notes: "This next song is dedicated to the state of radio in the States... and the UK" (My Iron Lung), "This next song is for anybody who still thinks they can change something" (Optimistic), "This is a song to cheer up those nice people in the Bush administration" (No Surprises (with a false start)), "Back home in England we have this Television show called 'Name that Tune' and if any of you can name this one halfway through just yell it out." (Like Spinning Plates) "This is dedicated to the people in the back by the {?}" (Street Spirit) [thanks Will]

review by Garrett

The concert was great. Songs that are really great live - National Anthem, Optimistic, Dollars and Cents, Exit Music, Idioteque, Everything in its Right Place, Like Spinning Plates. Songs not so great live - Packt like Sardines in a Crushd Tin Box. Like Spinning Plates was AMAZING (first time ever played live?). Thom was on piano, backed up by the brothers Greenwood. Before playing it, Thom said "if you can guess this song halfway through, you're doing a good job"....or something along those lines. He told us to shout out what song it was too if we knew it. It sounded familiar, but it was hard to pinpoint. That song was by far the best of the concert, although idioteque and exit music got the biggest roar from the crowd. Everything in its Right Place was probably the second best song of the concert. Johnny has this space age box/touch pad he uses throughout the song. The song definitely made a good transition from studio mixed to live performance. Other notes: No Surprises was dedicated to the Bush administration, and Thom stopped the song right before he was about to sing....wrong chord or something like that, all the band members seemed to laugh. - Garrett

review by Gregory

Things got off to a scary start last night on the way to the Radiohead
concert, certain to be the pinnacle of my year. About five miles from the
venue, we realized we had a busted back tire, so we had to get out and
repair it as quickly as possible, bringing back haunting memories of when I
knocked my hand through a window two hours before a Cure concert and ended
up spending the night in the emergency room. But enough about me.....
After a quick fix, we arrived at Blossom in time to hear the Beta Band's
'Dry The Rain', a fantastic song and a great sign of things to come. Kid
Koala joined them onstage for one song featured three of the band members
playing drums, and then he went into his set, also sounding very impressive.
To their credit, however, both openers knew what the crowd was truly waiting
for.....Radiohead.
The crowd roared feverishly as soon as the band took the stage. Thom Yorke
entered, hands in pockets, as if this was no big deal. 19,000 people thought
otherwise. I couldn't believe I was finally seeing Radiohead live....."I'm
not here, this isn't happening." Almost immediately, Colin busted into the
opening bass riff of 'National Anthem'. 'Morning Bell' followed, and then
'My Iron Lung', dedicated to the state of radio, which is beyond awful in
Cleveland, though I don't think Thom was being specific to the city. But
that's another story entirely. 'Karma Police' featured Jonny on the piano,
and the song, as always, sounded stunningly awesome. 'Knives Out' was
preceded by Thom simpy saying, "Rock", sending the crowd into a fury.
'Optimistic' and 'Climbing Up The Walls' came next. Then things really
started to get good.....
After a quick restart, the band played an amazing version of 'No Surprises'.
'Dollars and Cents' was quite possibly the highlight of the night, with each
note gaining power and momentum. 'Packt Like Sardines In A Crushed Tin Box',
'Exit Music', and 'I Might Be Wrong' followed, all serving further notice to
how good Radiohead truly has become. 'Pyramid Song' featured Thom on the
piano, with a camera inside the piano flashing his image onto two large
screens. Thom was completely immersed in the music, and both his swaying and
Jonny's background effects captured the mystical, dreamy aspects of the song
very well. The band did 'Paranoid Android' and 'Idioteque' next, and there
was a lot of energy in those songs, both from the crowd and the band
themselves. Thom was jumping around everywhere. 'Everything In Its Right
Place' opened with Thom singing the chorus to Manic Street Preachers 'If You
Tolerate This, Then Your Children Will Be Next'. The band walked off
separately at the end of the song, Thom first, followed by Colin and Phil
together, and then Jonny left Ed alone on the stage, with the samples of
Thom's voice resonating through the pavilion.
Thom, Colin, and Jonny came out for the first encore, and Thom challenged
the crowd to name the tune that he was going to play. The trio played 'Like
Spinning Plates', the first time that Radiohead has ever played that song
live. It sounded wonderful, though I could not make out if Thom was singing
the first part backwards, as he does on Amnesiac, or if he merely
substituted other words. I'm pretty sure he did the latter. Phil and Ed
joined in on 'Lucky', and then Thom sat down at the piano for 'You And Whose
Army'. This time, he constantly looked at the interior camera, making faces
and gesturing towards the crowd. Fantastic. The second part of the song was
even more powerful than on the record. 'How To Disappear Completely' ended
the first encore, with Thom's voice shifting all over the place with ease. A
great version.
Radiohead came out once again for their last two songs, with 'Talk Show
Host' coming first. They extended the ending of the song, with Thom and Ed
pounding their bar chords over and over. Thom thanked everyone for coming,
said hello to the people on the lawn, and then the group finished with
'Street Spirit'.
Walking, or actually running, out of Blossom, we were all amazed at what we
had just seen. The disappointment of songs that weren't heard.....Fake
Plastic Trees, Motion Picture Soundtrack, The Bends.....was lightened by the
realization that Radiohead is simply so good and has so many incredible
songs to choose from, they just couldn't fit everything into a mere two
hours. But in two hours, they could still convince everyone in sight that
they are the finest band around today. A glorious day.

