Radiohead
South Park
Oxford
July 7, 2001

There's a palpable crackle of electricity in the air as the lights dim for Radiohead's set, and it's not just from the heavy atmosphere in the sky. Suddenly, the band, in particular Jonny, race onstage and launch into the bass groove of 'The National Anthem'.

It's all eyes to the floor initially, save for Thom Yorke, who immerses himself in the ebbs and flows, head bobbing side to side manically like he's performing an internal exorcism. They fluff the intro to 'Airbag' but, despite the band's obvious nervousness at being in close proximity to so many people in their hometown, the crowd just laugh it off.

The second attempt is ethereal and from there on in the show is a mesmerising mixture of old and new, light and dark, dream and nightmare. "I'm a reasonable man/Get off my case" spits Yorke on an intense 'Packt Like Sardines In A Crushd Tin Box'.

A vicious 'My Iron Lung' and a haunting 'Exit Music' lead into 'Knives Out' and it becomes apparent why things are working so well. The Kid A and Amnesiac material, some of which comes across as sterile and inhuman on record, tonight possesses an urgency which means it not only sits seamlessly alongside but, in the case of 'Knives Out' and 'I Might Be Wrong' particularly, threatens to eclipse the older material.

'Street Spirit' is as powerful and shattering as ever. A cataclysmic 'Paranoid Android' is wryly dedicated to Geri Halliwell, "that blonde one who used to be in the Spice Girls". The rest of the band begin to shrug off their earlier nervousness, with Ed rocking out, Colin bobbing in time to the metronome of his rhythm and Jonny darting between guitar and keyboard.

"Tony" gets a cursory namecheck prior to a beautiful 'No Surprises' before 'Everything In Its Right Place' closes the main set, buzzing into the stormy ether as the clouds swirl menacingly overhead.

By the time encore versions of 'Fake Plastic Trees' and 'Karma Police' have been dispatched, fat, hot drops of rain are streaming from the sky, adding a further layer of drama to proceedings. 'You And Whose Army' and 'How To Disappear Completely' fly past and the band take their leave again.

They return to run through ecstatically received versions of 'Talk Show Host' and 'The Bends', Yorke grumbling "Wish it was the 60s/Wish we could be happy", before taking the applause and leaving again. Some people start to move towards the exit, soaked to the skin and convinced that's the finale, but there's a general feeling something else, something special is yet to come.

And so it does. "Here's a song for you all to go home to" Thom announces, launching into the opening of 'Motion Picture Soundtrack'. After a few bars, his keyboard dies: "It is kaput, yes? I've got a better idea". And then here it is, 'Creep', with Jonny's pre-chorus "ker-chunk" sounding like a bolt of lightning and Thom reaching down deep one more time.

It's an unforgettable climax to a truly unforgettable set. As the rain continues to fall in sheets, solace is found in the knowledge that an uncompromising artistic vision can work in a sodden field of 35,000 people. Victories don't come any more sweeter.

Simon P Ward

Dotmusic
09.07.01