Radiohead
Pyramid Stage
Glastonbury
June 28, 2003

(...) Oh, and then there’s some lot called Radiohead headlining on the Pyramid Stage. They’re pretty good, actually.

Ah, who are we kidding; of course they steal the f**king show – how can you write a song as gracefully beautiful as a lilting ‘No Surprises’ and then follow it with the epic weariness of ‘Fake Plastic Trees’ mid-set and not provide 100,000 people with instant, gushing adoration? And that’s after kick-starting the show with two of the best songs of their latter-stage career – the drumming throb of ‘There There’ and manic mastery of ‘2+2=5’, whilst a tense ‘Climbing Up The Walls’, chilling ‘Talk Show Host’ and searing ‘Paranoid Android’ are indisputably magic.

The vibrant part of their ‘Kid A’ phase covered (a violent ‘Idioteque’, and characteristically engaging ‘Everything In Its Right Place’), and the band encore to please – a compelling, full-on, head-rushing ‘Just’, and a killer ‘Karma Police’. Thom Yorke finishes the song, and languorously looks out to the audience, unable to restrain himself, solely vocals, no backing.

’Phew, for a minute there… I lost myself… I lost myself… Phew, for a minute there… I lost myself… I lost myself…’

It’s the understatement of the year. Made even more momentous by a final, crushing ‘Street Spirit’. We must all be collectively dreaming to experience a spectacle such as this. And – if we are – please: let’s never wake up.

Toby L

RockFeedBack
04.07.03