August 3rd 2002, Benicassim Festival, Benicassim, Spain

setlist:
01 The National Anthem
02 Morning Bell
03 Lucky
04 Karma Police
05 Dollars and Cents
06 I Might Be Wrong
07 Exit Music
08 Pyramid Song
09 Punch up at a wedding
10 Fake Plastic Trees
11 Just
12 Paranoid Android
13 Iidioteque
14 Everything In Its Right Place
encore
15 There There






A compressed set for the band, due to festival time limits, new songs have been temporarely avoided not to bore the various audience of the festival, and to be honest the setlist could be copied from a 2000 one. Thom & co. start a little late, because Paul Weller had technical problems, but the purpose is to shoot all the hits in a row. Pyramid song has been split in two, because in the exact middle of the song, when thom finishes to sing a solo, something goes wrong (colin?phil?a technician?) and thom stops suddendly, with a very angry "what the fucking..",then restarts exactly where he left. Only exceptions have been "the punch.." and the encore "there there",for a total of less than 1h30', for a perfect stand alone cd bootleg. [thanks filippo fontanelli]

For pictures, audio and video from the show, check the festival site.

review by PsychoMat

OK I need a break. I'm just out from the first row of the Benicassim RH concert... But it was well worth a few broken limbs, to be that close...
After the camp bed-wetters of Belle&Sebastian left, and after Paul Weller did a rocking set(late!)... in comes Radiohead. Thom comes in on National Anthem, looking us in a stern way, looks like bloody Jesus!! There is, after all, a huge crowd.

Because of the nature of the festival, they did a short set, full of "old" songs (crowd-pleasers). Of note:
-Morning bell, where Thom seems possessed by his ghost (Haunted attics!)
-IMBW: AMAZING rocking version, Jonny plays at the guitar god, and for the final part of the song comes between Thom and Ed, and Colin comes behind him to do Angus Young horns!! =D
But on a bad note, they are BIG sound problems during Pyramid Song, they have to stop. Thom is _more_ than pissed off, wouldn't like to be his sound engineer when it all blows. For a moment I fear another Glastonbury trauma. But soon after some cathartic versions of Fake Plastic Trees and Just will save the mood (but not me as I'm crushed to death).
Before that comes a NEW SONG: drunken punch up at a wedding. Really like it, it really boogies and is well written.... a good song simply.

They carry along with the big hits, you can imagine... Then they leave on Everything initsriteplace ... but then the roadies set up the double drums and we know they're back for There There. What can I say, it's of course brilliant, I think the crowd appreciated. Then they leave, really smiling and happy. Now for a drink and partying once I recover...

-PsychoMat

review (from webcast) by black star

At first I thought I had problems getting the audio, but it turns out that my speakers were not plugged in! I spent an hour trying to get it working! Anyway just got the beginning of "National Anthem". I knew that was the first song, so I pretty relieved to get it working. I was desperate to hear some new songs.
"Morning Bell" was beautiful. Thom speaks Spanish. That scared me actually, was it him? Then he continues and says "Fish Please", which was probably what he said in spanish.
Next song, Lucky, amazing as usual, but as you know it's a lot better being there or seeing it than just hearing it. I really wanted to be there. The actual quality of the webcast was top. (I need to find my microphone)!"Thank Que.".
"We're called Radiohead, please to meet you". Too much feedback, Thom says "Sorry about that, whatever the fuck that was".
"Karma police" had some problems, too much feedback again, but Ed continues singing. Jonny was a bit "off key" as well.
Next song was "Dollars and Cents". I thought they weren't going to play their new songs because it seems they were playing a regular set, with National Anthem starting the show. Next track was "I might be wrong", the ***official Radiohead webcast thread*** building with messages about their performance. Many saying that the technicians needed a kick up the back side. It wasn't really Radiohead's fault. I couldn't see it, but apparently Thom was getting a bit pissed off. I don't blame him really. I was still waiting for a new song.
"Exit music", Thom's voice was so beautiful. Made me stop all thoughts and listen to every word. I missed " Just" later on in the set, but at the moment I'm listening to the concert again via the website. It is still on there. "Pyramid song" followed. "Thank you very much".I thought it would be a new song as Thom said "Lets see how this goes then." Kiss of death. Pyramid song had a lot of problems and this was not Radiohead's fault. You could hear the feedback at the beginning of the song.
"Turn the Fucking thing off"; said abruptly to the technicians and rightly so, the song wasn't sounding good and Thom knew that so he stopped. Got it sorted though and carried on. A song isn't really complete if there is a gap between the song.
Next song was "The punch up at the Wedding". A new song was what I was waiting for. "No.No,No.No.No.Don't know why you bother, nothing is ever good enough for you. It wasn't like that. Hypocrite, Opportunist". That's all I Got. At first hearing I didn't warm to it. I have just listened to it again and it reminds me so much of Talk show host.
"Fake plastic Trees". My favourite song. Thom's voice sounded beautiful. Probably one of the best live versions I've heard.
Next song was "Just"; just about to hear it was the first time because my computer disconnected.
Not the best I've heard it! Still amazing and intensifying.
"Paranoid Android" followed then Idioteque. Amazing sounds. Jonny generated an almost "space affect". Like we were going to be orbited into space, amazing. I will have to record it somehow. Idioteque was amazing. "Everything in its right place" was next. Along with others on the message board, thought that it was the last track. An encore perhaps? Yes an encore, but only one. "There There". This was the first time I heard There there and I loved it. "We're going to play a new song, it's called There There. Primal Scream are up next. ..Goodnight."
As one board member said "It was sweet while it lasted". It certainly was, but the set was missing songs such as street spirit and climbing up the walls. Lots of technical problems. Quite a short set with only two new songs played. Black_STAR

Review by Richard Papin

Hitting the stage over one hour later than planned, Radiohead delivered a stunning performance despite persistent sound and technician problems. Opting to reserve the newer material for the more intimate shows throughout Spain and Portugal this Summer, the ninety minute set glaringly resembled those from the Kid A Tent Tours throughout Europe and the US.

The band began with the electronic introduction that has usually been followed by There There, though on this occasion the crowd were treated to a good version of the National Anthem with Thom on guitar. Morning Bell and then Lucky were next, that was before the sound difficulties began. Firstly, Thom saw his mic cut out half way through the second verse of Karma Police, and then having played one of the best versions of Exit Music I have ever heard, went ballistic at the sound technicians after he was forced to stop Pyramid Song just as the drums kicked in.

Having come to the conclusion that Radiohead were not going to include any new material, the band surprised us with Punch Up At The Wedding before launching into two well-received oldies from The Bends era - Just and Fake Plastic Trees. Mindful that Radiohead had already played over their alloted time limit, I was positive that first Paranoid Android, then Idioteque and then Everything In Its Right Place were going to be the last songs. Thankfully, after having allowed EIIRP to play itself out with samples from the crowd, the band returned to the stage, thanked the crowd and then finished with There There.

After having gone ape at the sound people during Pyramid Song it was nice to see Thom leave with a smile.

 

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