Radiohead
Corn Exchange
Edinburgh
May 21, 2003

Rating: 4/5

It takes a rare band to overshadow Celtic's UEFA Cup final appearance, but if any group could distract attention from Seville, it was Radiohead. On Wednesday night, the Corn Exchange was most likely the only sizeable gathering in the country which was a resolutely hooped-shirt and sombrero-free zone.

For this crowd, there were more important concerns than life, death or football. Questions arising included: will they play 'Morning Bell' (insert alternative favourite here), and will I be able to see Thom Yorke's nasal hair in the relative intimacy of this 3,000-capacity venue? Questions, in short, which do not trouble the portion of humanity who are outside the Radiohead orbit.

Suffice it to say there were a lot of excited individuals poised to make the most of the Scottish leg of Radiohead's tour of "small" venues.

How many other groups could start their set with two brand new songs - current single 'There There' and the yet to be released album track '2+2=5' - and have them greeted like greatest hits?

The preview power of the internet is obviously a factor, but the breadth of recognition of tracks from forthcoming album Hail to the Thief was testimony to the eagerness with which fans have been downloading fresh Radiohead fodder.

That said, the fuzzy guitar thrust of 'The National Anthem' and the noble epic 'Lucky' - two tracks which you can actually buy in the shops - were the first songs to really soar.

Guitarist Ed O'Brien was mindful of the wider global picture and provided the first of the evening's UEFA score updates. Amusingly, he then had to explain to Yorke what he was referring to. Yorke meanwhile was more comfortable with oblique references to Sid James.

With such a varied catalogue to pick from, the set had its frenzied piques, emotional depths and muted no man's land, but noteworthy nuggets included the unadulterated hurts-so-good melancholy of 'Pyramid Song', the hurly-burly of 'Just', the curious funereal Germanic cabaret of 'We Suck Young Blood', with slow clapping accompaniment from the audience as requested by the band and, throughout, Yorke's exquisitely agonised vocals.

Radiohead habitually generate acres of hyperbole, but after a consummate perform-ance such as this, it is impossible not to add to it. A rare band indeed.

Fiona Shepherd

The Scotsman
23.05.03