Fake Plastic Fans?
Posted Wed 25 Jun 2008 5:43PM BST by in Touching The Void
What is it with Radiohead fans? Last night the band's "In Rainbows" world tour landed in the UK, with the first of two nights at Victoria Park in London, and Famethrowa was amongst the thousands to witness this most special and spectacular group showing us just how good the rock thing can be. But it looks like I wasn't the only one to leave with more than the mind-boggling electro-spaz of "Idiotique" ringing in my head, as their high-brow side and right-on ideals came face-to-face with reality.Namely, in the beyond annoying pockets of the crowd, who seemed to have come across the gig by accident on their way to the pub, an office party or a rave and behaved in a suitably inane fashion. Plus for ticket prices of almost £50, some probably expected more than two, 20ft deep bars offering 20 minute queues. It's also commendable to go green if the nearest tube station isn't in the next borough. But my minor quibbles are just that when you consider the bigger fall-out from the gig, at the hands of a supposed ‘no hits' performance.
Some have deemed Radiohead's set controversial, after featuring only two old-school ‘hits' - "Just" and "Planet Telex" (which Thom Yorke told the crowd was "f*cking nonsense") - alongside virtually the whole of the new album. Over at NME.com, fans are frothing at the mouth, variously ranting: "Was I the only one to leave this gig feeling a little bit cheated?", "what a crap set list!!!", "far too self-indulgent for a gig this size", "too much emphasis was given to lesser known album tracks", "I was hoping for more 'classic' tracks" and "the lack of big songs was shocking".
Of course, we've heard all this baloney before. It smacks of the laughable whinge of a few years back, when Radiohead executed a dazzling left-turn with "Kid A" and fans virtually launched a campaign for them to resurrect the "Creep" corpse every night. Get over it kids. You're not watching The Rolling Stones limping through the hits like creatively dead duffers. This is the "In Rainbows" tour not the "We've Got The Bends 50th Anniversary Farewell" jaunt of environmentally friendly old people's homes. This is their band, they'll play what they want and it will be amazing.
Today's Famethrowa's
New: "All I Need" Radiohead
Old: "Wouldn't It Be Good" Nik Kershaw
Rumour has it that Radiohead split from EMI because, after extensive market research, Guy Hands wanted to distribute their album exclusively with the clothes retailer NEXT. As unglamorous as that may seem, that’s pretty much their audience.
The bottom line is that they’re a rock band who, by and large, write 3 minute pieces of popular music.
As hyped as in Rainbows is, they’ll always be more famous for songs like Creep and Paranoid Android.
Is it unfair for people to expect to hear some of those tracks?
I was at the Glasgow Green gig...4th time I've seen Radiohead since 1996 and this was the best I've ever heard them.
But as usual you get a small minority of ar****les, one of whom shouted "get on with it" when Thom was playing "Like Spinning Plates"...if you don't want to hear Radiohead playing their songs...don't go to a Radiohead gig!!!