review by Will Woolf

10:00am: leave Columbus, OH for the 2 & 1/2 hour trek up to Blossom, nice
quiet ride, that was unfortunately alone due to a last minute cancellation
by my friend. I wasn't worried I knew there would plenty of people to talk
to and hang with at the show and in the lots before the show.

12:20pm: arrive at Blossom, to be greeted by a friendly, if frazzled, young
woman who had the sad duty to turn everyone one around because they were not
letting anyone park in the lots until 4:30! sad and defeated I retreated to
a diner and ate lunch.

2:00pm: return to Blossom to see if they had wised up yet, only to be
greeted by a surly guy who was now doing the turning away, he was a jerk and
had the worst facial hair I've ever seen on a man. He says lots won't open
till 5:30pm now. The line of cars being turned around is getting longer and
longer. How long will the idiots at Blossom keep turning people away. Heck
they could be making more money selling their $5 sodas and $6 packs of
cigarettes. Wake up and smell the sardines Blossom!!!! perhaps all of the
traffic jams I am just now reading about would have been avoided if they had
just let us all in when we first came!!!!

4:00pm: They are actually letting us in the lots now. I'm one of the first
30 or so cars to park and I hop out desperate to know if Radiohead
soundchecked yet. No one can tell me. Having read that they usually
soundcheck early I was prepared for the worst. I sold my extra ticket (for
face value thank you very much) nearly the second I got out of my car.

5:00pm: The pile-up at the entrance gates is starting to form. I'm near
three high-school girls that drove down from Michigan, all of them are
wearing homemade Radiohead tank-tops. Very-cool. Also meet a group that
travelled from Minneapolis to see Radiohead (they couldn't get tix to the
Chicago show) these guys were nice and very cool and I knew I found the
guys to hang with during the show (Greg, Joe, Jim and the others thanks for
being cool, and letting me hang). The time goes faster while talking to
others, but then Radiohead started to soundcheck, parts of all of these
songs were played (possibly even more): Lucky, Optimistic, Packt, Might Be
Wrong, Idioteque, You & Whose Army, Morning Bell, & National Anthem. I was
disappointed. The whole reason for me wanting to catch the soundcheck was
to possibly hear a snippet of "Like Spinning Plates" which I read they have
been soundchecking, but have not actually been playing live. Still I can't
complain. (yes radiohead soundchecked at 5pm, which is why Johnny's AOL
thing, which was scheduled at that time was delayed!)

6:07pm: Gates Open. Madness!!! as everyone rushes the front of the lawn. I
have mixed feelings about Blossom as a venue. The stage is beautifully
shaped - lots of wood, and from a distance it looks like a giant mushroom,
but my past experiences there have not been great, the sound was usually
so-so and the staff, as already demonstrated, were jerks. But still it was
Radiohead and I was here!

