I Was There...

Radiohead 

Tinley Park, IL

06/10/2012

       Last night was a long time coming for me; I have had the worst luck when it came to seeing Radiohead. I was always either finding out they played somewhere nearby a few days prior, or just couldn't manage to get tickets when I did know they were coming. My luck finally changed a few weeks ago when one of our loyal customers called in to see if anyone would be interested in buying his Radiohead tickets. Due to some unforeseen circumstances, he would be unable to attend and just wanted to get his money back. I told him that I would love to take them off his hands, and thus, my long wait was finally over. 

     Let me tell you, dear friends, it was worth the wait. From the moment the lights dimmed and they launched into "Bloom" until the last ringing notes of "Street Spirit (Fade Out)" evaporated into the cloudy Chicago evening, the sold-out crowd was on their feet cheering the band on. They took us on a roller-coaster ride, weaving their way through old favorites like "Karma Police" and "Kid A", and coaxing us through new songs like "Lotus Flower" and "Bodysnatchers". We were even treated to the live debut of a brand-new song called "Full Stop", after which Thom Yorke informed us that it would get better with age (not that it needed to be any better). The band played with a restrained abandon that could only be mastered by a band that has been breaking all the rules for nearly two decades. "The Daily Mail" was haunting and beautiful, which seemed to be lost on the drunken frat-guys in front of me hoping for "Creep", while "15 Step" was energetic and playful. The high point of the evening came at the end of the first encore with "Everything In Its Right Place". Yorke teased us with "The One I Love" by REM for the introduction seguing into "Everything..." so well that you'd have almost thought that it was there all-along. The second encore opened with Jonny Greenwood and Thom Yorke playing an amazing rendition of "Give Up The Ghost". Yorke's looped vocals and acoustic guitar were perfectly complimented by Greenwood's Starcaster. The rest of the band joined them (including newly added "road" drummer Clive Deamer) for another new song called "Identikit". If the new songs are any indication of what we can expect from the next Radiohead album, then color me quite excited. 

(Source: Pitchfork)

    The visual aspect of the show was also quite breathtaking. Due to the band's environmental concerns they had elected to use an LED backdrop as opposed to the huge spotlighting rigs that bands usually take on the road. In no way did this take anything away from the show. Each song had it's own visual display which was tailor-made to enhance the mood of the song. It made for a stunning display which made the lack of a regular light show unnoticeable.    

   All-told, the band ripped through 24 tracks and made sure that everyone walked away with every cent worth of their ticket price. I had a blast and will definitely be attending another show when they come back around again.

Set List:

Bloom

There There

15 Step

Kid A

Staircase

Morning Mr. Magpie

The Gloaming

Codex

The Amazing Sounds Of Orgy

Karma Police

Reckoner

Lotus Flower

Myxomatosis

Feral

Little By Little

Idioteque

Separator

Full Stop

Bodysnatchers

Everything In It's Right Place

Give Up The Ghost

Identikit

Weird Fishes/Arpeggi

Street Spirit (Fade Out)