Radiohead
Tredegar House
Newport
September 1, 2000

FROM the moment it was announced that Radiohead were returning to Wales for two rare performances expectations were high.

As well as being hailed as one of the most important groups in Britain at the moment, they have a Mercury prize-nominated album under their belt. But although we saw some of Radiohead at their best, there were a few shaky moments at the start.

Fair enough, they arrived on stage at 8pm prompt, but rather than launching into a guaranteed crowd pleaser like most groups would, Thom Yorke and his group bravely decided to start proceedings by introducing us to one of the songs from their forthcoming album Kid A.

Unfortunately, the sound was far from perfect and at the back of the venue Yorke’s usually amazing voice was drowned out in places.

As the poor quality continued during the next few songs, I must admit I was concerned that one of my favourite bands would fail to live up to their reputation.

But after about the fourth song, the music suddenly clicked into place and from then on the gig just kept getting better.

Yorke had clearly warmed up as he sang the fantastic "Karma Police" from the band’s third album OK Computer, dubbed by Q Magazine as the greatest of all time.

More old favourites like "Lucky", "Exit Music (For a Film)", "Street Spirit (Fade Out)", and in my opinion, the most amazingly constructed song of all time, "Paranoid Android", all followed.

As well as reeling off songs from OK Computer, The Bends and Pablo Honey the gig was peppered with numbers from Radiohead’s much-awaited fourth album Kid A which will be released on October 2.

The 10,000-strong crowd were among the first to hear the new songs because copies of the album have only been heard by a handful of reviewers so far.

They were what you would expect from the Oxford quintet: lots of humming and strumming and some melancholy tunes which were not fast paced, but still had some edge.

As for the venue itself, the majestic setting of Tredegar House is not normally a place you would associate with a band known for providing simple music without any frills.

But once inside the band’s customised tent, you felt like you were at another of the music festivals.

At the end of the night, judging by the reaction from the crowd, Radiohead had lived up to the expectations.

Radiohead will be performing at Tredegar House again tonight as part of its European tent tour.

Western Mail
02.09.00