er looks like you need a review of the sunday april 5 1998 radiohead show in seattle. so here tis--as best as i can recall.
i’ll try to leave out most of the stuff that had more to do with me than the show, cause thats not interesting. but i feel it is necessary to explain that there was a ridiculous amount of completely unexplainable luck involved in this for me. suffice to say, i ended up with a seat in the third row of the balcony, dead center. niiiiiice. this is as sane an account as i can give. and if you want the half-hysterical drooling groupie account that i wrote immediately after the show, you can find it here.
the venue: paramount theatre. great place. big enough that it could contain a fair-sized crowd, but small enough to give some feeling of intimacy. if that makes any sense. i’m not sure how many people were there, but it couldnt have been many. the tickets sold out in 6 minutes.
the opener: spiritualized. under-appreciated, in my humble opinion. am i the only one who doesnt absolutely hate them? hrm.
the obligatory setlist:
meeting in the aisle
airbag
talk show host
planet telex
karma police
exit music
just
banana co
lucky
paranoid android
the bends
subterranean homesick alien
climbing up the walls
no surprises
fake plastic trees
bones
my iron lung
(encore)
lurgee
you
street spirit
(second encore)
pearly*
the tourist
the crowd: whoa, reading accounts of other concerts on this tour, i guess the crowd in seattle was really well-behaved. i couldnt see much of what was happening down on the floor, but there didnt seem to be anything too bad. the security all stood around, looking completely bored cause they had nothing to do, as everyone was being good. as far as i could tell, people seemed really into the music. very, very cool. thom didnt have to yell at anybody or stop in the middle of a song. in fact, at one point, he said “youre either really really stoned, or youre listening.” eeee! we took this to be a compliment.
the band: well, i think they were really enjoying themselves. its sortof hard to tell. but thom and ed were jumping around rather excitedly during some songs. thom almost fell over at the beginning of the bends! (awww) thom did talk to the crowd a bit. he didnt even get pissed off, really, when some chick yelled for creep. just this slightly indignant stance and look, which the crowd responded to with cheers. we have all moved on from creep, havent we? good. during cutw, jonny (as i’m sure you know) plays a radio. after the song, thom said “ you should hear the shite we pick up sometimes.” somebody: “why?” thom: “why? cause....shite comes outa the radio.” yes! we agree wholeheartedly. then there was an amusing little interaction during one of the encores (i ferget which). thom brought a blue liquor bottle with him when he came back onstage, and some guy yelled something like “toss that out here!” thom was slurring his words, and ed had to help him out. “noooo....strict...strict..drinking laws.” well, we thought it was funny.
the music: what can i say? words are inadequate. so much more powerful live than on record. mmmmmmmm. (i refer you to the drooling groupie account for an attempt at describing this.) nice presentation, lights and such were really cool. love those strobes.
we waited around for an hour after the show, out back by the stage entrance and the buses (which were quietly running). there were maybe 15 others hanging about. some people started drawing in the dust on the back of one of the buses. nothing offensive or damaging, but a security guy told em to cut it out. spiritualized came out and hurried to their bus maybe 45 minutes after the show was over. no radiohead, sadly. my friend and i left at midnight. (after all, we had school the next day. back to reality.)
in conclusion: one hell of a band gave one hell of a show, and this particular fan had the time of her life. thankyou.
garland