Radiohead/ Asian Dub Foundation
Evening News Arena
Manchester
November 22, 2003

Rating: 10/10

The MEN arena begins to fill rapidly as soon as Asian Dub Foundation leave the stage. They perform well, although they're probably not what most people expected from a support act to the mighty 'Head.

After around 40 minutes of general roadie dithering, the final adjustments are made to a set of tom-tom drums and the stage is cleared. The lights go down almost immediately and Radiohead emerge one by one (at this point, even before a single note has been played, it looks as if the sheer volume of the 16,000 people in the crowd might well take the roof off the venue).

The band launch straight into a blistering 'There There' - hence those drums - and the outro barely has time to finish echoing round the venue before '2+2=5' is unleashed with equal vigour. From then on, they are simply fantastic.

Doubts as to whether the new material can cut it live prove entirely unfounded (a live 'Scatterbrain', for instance, becomes even more beautiful and haunting than its studio counterpart could ever allow) and the energy of the band is only matched by the versatility and fullness of their sound.

For much of the show, Thom moves on stage in what can only be described as a spasmodic stupor - he is rarely still - and only calms down in between songs or to thank everyone for coming. Unexpectedly, the set is fairly complimentary toward the band's back catalogue (bar Pablo Honey, of course) and tunes like 'Idioteque' and 'The National Anthem' prove they are just as good at 'going techno' as they are at being the band that wrote The Bends and OK Computer.

Both these title tracks are played tonight, amid other classics from the albums themselves. 'Fake Plastic Trees', 'Paranoid Android', 'My Iron Lung', 'Street Spirit', 'Karma Police' - all achieve new levels of excellence inn a live setting. The lighting is fantastic too, changing to complement the mood and complexity of each song. Despite various inevitable yelps from a few disillusioned idiots shouting, "Creep!" now and again (reviewer included), it is never played. All in all then, no surprises - just a f**king great rock show.

Ciaran Gilligan

BBC Manchester
26.11.03