the main fault I have with it- they play a set as if it's a secret set, but everyone knows about it and there's thousands of people there. And they knew there would be thousands of people there, because the same thing happened last year. And last year they played more 'hits', and the crowd went away very happy.

This year, a lot of the crowd around me were obviously bored and didn't know the songs, which brings a downer on the whole occasion.

Also from Radiohead's point of view, they're professional musicians playing to thousands of people- their job is to please the crowd, not themselves.

[ralph250]

I seemed to have been one of the only ones that didn't know it was Radiohead prior to rocking up there 15 minutes or so before they started. Got into the park alright and had no problems with the setlist. Seen them 3 times before and the Thom solo set 2010 so cool to see the new stuff. Just wished had found out earlier to get a better spot. Could hear ok where we were but frustratingly just ok. Wasn't quite (and Nal will love this! ) loud enough to really get lost in the music maaan! Needed to be about 10 rows further forward.