my name is mwd

Last night I went to see Radiohead play live in Edinburgh, thanks to Celtic getting through to the final of the UEFA cup, which freed up a ticket for me. I’d love to not give it a total thumbs up review, just because I know that’s what most people will expect of me, but I’m afraid I am. We’ll all just have to live with it won’t we?

A few facts first. The Corn Exchange is a smallish venue - bigger than the QM and slightly smaller than the Barrowlands (I suspect this information is only of use to you if you are, or have been, a ‘Weegie like myself). There was no support acts, just some reggae dubs while the roadies did there thing. The audience was predominately early twentyish males - what else. And boy was it hot in there. I must have smelled something rotten when I left. It was a usual radiohead stage setup - Thom in the middle foreground, with Ed to his left (as the audience sees it) and Johnny and his various bits of kit to the right. Then in the middle rear we have Phil on his drums (in a snazzy suit no less) and Colin to the left.

The gig opened with There There, the first single from the new album, Hail To The Thief. It was a startling bit of imagery, with both Ed and Johnny playing double drums (I hate to say it, but I was reminded of Adam and The Ants ;) - a great way to start. The first half of the first part was mostly songs from the new album, and this led to some less than lively audience members - I suspect they were a bit confused by what they heard, especially with the more electronic sound tracks. But I loved it - and bopped along to them. Indeed during Backdrifting the highlight for most the audience was when Thom stood hear the edge of the stage. I bopped away in the limited crushed way I could manage. This annoyed the bloke in front of me, but fuck it, it’s a concert - you’re meant to dance! Of fun note is that Johnny played an Apple iBook for The Gloaming (IIRC). Oh, and we clapped along as part of We Suck Young Blood - and no us the audience can’t hold time - but it’s not often Radiohead request you provide percussion, so I wasn’t about to let it slip by.

After this the pace picked up with a rendition of Paranoid Android followed by My Iron Lung, and we all moshed again (despite requests not to crowd surf or mosh posted all over the walls ;). Overall there was a fair spread of tracks from all but Pablo Honey. We had two from The Bends (Just was the other one), four from OK Computer, two from Kid A, three from Amnesiac, and ten (by my estimates) from Hail To The Thief, and probably their most played b-side, Talk Show Host. As you can see, it was a very long gig - Radiohead really treated us to a good show. Other random moments - Johnny messes up playing piano on Karma Police gives light relief, as does Thom laughing at the initial abysmal attempts to clap along to We Suck Young Blood (thankfully Colin stepped in and provided direction), and Colin’s laughing his head off at the excellently over the top ending by Johnny to Go To Sleep.

At the end of it was a great gig. It lacked a little energy in the opening 30 minutes, but that’s what you get (in my not so humble opinion) if you do the gig before you release the album and people have had chance to get their heads around it. Anyway, as you may have guessed, I enjoyed myself. I can’t thank Martin O’Neil enough for taking Celtic to the UEFA final which let me go.

Oh, and I can’t possibly thank Neil enough to getting me a ticket after all the not goingness. Cheers dude!