Radiohead kicked off their tour in Kopenhagen tonight. The band was there for rehearsals this week and tonight they played for a sold out KB Hallen. The band played many new tracks as well as old favourites as Let Down, Black Star and Nude. Radiohead played four tracks from their second album 'The Bends' Thom: "We're playing a lot of songs from this album tonight. I don't know why." Radiohead played 'Planet Telex', 'Street Spirit', 'The Bends' and 'Black Star' from that album.

The band started the set with their usual closer 'Everything in its right place', followed by 'Planet Telex'. Then two new songs 'Bangers 'n' Mash' with Thom on drums and 'Open Pick'. 'Karma Police' was followed by two long time (and rarely played) favourites 'Black Star' and 'Nude'.

Third new song was '15 Step', followed by four older tracks ('Street Spirit', 'Wolf at the Door', 'The Bends'). '4 Minute Warning' was new song number four. 'Pyramid Song' featured Jonny playing his guitar with a bow. 'House of Cards' premiered as a full band version. Just after 'Idioteque', 'Spooks' made its live debut. This was the last track of the regular setlist (where '2+2=5' was on the actual setlist, but blacked out).

First encore started with 'Bodysnatchers' and 'You and whose army'. After a lot of requests over the years, Radiohead finally played 'Let Down' again. The band closed the first encore with 'Paranoid Android'.

The band ended the evening with 'Lucky' in the second encore. (more later).

Send your reviews to reviews@ateaseweb.com with '060506 Copenhagen' in the subject line.

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Photos by Cristina P.

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Review by David Tully

Having seen them 5 times in 2003, we now have five sets of tickets for 2006. We were delighted to be able to see them on the first night of their tour. When the optical character reader thingy briefly failed to register my ticket at the front door, my heart skipped a beat and I nearly had time to curse e-bay, but in an instance it beep and turned green. We were in. KB Hallen was a gigantic Nissen hut of a building, a sports hall; it felt more like a school disco than the world premiere for the best band on the planet. The smoke was thick in the air, the temperature was rising. Willy Mason, that one-hit wonder) sang well in his red tartan blanket shirt (he will probably come on in his vest and pants tonight, cos it is so hot).

At 9pm precisely, the band came on and started with the song that they always ended the 2003 with; Everything in its right place. Neither me, nor Trace could remember what the next song was called, though I have since found out it was Planet Telex. The first of the new songs, Bangers n Mash felt very poppy with a strange segue from Thom playing the tambourine to him playing a miniature drum kit. The second one, Open Pick, was a lot more appealing and I am looking forward to hearing that again tonight.

Trace cannot abide Karma Police because it is not hard core enough for her. Her favourite album is The Bends, whereas I still love OK Computer most. But I could not help but get goosebumps during Karma Police. I tried to be cool about it, but it was just beautiful.

It was then on to Black Star and Nude, which I had only heard snatches of previously in bootleg downloads from people´s mobile phone recordings (long live live music). It was very sweet. The next new one, 15 step, was outstanding. It started strangely with Thom´s lyrics seemingly based on playground clapping games and Ed encouraging the crowd to clap in beats of 5 then 2. But, it got better and better. Thom's dancing was great and, although I know that they have no interest in getting a number one record, but that has the potential to be very popular.

You cannot go wrong with Street Spirit. Wolf at the Door and The Bends came next. Then the band gathered around the piano like Bing Crosby and friends and tried to bash out "4 in the morning". I could not tell whether the mid-song break was planned or whether they could not quite get it to meet their exactingly high standards. I will have to listen to this again to get an idea of how good it was.

Pyramid song included Jonny playing the guitar with a bow, a technique borrowed from Sigur Ros (or vice versa for all I know) - it was very effective. House of cards I cannot remember much about, then the fantastic ideoteque which is one of my live favourites. Spooks was another outstanding number, with four guitars in a race, it sounded very mexican. I could see that Thom was singing, but not a note was heard, the guitars were too loud. I would forget the lyrics on that one, the guitars speak for themselves. There There with all those drums was amazing; it was interesting to see that they ended the first part with the song that they used to start their 2003 tour.

The two encores included Bodysnatchers, You and whose army, Let Down, Paranoid Android and Lucky.

The hall was packed and hot and there was a terrible echo on most of the numbers, but the band were excellent. They all admitted to not being able to remember everything of all the songs and even I at times felt like John Redwood at the Welsh Conservative Party Conference trying to remember the words of the national anthem. It was the occasion, though. You can watch the bootleg videos from the internet, bud you cannot download the atmosphere, the ringing in your ears, the ease with which the band turned a muggy, smoky sports hall into a complete and utter joy.

I am lucky to be going back tonight and I cannot wait.