Radiohead/ Asian Dub Foundation
Earls Court
London
November 26, 2003

There was a time when Thom Yorke cracking a joke onstage would’ve been met with the quaking of the earth imploding in on itself and the skies turning black. Similarly, asking the crowd to clap-along (“it’ll make the song sound brilliant!”) would once have been as likely as the Queen inviting the Daily Mirror’s editorial team round for tea.

But Thom Yorke 2003 is a different man. He has, ssssh, fun! He pulls funny faces and says "this is what the British Prime Minister looks like". He dances like the bastard child of David Brent and John Travolta! He dons Justin Hawkins' catsuit and plays Chumbawamba covers! Ok, one of those is a lie, but, catsuit or not, Radiohead are - finally - enjoying being Radiohead.

Having eschewed British arenas for half a decade (their last UK arena tour was in the wake of OK Computer's release in ’97), they’re revelling in their new found ease. They begin with the discordant rumblings of ‘The Gloaming’, transformed from its robotic recorded cousin into a dynamic, distorted slice of  jazz-electronica, and follow ‘2+2=5’, which should really be titled ‘Quiet And Beautiful + Shouty And Loud = ARGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!’. ‘My Iron Lung’, meanwhile, is despatched with the efficiency of a schizophrenic postie, and ‘Kid A’ comes across like a less disturbed, nursery rhyming cousin of ‘The Gloaming’, Thom wailing “rats and children follow me out of tooooown!” like a more mischievous Pied Piper. ‘There There’, with its thumping drums and bluesy whispers, is fast becoming a calling-card to rival ‘Paranoid Android’.

And then, in the encores, it’s where the real fun begins. “Last week, our nation’s capital was hijacked,” spits Thom, “and these are the kind of faces Blair pulls when Bush comes to visit,” before guiding 'You And Whose Army' through dark, claustrophobic tunnels with a series of bang-on Blair impersonations, beamed up-close onto the giant screens at the side of the stage. Bilious anger is spilt all over 'National Anthem''s pounding bass groove, set to samples of poor ol’ Tony. They finish with ‘Everything In Its Right Place’, the screen at the back flashing the word ‘FOREVER’. It couldn’t be more apt. Radiohead are in their right place. It just happens to be light years ahead of everyone else.

Niall Doherty

Xfm
02.12.03