Radiohead/
Empress Ballroom
Blackpool
May 12, 2006

Rating: 4/5

In 1989, the Stone Roses took their fans to the seaside and delivered arguably their most legendary live performance here. Perhaps, when it came to road-testing new material, Radiohead had the same idea. However, the death of drummer Phil Selway's mother last week may have coloured any notions of a jolly seaside jaunt. It's perhaps unsurprising that Radiohead emerge a trifle uneven, but at their most ethereally haunting.

The ornate old ballroom lends itself to magical performances. The acoustics give everything a split-second echo, making things sound ghostly and hallucinatory. With weirdly shaped video screens blurring images of the band as they play, everything takes on a psychedelic haze. "Lucky" - slowed and more intense than usual - is awesome

Although many bands these days sound like Radiohead, the Oxford quintet remain somehow uncategorisable. And yet, they're at a career crossroads. With no record label for the first time since 1993 (presumably not short of offers) fans wonder whether their long- awaited eighth album will rejoin the rockier road of The Bends and OK Computer or continue the experimentalism begun with Kid A. The new songs suggest they might not have quite decided. "Bodysnatchers" sounds like a Can-type mantra played by psychedelic 1960s garage popsters the Turtles. Another newie heralds the equally mind-bending (but actually rather good) prospect of Radiohead going reggae.

Thom Yorke remains a tense, agitated frontman but mischeviously pinpricks the hypnotic gloom, referring to the band as "old men" as the angrier politicking of "House of Cards" gives way to older material. Although some fans moan about the lack of "greatest hits", "There There" is thunderously tribal. "Planet Telex" even seems to blur into the Roses' "I Am the Resurrection". After what must have been a terrible week and with clearly spooky goings on around him, Phil Selway doesn't miss a beat.

Dave Simpson

Guardian
15.05.06