Photo: Maxim Gaponenko
Festival tour schedule brings RADIOHEAD to Switzerland to headline the St.Gallen OpenAir festival. The band is in extremely good shape on tour. They seem to absolutely enjoy playing all pieces of their music and finally look pretty much relieved. The rhythm is perfect, the arrangements are made with genius touch, and the level of self-confidence and group spirit is at the highest level. This year, RADIOHEAD prepared about 70 songs from all 9 albums for live performance. This allows them to change their playlists the way they like, making a new set for every evening.
Saturday, July 2nd, 22:15, half an hour before a RADIOHEAD show. The venue do not seem to be ready to welcome them properly. On the third day of the festival, after 2 rainy days, the grounds look like a one big swamp. People are already tired. They are muddy and, what is worse, gloomy. Cold weather with rain drops do not seem to increase optimism. The festival line-up is way off from the British band stream. And there is even yet another attraction for many people – still continuing EURO 2016 football match Italy vs. Germany. Anyone, who needs to starts a concert in these conditions, shall be ready to rock hard from the very beginning. Anyone, but not the RADIOHEAD.
The band, which brings this year to live performance pieces from their entire music catalog, continues to constantly change their concert’s set lists. However, one thing remains untouched – the intro part. As during previous concerts, RADIOHEAD begun tonight with the first five songs from the brand new album “A Moon Shaped Pool”. For anyone who knows their new album it was not an obvious choice to start a gig tonight. Though, the band seemed to know what they were doing, it became a challenge. For the band. For the audience.
If “Burn the witch” gave some vibes to the listeners, the following piece “Daydreamers” was finished nearly in silence. An enchanting beauty of this new song under rainy sky with barely recognizable vocals by Thom seemed to push listeners completely out of their comfort zones. And most of them did not find how to yield their emotions – they just remained silent, no clamps, no screams... Just an overwhelming silence. As RADIOHEAD continues with their next 2 songs, the feeling of a quiescent beauty dissolved in the air only increased. It remained completely unclear where it will bring the band finally – to an unprecedented level of a spiritual contact with a crowd or to a complete loss of a connection with them.
“We are called RADIOHEAD”, Thom said. Fortunately, most of people were aware! And fortunately,some of them knew what to expect. Or, they hope that they knew. As the band smashed “Ful Stop”, it seemed they found self-confidence again, as well as the crowd did. The first sounds of “Lucky”, a powerful masterpiece from “OK Computer”, burn the fire around. Those, who were there specifically for RADIOHEAD, reacted immediately. The degree of interaction came back to the proper level and it seemed to be a really lucky moment for an emotional reunion. The following “Talk Show Host”, “Lotus Flower”, and “No Surprises” proved the reloaded engagement of the audience. From that moment on it became clear that we are going to be a part of the great gig. Restricting their inner power, band performed a “Pyramid Song”. A trembling harmony of this ballade had little to do with the venue tonight, but it gently found a lot in common with hearts of those who come.
And here it started. The emotional dam broke down and got release of a hidden storm. The following half an hour bring genuinely crafted “Numbers” and “Identikit” from the new album, as well as pieces from “Kid A” and “In Rainbows”. Fascinating power and rhythms of “Identikit” did not leave anybody neutral. While Thom was dancing around the stage covering it from the left to the right, it seemed that thousands of people finally started to sing along together. Refrain “Broken hearts make it rain…” found its way far outside the festival grounds. Liberated freshness of emotions, passion, love. That is what we saw on the stage. It was a magnificent unity of brilliant musicians passionately immersed deep in their masterwork which delivered a powerful, breathtaking act of art. RADIOHEAD ended the first part of the concert with yet another mercilessly beautiful and probably saddest song they have ever written, “Street Spirit (fade out)”. Again, to leave their audience lost in the darkness of St.Gallen night as they left the stage.
Several minutes of ovations followed by the band return. RADIOHEAD was ready to take us one more time to a labyrinth of emotional chaos. Started gently with an airy “Bloom” and hit hard with a smash of “Paranoid Android”, gave time to recover with a beauty of “Nude” and nailed with a savage power of “2+2=5”. They had to change instruments after each song, but managed to keep the degree of internal flame unperturbed, bringing it higher and higher with every minute. One could not predict for how long it can continue. But when the crew bring two additional drum sets to the stage, it became clear that the boiling point is still to happen. And it came with a wild power of “There There”. The feral rhythms of this song supervised by the band and supported by the clapping crowd marked an evanescent unity of the artists with their listeners, opened a new dimension of their interaction tonight.
And as the band left the stage this time, it appeared that the crowd found its own voice. It wasn’t a line, neither a word. It was just a simple sound, just “Uuuuhh”. But it was so internally powerful and fair, that it grew up louder and louder in a couple of seconds until it covered whole festival grounds and went beyond. It did not stop when the band came back for the second encore. And those, who were close enough to the stage, were able to see the smiles on musicians’ faces. How often do you see Thom smiling? It was clear that RADIOHEAD enjoyed their performance and were delighted to being welcomed this way by a thankful audience. Jonny reverenced with a hand on his heart, Ed and others applause to the people, while Thom tried to direct a sound of the crowd as a conductor. The silent appreciation came down again only with the first chords from his guitar. The band decided to smash one more hook, and played “Exit music (for a film)”. This incredibly powerful ballad highlighted the very special night. What else they could do, one may wonder. And I am sure, you know the answer. And RADIOHEAD knew it. And they did. They finish the concert with their epic “Karma Police”, singing it with us. And when the band members were leaving the stage applauding with bright smiles all over their faces, the crowd still continued to refrain “For a minute there, I lost myself, I lost myself…”. The refrain which obtained tonight a clearly tangible meaning. Tonight, the genius band at their best performed in a seem-to-be-wrong place in a seem-to-be-wrong moment. For some time, everyone was lost here under the dark sky of St. Gallen. But RADIOHEAD manage to finally find the way to supporters through the labyrinth of catching beauty and vibrating harmonies. And as a sign of appreciation, Thom returned to his microphone with a guitar to sing “I lost myself…” along with the crowd for one more minute. “Thank you for having us!” were the last words one could here before he came to the very edge of the stage for the last reverence, a shy genius with shiny eyes and happy smile. He did not talk a lot during a concert, but his gestures told much more than loud words to those who understands.
This magnificent evening came to its end with fireworks in the sky, the falling stars to remind us about irresistible transience of happiness.
RADIOHEAD performed:
Setlist
Burn the Witch
Daydreaming
Decks Dark
Desert Island Disk
Ful Stop
Lucky
Talk Show Host
Lotus Flower
No Surprises
Pyramid Song
The Numbers
Identikit
Weird Fishes/Arpeggi
Everything in Its Right Place
Idioteque
Bodysnatchers
Street Spirit (Fade Out)
Encore:
Bloom
Paranoid Android
Nude
2 + 2 = 5
There There
Encore 2:
Exit Music (for a Film)
Karma Police
