After experiencing Homelands this year, it became apparent that the number of dance bands that did not wither under the challenge of performing in front of thousands of revellers could be counted on one hand. Adding unfortunate credence to the rock clichés about live dance music there was something very wrong with the limp live performances on display at the festival.
It was hard to pinpoint exactly why, but there was never a bigger gap between the emotional catharsis bought on by recorded music compared with live music than was evident at Homelands. Instead of the post gig great ephemeral rush, the audience was left bruised and battered but with nothing to show for it. Only a post-coitial cold and faceless chill that certainly didn’t grapple the heart in the way live music can. So it came as a surprise that Radiohead (from nearby Abingdon), seemingly suffering very eloquently from a musical identity crisis, managed to replicate their recent forays into ‘electronica’ with such focus and emotional elan.
It was clear that the stop start fragmentary music on Kid A and Amnesiac transformed into something very special live. On record what may have sounded glib and elitist, translated onto the stage as menacing as it was all embracing. This was no less apparent than on Idiotheque, which lead the audiences’ dancing feet into emotional territory unknown .The song transmuted from the concise recorded version into a diving cocktail of a crunching Mo ‘Wax via Richard James beats and heart heavy falsetto vocals. Strange as it seems, the overriding feeling was that this, was what live dance music is meant to feel like.
All edgy and angular, in comparison The Bends era songs; Fake Plastic Trees and Street Spirit, seemed like pleasant nods to another era. Indeed, as if to acknowledge the quantum leap the band has made since their ‘meat and potato song’ days, Thom delivered surprise closer Creep in the style of a Vegas crooner.
The Ok Computer material mixed noticeably better with the newer songs. The militant bass chug of opener Morning Bell and the dreamy guitar symphony of Knives Out slipped effortlessly in with the juddering Airbag and the devastating Talk Show Host. More than just a ‘greatest hits’ show this was a lesson in how to musically reach the peak of your powers and reinvent yourself with grand chutzpah.
The bands played for over two hours delighting the audience with a mix of the familiar and territory uncertain. Musical shape shifters indeed, it is no mean feat that a band as big as Radiohead can still musically confuse and touch in equal measure.
Set List
National Anthem
Airbag
Morning Bell
Lucky
Packt Like Sardines In A Crshed Tin Box
My Iron Lung
Exit Music (For A Film)
Knives Out
No Surprises
Dollars & Cents
Street Spirit (Fade Out)
I Might Be Wrong
Pyramid Song
Paranoid Android
Idioteque
Everything In Its Right Place
Encore One
Fake Plastic Trees
Karma Police
You and Whose Army
How To Disappear Completely
Encore Two
Talk Show Host
The Bends Encore Three
Motion Picture Soundtrack (Colin & Thom alone – aborted)
Creep
Report bt Priya Elangasinghe
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