FRICTION NYC

There was a wide range of ages at last night’s Radiohead show, in my row alone the ages ranged from 15 to 85, seriously, there was a woman who looked about 85-90 sitting two seats away from me. We were all anxiously waiting for the band to take the stage following an excellent set by The Black Keys. People were debating about going to get a drink or running to the bathroom before the show started. A couple in front of me stood up and sat down about 4 or 5 times, until Noam Chomsky’s voice came blazing over the PA talking about social security reform. I knew the band would be on in seconds, the lights dimmed and the band took the stage. The couple in front of me decided against running out for another quick drink and took their seats. The stage lights came on and the entire crowd went nuts, everyone rose to their feet cheering. Thom was seated at the piano and began singing “Come on, come on, you think you drive me crazy, come on, come on, you and whose army?”, while a close up of his face was cast on the backdrop of a dozen parallelogram screens. Chills raced up and down my body as the crowd roared.

The band followed ‘You And Whose Army’ with ‘The National Anthem’, ‘2+2=5′, and the first new one of the night, ‘15 Step’. I thought that the new songs came across really well, with my personal favorites being ‘Arpeggi’, ‘Down Is The New Up’, and ‘15 Step’. On another one of the new tracks, ‘Bangers ‘N’ Mash’, Thom serves as a second drummer, similar to Jonny’s percussion work on ‘Down Is The New Up’. I’m guessing the title ‘Bangers ‘N’ Mash’ comes from the traditional British dish of “bangers and mash” for sausages (bangers) served alongside mashed potato, with gravy being poured over both.

If you didn’t know any Radiohead songs and were at the show last night, you could tell the difference between the old and the new based on the crowd’s reaction. Although the crowd reacted very enthusiastically to the new material, they roared when the band played older stuff, especially ‘Fake Plastic Trees’, maybe the biggest highlight of the entire set. Last night’s was show was special not only because of the sound and intimacy of the room, but because the band mixed it up, playing a lot of old favorites from almost all of their studio albums. On top of that, Thom seemed more silly and relaxed than past shows, relating a lot better with the crowd, seemingly opening up a bit. It was an amazing show and I’m still kind of in shock, but it’s something I won’t forget anytime soon.

Radiohead are set to release their next album sometime next year, while Thom’s solo album, The Eraser, is out July 11 on XL. Follow this link to see a few more pictures from the night and if you want to track down live versions of the new songs head over to The Hype Machine, you won’t have any trouble finding them. The setlist is contained in the post below.