Radiohead/ Asian Dub Foundation
SECC
Glasgow
November 30, 2003

Rating: 3/5

Radiohead will never take the easy crowd-pleasing route if the blood, sweat and tears route will satisfy them more, and yet their fans rate them all the more for such dogged behaviour. This gig was the embodiment of that attitude, and frustratingly so.

There were some concessions to the arena environment, however. Not being blessed with the most magnetic stage presence, Radiohead always have a new spin on how to visually compensate for being five fairly ordinary blokes playing their instruments. On this occasion they invested in dramatic screens, projecting grainy images of the group, and evocative purple, blue and blood-red lighting hues.

Singer Tom Yorke [sic] has also newly discovered the joys of physical self-expression - in short, he attempted a number of epileptic dance moves which were endearingly gawky and a guileless response to the grooves of the new album, Hail to the Thief, which dominated the early part of the set.

This choice of material highlighted Radiohead’s other great damage-limitation exercise, their ability to present their most indulgent and least melodic sonic ideas in a deceptively compelling manner. The heavy-duty fuzzy drone of the album tracks 'Myxomatosis' and 'The National Anthem', in particular, had an immediate visceral impact but, as songs, they will never be loved with the same intensity as the skyscraping 'Lucky', the defiant 'Just' or the mock rock symphony 'Paranoid Android'. These three were among the sparse highlights of a set which was more about seeing what they could get away with than about entertaining the punters.

The diehard fans know the ethic they are buying into, and this performance was characteristically risky and audacious behaviour from Radiohead. But some more beautiful, touching tunes, of which Radiohead have many, would have been welcome.

Fiona Shepherd

The Scotsman
01.12.03