7:45pm: The Beta Band take the stage. The drummer is way off on the first
song. And the lead "singer" keeps yelling out "OOOOOOOOOOOOOhiOOOOOOOOOO"
in a way that if you are from Ohio you would've found very annoying. They
do 5 songs. He also was trying to start a class war by playing the folks in
the cheap seats against the folks up front. (why do the folks up front
sound louder? Cause they are closer to you dammit! and doesn't he realize
all the seats were the same price, it's not that the folks up front are
rich, just lucky!) I am only familiar with "The 3 EP's" album and so I don't
recognize the first 3 songs. The setlist went like this:

1) ? Featured the lyric "go outside"
2) ? Featured the lyric "might just break"
3) ? Featured the lyric "cry for me"
4) Dry the Rain
5) The House Song

Kid Koala Joined TBB onstage for The House Song and I must admit that was
pretty damn good. They played till about 8:15pm

8:30pm: Kid Koala come out. This was unexpected for me, since all of the
info left him off the bill, and I thought his part during the House Song was
the attempt to work him into the show. Not that I was disappointed, his
selection of "perfectly good songs that {he} messes up" was stellar, and
really set the mood. I didn't hear the Pulk/Pull Revolving Doors sample (if
he played it) but the Fitter, Happier sample drew a round of applause. He
was done by 9:00pm.

9:15pm: radiohead start. The roar of a furious THE NATIONAL ANTHEM gives
way to a wonderfully up-tempo version of MORNING BELL which climaxes with
some wonderful and inventive lighting. Thom dedicates MY IRON LUNG to "the
state of radio in the states... and the UK" it is a powerful version with
Johnny really attacking his axe. KARMA POLICE didn't really illicit the
sing-a-long I thought it would, which was OK cause Thom sang a great
version, "This is what you get..." was pure rock & roll evil! A rolling
KNIVES OUT was next followed by an interesting OPTIMISTIC I don't know if it
was the mix or what but something sounded different about it, still very
nice. A spooky CLIMBING UP THE WALLS was next - the blue and magenta lights
really added to the impact of the song and damn if I didn't nearly piss
myself during the song's climax. Next came a song "to cheer up those nice
people in the Bush administration" NO SURPRISES. Thom couldn't hear
something in the mix and so after about 10 seconds he stopped the song and
started over which got a huge cheer as did the lines "Bring down the
government/They don't, they don't speak for us". DOLLARS AND CENTS was up
next, the dancing girls in front of me were really grooving to this song,
and I must admit with that bass line if you weren't moving to this one you
must have been dead. PACKT LIKE SARDINES IN A CRUSHD TIN BOX was next and
the more I hear this live the more I love it, the fuzzed out bass is just
stellar, I would love to hear the boys record this version of the song, pure
power! EXIT MUSIC was marred by idiots that like to scream during quiet
parts of the song, but Thom's presence brings the focus back to him, and you
get sucked right back in. I MIGHT BE WRONG was another shaker, followed by
an intense PYRAMID SONG. Then came a "boop" and the most amazing version of
PARANOID ANDROID. I thought this song had lost the power to surprise me but
I was wrong. Simply the best version I've heard! IDIOTEQUE followed and
those dancing girls were at it again full steam. EVERYTHING IN ITS RIGHT
PLACE closed the main set with a bang. Johnny's "solo" at the end was really
wicked and noisy, excellent set closer.

10:45pm: The Encores. Thom walks out and sits at the piano and says "Back
home in England we have this Television show called 'Name that Tune' and if
any of you can name this one halfway through just yell it out." I was
intrigued, was it gonna be a cover, what was up? When I recognized it I
nearly fainted. I was disappointed that I didn't hear it in the soundcheck,
but to be at the show where LIKE SPINNING PLATES was played for the first
time ever live (I think?) was truly amazing. The version was stunning.
Thom's vocal was the best of the evening, the piano was quiet and pensive,
and hearing him sing the first verse in a slightly more understandable
fashion was a revelation. Joe from Minneapolis who was next to me at the
time said, "I didn't realize how powerful that song was" No kidding. The
Highlight of the show!!!! get the bootleg just for this I promise you won't
be disappointed. Next up: LUCKY. I love this song as an encore. The
soaring guitar makes me melt every single time, the lights soared to match,
perfect fusion of sound and visual. For YOU & WHOSE ARMY my eyes were glued
to the monitors watching the wide angle of Thom's face. Thom and Ed's
harmonies during the climax were blissful. The first encore ended with a
flowing HOW TO DISAPPEAR COMPLETELY. In a way that was how I felt about the
evening, I'm not here... This amazing show is not happening. Thankfully it
was.

Encore 2 started with a fierce TALK SHOW HOST. Then Thom dedicated the last
song to "the people in the back by the (?)" I'm sorry I couldn't make out
what it was he said, but I stopped caring once he started STREET SPIRIT,
which is simply the best closing song ever!

