Radiohead rocks Camden
Radiohead kicks it old-school with "Planet Telex."
Tuesday night, I headed to Camden's Susquehanna Bank Center with my friend and her sister to see Radiohead. (They're probably the one band I'd drive four hours roundtrip for.)
The show was five days shy of the five-year anniversary of my first Radiohead show back on Aug. 18, 2003.
My spot wasn't as good as the one I had at the MGMT show. (We had lawn seats.) But I still had a pretty good view of the stage.
It was a beautiful night. The stars and the Philadelphia skyline were shining, but they couldn't upstage the main attraction.
Just as they played my favorite song...
The night started with a bang when, two security guards tackled a kid at my friend's feet right before the music started. It was pretty intense.
Radiohead took the stage at about 9 p.m. They played for a little more than two hours. Their "In Rainbows"-heavy set was punctuated by an interesting mix of oldies but goodies including "No Surprises," "The Bends," "Idioteque" and "Lucky."
The stage setup was amazing. Thin sheets of fabric were hung to make patterns when the lights hit them. Brilliant shades of green, blue, purple and red set the mood during different songs.
Everyone was so near...
During "The National Anthem," lead singer Thom Yorke threw in a timely political reference to China's human right's violations. (I think the USA women's gymnastics team was winning the silver medal in Beijing as he spoke.)
Whenever Yorke broke into his funky little dance, the fairly tame crowd went nuts. Yorke was extremely polite and thanked the crowd after almost every song. My friend noted that he looked a lot healthier than he did back in '03.
And fade out again...
I was praying for "True Love Waits," but the fact that the band ended its first encore with "Street Spirit(Fade Out)" was almost as good. I think I cried a little, actually. The band left "Everything in its Right Place" going as they exited the stage one by one. They exited the same way to the same song back in '03. It made me feel like a girl of 18 again.
Overall, the concert rocked my world and reminded me why I heart Radiohead so much. When pressed to pick a favorite, I would have to choose the '03 show. (You really can't beat a concert that included "Talk Show Host," "Exit Music(For a Film)" and "Karma Police.")
Check out the set list and another video of the song "Videotape:"
1. "15 Step"
2. "There, There"
3. "Morning Bell"
4. "All I Need"
5. "The National Anthem"
6. "Videotape"
7. "Weird Fishes/Arpeggi"
8. "The Gloaming"
9. "Where I End And You Begin"
10. "Faust Arp"
11. "No Surprises"
12. "Jigsaw Falling Into Place"
13. "The Bends"
14. "Idioteque"
15. "Climbing Up The Walls"
16. "Nude"
17. "Bodysnatchers"
Encore 1
18. "House of Cards"
19. "Lucky"
20. "Go Slowly" (Yorke: "This one is for everybody, everybody up in the lawn. This is a slow song for a good reason.")
21. "Just"
22. "Street Spirit"
Encore 2
23. "Reckoner"
24. "Planet Telex"
25. "Everything In Its Right Place"
sue · August 13, 2008 6:28 PM
Umm four hours roundtrip isn't such a big deal. I believe one Mike Caggeso traveled from here to Chicago for the last Guided By Voices concert and returned the next day. So... that beats the pants off of you. But I'm only mentioning that because I'm insanely jealous.