Radiohead
& guests
South
Park
Oxford
July
7, 2001
Thom, very eloquently and in sweet West Country accent, after Airbag failed to inflate (organ breakdown): "bugger"
We're stuck in traffic on the A40 but we're *Lucky* cos we move every now and again, unlike the three poor wee broken down Fiestas at the side of the road being looked over by AA men and suchlike... ooh hope they don't miss the Festival! But i'm in txt message mode with Si (fellow BF journo) and he's keeping me updated on events in the Pit (3,000 full) cos he got there early, unlike me. ("I give up" Ed). We park in Oxford City FC's field and walk to South Park. Some kind soul has done the route and we get signs every 2 minutes counting down until we arrive at the gig. Only thing is whoever did it had a rabid dog at his heels, cos it took a lot longer than the 20 minutes we were told... Me gripe on a day like today? No way! I did forget to bring my two old mobile phones to recycle at the Oxfam tent tho... shit!
As we approach the entrance and get our bag searched, we can hear Humphrey Lyttleton's band playing. Very cool they were and much appreciated by the crowd. But first things first. Beer. Queue for vouchers. Then queue for beer. Then queue for food. Other 0.5 in the potato wedges queue, me in the welsh lamb-burger queue where I get chatting to a guy who saw local band On A Friday which excites me no end... "Were they good?" I ask eagerly.... "No they were crap" he replies. "Oh but you could see the potential tho right?" I venture hopefully... "Nah, they were just crap". This guy nearly saw The Jennifers too but he got put off by OAF more than likely... They did allright eventually tho, as Theodore Supergrass. Anyways, On A Friday nearly morphed into Jude, but ended up as Radiohead which is good news for the 45,000 or so there today, or else we might be watching a crap band called On A Friday.
Sigur Ros had come on during all this queueing frenzy and, er, they made us laugh. Lots of ambient stuff but nothing that made me want to listen to more. Still I did hear some good reports, I think I just wasn't in the mood that day, cos Supergrass were as top as ever - still managed to drift off and buy a South Park T Shirt with Radiohead in cartoon form... sweeeeeeeeeeet dude and profits to charidee... yeah! They played all their standards ("Richard III" getting the most appreciation) and playing a new one which they hadn't finished yet, but apparently running over so Beck didn't play for so long which in my eyes was a good thing cos he'd have been more at home at Cropredy or Cambridge Folk Festival with his acoustic set. As I say, I just wasn't in the mood for it. Radiohead? Bring it on...
We positioned ourselves back to the right next to a big screen and with the natural slope of South Park, everyone had a good view. Good thing. Keep remembering I should be in the Pit. Bad thing. Oh almost forgot, one of Mark and Lard pointlessly saying stuff and getting on my nerves with talk of a 3 hr Shirehorses set... Very Bad Thing.
Fantastic Thing: Radiohead appear just after 8.30pm like a dream and launch into the fantastic dominatrix tinged "The National Anthem". Such a good opener. Next up "Airbag" which was re-started after Thom said "Bugger". After just one song you got the vibes they were really carefree, laidback and happy. I wasn't exactly waiting for Mr Yorke to say "Hello South Park" but something would've been nice. But, as I've come to learn don't expect the expected, like the Aborigine who was having his photo taken, and who said to the tourist, "You can't take my picture" and the tourist said "Oh because i'll take your soul away"... and the Aborigine says "No, your lens cap is on"... the strange, serendipity that is Radiohead is what you come to expect.
"We're nervous. Can you tell?" says Thom. I wasn't expecting that. He also reasons "this is the only UK gig. No pressure though" MWHAHAHAHAHA. He dedicates one for "Tony" and me being a dingbat thinks, oh that's nice must be a mate... He also asks the crowd "who's the blonde who left the Spice Girls?" (like I said expect the unexpected). "This ones for her, I came back from Paris on the same train"... they launch into "Paranoid Android" and the lyrics "ambition makes you look pretty ugly kicking screaming Gucci lil piggy" never seemed so apt. Ms Halliwell is probably really chuffed though.
The atmosphere was so much better than the tent in Vicky Park, London last autumn. Even the sound was better. The newest songs sounding amazing. The screen displayed very sweat-inducing scenes of Jonny's crotch and Thom's hands (Thom at the keyboards looking more and more like a cross between Boris Becker and Vincent Van Gogh), Phil (IluvyouIwantyourbabies) Selway's magical drumming, Colin's Duracell-Bunny-on-Speed head banging and not much of Ed at all, *sniffle*. The crowd near me were a bit dour and didn't join in the "Karma Police" singalong but no matter. Me and the other 0.5 did a lot of shouty stuff during "Talk Show Host" (surely the most popular B side ever, ever???) and I nearly swooned when Thom said "thank you very much, thank you very very much". Mr Yorke doesn't *do* grateful that much does he? Time was when he looked like a troll with the weight of the world's problems in his combat pockets, but these are *fathered-up and I'm talking to NME now* days aren't they and how well they suit him.
Something else they don't do these days is "Creep".
But at the last encore (how many encores can you have? as many as Radiohead wants is the considered reply) when the intro to Motion Picture Soundtrack goes tits up (god I hate that Kid A version with a passion so I'm glad it did) "Das ist kaputt, ja?" opines Thom... he says "I got a better idea" and goes into a Radiohead huddle. With the result that those opening bars of "Creep" go out and that special song makes 45,000 festival goers very, very happy. Even though there was no "Just" and no new one "Reckoner", for that divine 2.25 hours - Thank you very much Radiohead. Thank you very, very much.