11:20pm: The show was over. I still had a three hour drive (in traffic)
ahead of me that night, but I could've driven to California on the high that
the show left me with. Brilliant, simply brilliant. Find the bootleg for
LIKE SPINNING PLATES and PARANOID ANDROID well worth it! Thanks again to
the new friends I made, and a big fuck you to the drunk guy who walked in
the car lane while we all were trying to exit the parking lot, he simply
didn't understand common courtesy, and was big big jerk to boot.

Till next time,

Will Woolf

review by kenneth walzer

Traffic was a bit harsh, although we arrived around 5 and had no problem. Unfortunately, we missed most of the opening acts. We did get to hear most of Kid Koala's stuff as we made our way to the pavilion. The show was sold out and I felt the venue (at least under pavilion) had great acoustics. I was impressed by the Radiohead fan's manners. I saw no fights, everyone was polite, despite the hot weather. Being a sold out show, the place was packed. The stage was great. Really good use of color. I was impressed that the band didn't go for some big "Pink Floyd" overkill spectacular. Let's get on to the music. I'm sure everyone in attendance had their own favorite. For me it was "Everything In Its Right Place". It's been said before but I'll repeat it. Kid A and Amnesiac are so much better live that it is like night and day. "You and Whose Army" was beautiful. Much better then my old MP3's. "Paranoid Android" was amazingly fresh sounding live. I was worried that they might be tired of playing some of these numbers. Especially after Madison Square Garden. YOU MUST SEE IDIOTEQUE LIVE. It's so over the top. "How to Disappear" was beautiful. The band seemed to be in a really joyful mood, generally "rocking out" and having a good time. Am I the only one that sings every song with the band? I thought my whole row was. My brother and I may or may not have offended a lot of people. I had to sing. It's just not a passive experience. Tonight was the debut of "Like Spinning Plates". Very effective live translation. The only thing I missed was "Airbag". Really was looking forward to that. Perhaps next time...

review by J. Stiles
(renton1995@hotmail.com)

We arrived super-early, fearing horrible traffic (judging from the other
reviews, we were lucky). Though being fans of Beta Band and anyone who can
pull off a decent DJ-ing stint, we were waiting somewhat impatiently for
Radiohead to show.until Beta Band took the stage and were actually pretty
amazing. Four or five songs over forty minutes (long, long songs), then Kid
Koala (sp?) outdid even them with an amazing set (sampling Star Trek and
"Fitter Happier").

Being my first Radiohead concert, I was probably more blown away than I
should have been with "National Anthem". Thom had this electric energy that
definitely seeped into the crowd, waving his hands about and screaming
towards the end of the song. Everyone seemed to really get into it, and by
"Idioteque" no one was not screaming. Watching the man run around the stage
dancing like a madman, urging the crowd to scream with him was the best
example of a showman I've ever seen. I'm not sure if many others noticed,
but Colin can also dance too. near the beginning of the song, he was shaking
and jittering slowly and somwhat comically (hopefully intentionally.
wouldn't want to insult the man.)

The highlight was obviously "Like Spinning Plates". he insisted that we try
to name the song as he performed it almost completely unrecognizably on a
piano. until the lyrics kicked in and everyone (literally, everyone) kind of
smiled and screamed. I've had endless discussions in the past 20 hours or
so, debating whether this beautiful rendetion is superior to the album
version, and I still don't know. what a damn good performance.

There were two encores. "You and Whose Army?" was a stand-out in the whole
show, mainly because of Thom clowning around in front of the tiny camera on
his microphone. ending the show with "Street Spirit" was, I think, a great
idea. everyone was extremely into it and sang along (even me and my friends,
and we're all assholes).

After the show, we waited from 11:30 (p) to 2:00 (a) for our bastard ride to
show up. fearing certain death in this strange place, we wandered over to
where traffic had stopped and met some really nice people who I wish I had
exchanged e-mails with or something. a Pink Floyd fan who was almost
inciting a riot (but humorously) and a nice girl who had met Phil and seemed
to know every thing about the band (and took offense to my calling her an
amateur because she had only been to two shows [though I had only been to
one {I'm such a bastard}]).

As we stood, Radiohead's bus drove by and there to wave at us was the band,
all smiling which is a hell of a great thing to see. making eye contact with
Phil and Thom was the second best thing of the evening, probably (the first
being the aforementioned "Plates").

Damn what a good show, unquestionably the best concert I've ever been to,
and I don't imagine one ever topping it. honestly, do whatever you can to
get to a Radiohead show, quickly. it's been the single best musical
experience of my life.

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