09-07-00: Old Roman Amphitheatre, Caesaria, Israel
support: clinic
setlist: Karma Police * Optimistic * Morning Bell * National Anthem * No Surprises * My Iron Lung * Talk Show Host * Fake Plastic Trees * In Limbo * Dollars And Cents * Street Spirit * Airbag * Lucky * You and Whose Army * Paranoid Android * Everything In Its Right Place * Alligators in New York Sewer * Egyptian Song * Climbing Up The Walls *Just * How To Disappear... * Exit Music

pictures: click here

notes: The people in Israel are treated well. After Thom played 'True Love Waits' on Saturday in Tel Aviv, he debuted a new in song on Sunday in Caesaria. Thom played the song on the piano and introduced it with: "This a new song you've never heard before called Alligators In New York Sewers and it's kind of a silly song." more info on this song here. An audio file is available in the multimedia section.

review by dror: This was the third show in Israel and the last show in the tour... The ampitheatre is an interesting venue, but problematic, since it was all seats, and the feeling of being to a rock show just wasn't really there. My seat was about 20 meters from stage, and to the right. I had a really good view, though, but it didn't compensate for the venue itself.

Radiohead came on at exactly 22:00, and launched right into Karma Police. Right there you could tell the crowd was going to be pretty dull. Even in the orchestra section people were sitting and hardly anyone was standing. Optimistic was introduced by Thom as a song about "finding hope, when there doesn't seem to be any." Morning Bell was also introduced by him: "This is a new song called Morning Bell, about when you don't seem to know who you are... and being shocked when you find out." Fake Plastic Trees was performed almost entirely in the dark, as they were having problems with the lights. Dollars and Cents found Thom sitting on stage for the entire song, singing into the mic from below. Before EIIRP, he said: "It's time for disco... (chuckles) Yeah, right." Then he looked over to Jonny, asked him if he's ready, and started the song. Once again, it was one of the highlights of the evening.

They left the stage, and after five minutes Thom returned, alone. He sat down next to the piano and said that the next song is "a new song you've never heard before called Alligators In New York Sewer." He performed the song solo on the piano, and it was very beautiful. Maybe he wanted to give us a treat seeing as that was the last show of the tour... I don't know. In any case, the rest of the band came out and they did Egyptian Song, excellent as always. And then Jonny started messing around with lots of different samples of voices and all kinds of noisesÉ While he was doing this, Thom looked over to Phil to start the next song, Climbing Up the Walls, which found Colin on the keyboards (where did the bass come from?). I was very happy to hear this one as they didn't do it at the two other shows I went to, and I was hoping they'd do it today. A wonderful version. Just followed, and then they left the stage once more.

Jonny and Ed came out after five more minutes, and started playing How To Disappear. They were joined by the rest of the band after a couple of minutes, and they did it very well. At this point I thought the concert was over because at all other shows they seemed to be doing only one song for the second encore, but Thom picked up an acoustic guitar and started playing Exit Music, which closed the concert perfectly.

All in all, the concert was wonderful, musically. But the crowd was pretty awful. Maybe it wasn't their fault, maybe it was the venue. When 75% of the audience is sitting down for most songs, it just takes a lot from the show. And after I had been to the two other shows, standing right in the middle, this one just didn't seem to cut it at the end. I couldn't stand up because everyone behind me would get pissed off and ask me to sit down so they could see... And it's understandable.

The band themselves were in a good mood, I think, even though their attempts to get the crowd going didn't seem to succeed that much (at one point Thom even joked and said "Rock!" twice to the crowd, probably commenting on how everyone was seating).

I was personally hoping to hear Knives Out again, but they didn't do it. And Planet Telex would have been a welcomed surprise, because they didn't do that one in any of the three Israel shows. But nevertheless, a great concert, and a fine ending for the tour, in my opinion.