Radiohead & guests
South Park
Oxford
July 7, 2001

Encore number three. I’m soaked to the bone, but I’ve no intentions of leaving. "This'll send you home with bluebirds flying round your head", says Thom, and "Motion Picture Soundtrack" floats through the ever-worsening rain.

"That'll do me", I thought. Then suddenly, a few bars in, nothing. The keyboard's died. "Never mind, I've got a better idea, anyway", says Thom. A disbelieving roar goes up – "they aren’t are they?" - he calls the rest of the band to their instruments and, for the first time in years, unrehearsed, they launch into "Creep". Rain? What rain? It was a Moment, a fitting end to a very special gig. But this had been a day of Moments…

The fun began in earnest with Humphrey Lyttleton and his band. Humphrey is the octogenarian trumpeter who plays on Amnesiac's final flourish "Living In A Glasshouse", and he and his fellow OAPs put the gathering masses in a joyous mood with a set of old jazz numbers by the likes of Duke Ellington. He's been doing this sort of thing since before the war, and this just might be his finest hour. There's a lesson in that, somewhere.

Supergrass roused the crowd like few other bands could. A somewhat sloppy start took nothing away from the sheer fun of it all as they raced through their back catalogue, playing just one new song. Highlight of the set was a powerful rendition of "Faraway", but it was "Caught By The Fuzz" and "Lenny" that got the crowd jumping, and rightly so.

Beck’s minimal set was essentially the same as the one he performed at his recent Brixton Academy gigs, featuring the likes of "Beautiful Way" and "Nobody’s Fault But My Own" Tremendous stuff, and over all too soon.

And so to the main event. The crowd are so worked-up by now, they’re applauding the interval tape. Days later, Radiohead emerge and launch into "The National Anthem", and as one 44,000 people bounce as though standing on a hotplate. Even the band feel the excitement, and proceed to fluff "Airbag", forcing a restart. "It’s our only gig in Britain – so no pressure", says Thom…

By the time they get to "Lucky", they’re settling in and the set is rapidly becoming very special indeed. Numerous songs from Amnesiac are aired, and stand up well alongside established tracks like "Street Spirit (Fade Out)" and "Paranoid Android", which Thom amusingly dedicated to Geri Halliwell. Hearing so many people singing "You And Whose Army?" was genuinely unifying, and "Pyramid Song" sounded utterly majestic.

Other highlights were perennial winner "Fake Plastic Trees", "No Surprises" and a storming rendition of "Idioteque", a song they’ve had difficulty playing live in the past. But we’re talking diamonds in a bucket of gold here – this is the greatest band on the planet putting themselves further than ever beyond comparison. Amnesiac? Unforgettable.

John Connolly

Music365
10.07.01