review by minihan: (First and foremost, thank you Philip Hammarberg for the tickets. I couldn't begin to tell you how appreciative I am.)

They opened with The Gloaming. Like being led into the woods - fear met with glad anticipation, anxiety coupled with a sinister grin, ear-to-ear and devilishly composed... Thom spun through the haze of purple and swamp-green fog laughing and cackling, leading the army of radiohead fans packed into madison square garden for the last show of the tour like the Pied Piper himself.

And the setlist was unreal. Thom dedicated Sail to the Moon to his child, and the audience took eachother's cue to sit down just then and drift away. You could sense everyone at MSG anticipated yet did not expect to hear Creep, but we did, soon after, and everyone promptly stood and looked to their neighbor as if to see whose eyes had grown the largest - whose mouths had opened the widest. I remembered the first time I heard Radiohead, summer before 8th grade, and playing Creep on repeat for nearly a year after that. This was a stadium anthem if there ever was one. It was lightning in a jar, rock'n'roll in a bottle, and it exploded in atomic light over the sold out crowd at Madison Square.

Just was played like a tragic rock band proving its worth on trial. They attacked the song and the crowd finished it off. And yes, the songs from their latest album went over brilliantly on stage, and Thom's wailing brought his concern for current affairs alive with a pulse and itching fever.

No Surprises was sadly optimistic. Thom nodded along with the crowd when he sang, "Bring down the government, they don't - they don't speak for us..." implying we were in this together, that we were with him on this one. This brought one of the most rousing ovations the Garden's seen of its audiences in years, I'm sure. Of course Thom singing God save the Queen in a candlestick witch falsetto just before The National Anthem was eerie and puzzling and perfect at the same time. But there was so much more....

Exit music was desperately beautiful. The crowd was quite loud throughout - but no matter - the midnight blue backdrop composed something of a liquid dream accompanying Johnny's effects and his brother's fuzzy bass lines. There were moments such as these throughout the performance where I felt I was watching theater... like there was a development within each song and the lights - Christ, the lights - the lights were spectacular. There were many moments when you just assumed (or silently hoped) that even in rehearsal Johnny's guitar could blanket the room with an interstellar burst of white light, with no help at all from lighting effects or pyrotechnics. He just had that sort of connection with his guitar. Anyhow, there's a better way to say this. I can't seem to do this much justice.

See, the ultimate cliche is this - that you had to have been there....I saw them a week ago in West Palm Beach and they were brilliant then, but they were better now. There is a certain standard they set when they stand together on stage and show us what they've been practicing. They set a mark last night which cannot be met by any other band but them - well, maybe Zeppelin in the early 70's, or Jimi in the 60's; but it's the 21st Century and its their time - its their time now. And if you don't believe me, well, I guess you just had to be there.

minihan.

Review by Shanes: I've only seen a handful of Radiohead shows, but one definitely gets the sense that last night's performance was a classic, one for the annuls. They began with GLOAMING, which I think is an excellent opener and really sets the mood for the show. Lighting was dark green and blue, very cold, recessive. The live version has a lot more energy than HTTT, with thom dancing around like a spastic schoolchild. Also, Jonny was playing around with a loop of thom's voice at the end of the song, sorta EIIRP style, which i thought was cool. THERE THERE.. amazing as usual. Ed and Jonny wailing away on those drums at the sides of the stage makes for such a spectacular visual. Then drumkit, and cue 2+2=5, a version that was ready to fucking blow the roof off the Garden. thom's lyrics during the breakdown part of the song were particularly clear. WHERE I END+U BGN sounded stellar, as the haunting ondes martenot was truly dominant thorughout. afterwards it was time for some romeo and juliet material (though "kissing you" was somehow left out). about 20 seconds into EXIT MUSIC it got incredibly quiet, no one made a sound. then some jackasses seized upon this opportunity by making drunken shoutouts, but all in all most people were respectful and shut the fuck up. TALK SHOW HOST sounded brilliant, a nice surprise to hear that one. Finally, I got to hear MYXOMATOSIS (my favorite off HTTT). thom was walking around and singing the lyrics in almost a taunting manner at the audience. during the "I [pause] don't [pause] know [pause] why, etc." parts the audience would raise their fists into the air in sync. PARANOID ANDROID sounded great, cool blue lights during the "rain down" section. Then out of nowhere came IN LIMBO. first time ever hearing this one, and it was phenomenal. sounded perfect, despite havng been played only once or twice the whole tour. very full sound, yet tight. all the band members except thom seemed to crowd around phil during the song, playing in a little circle. thom's crying out at the end was so pained and powerful. SAIL TO THE MOON.... thom: "um, i don't know how to say this but uh... this one is for my son." he might have added "i love you" right before he started, not sure. Next came the moment everyone was hoping for CREEEEEP!!! The band was simply throwing their fans a bone with this one; it was played with such emotion and energy that I was blown away. During the first chorus these bright white lights flew on, and the audience went apeshit. After such a high, everyone was brougth back down with a beautful, simple version of SCATTERBRAIN. then GO TO SLEEP... i've never seen jonny go so pyschotic on a song. at the end when they just let him break loose, you could tell he was really enjoying himself. these sick, high-pitched sounds were coming from his guitar, it was so ugly and beautiful. JUST was a nice surprise, another song that was so explosive you could just feel the entire place shake. IDIOTEQUE... pretty standard live version, but amazing nonehtheless. During YOU AND WHOSE ARMY, thom was staring into the tiny camera on his piano and playing with the audience the entire time.... winking, smiling, waving his hands. then he would jump off his piano bench, tauntingly wave his hands at the audience, and run back to sing the next line. such showmanship, i loved it and so did the audience. at the end of SIT DOWN STAND UP, thom switched from singing "the raindrops" to "Hallelujah," i felt like i was at some evangelical gathering on mars.
the first encore kicked off with Lucky, which was played with particular care and emotion, excellent version. Before the NATIONAL ANTHEM, thom started singing part of the British anthem in this dainty, feminine schoolgirl voice. PUNCHUP seemed quite different live than i had expected. much funkier, with the guitar almost driving the song forward more than piano. not sure that i liked it this way, but the song still sounded great. STREET SPIRIT was a "goodbye song"... this song usually makes me cry, last night being no exception. the extending "oh's" at the end were especially gorgeous.
encore 2 started with AIRBAG and the audience reacted with wild cheering. rich, textured guitar sound, sounded brilliant. some dude got on stage during the sound and was dancing around thom-esquely, until he was tackled and led offstage. NO SURPRISES was pretty as always. during the line "bring down the government /they don't speak for us," the place fuckign erupted, with people shouting and clapping. it was pretty incredible actually. EIIRP was the closer. Once thom's part was finished, he walked toward the front of the stage and sat down on the edge for a little while, just staring out at the audience. jonny and ed futzed around with the synths for a while, and then there were none.
all in all, an incredible show with an incredible setlist. hopefully some good SHN's and MP3's will surface.

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