Radiohead concert review

Radiohead
Montreal August 6th, 2008
Some are calling it the concert of the summer. Radiohead somehow managed to cram a good 35 000 fans at Park Jean Drapeau last Wednesday night (that’s more seats that you can fit in the Bell Center). Even Coldplay whose latest album brought them to the top of the charts for the very first time managed to only sell 19 000 tickets the week prior. Anyone who has ever been to a Radiohead show knows they are in for something great.
Perhaps the only complaint one could make was that of the rain that just wouldn’t stop pouring down on the crowd on a very grey and dim day. And yet Tom Yorke took the liberty of taking a time out and apologizing saying “We’re sorry about the rain. It follows us around.”
They kicked off the set with 15 Step, the first song on the new album and followed it up with There There. Johnny Greenwood’s guitar sounds soared through the crowd with a hypnotic feel while Tom Yorke took center stage in front of the world’s biggest band touring today.
The first set was slow, maybe too slow with songs like All I Need and Iron Lung. The band was just teasing its audience slowly picking up the pace. After came Nude their first top 40 hit since Creep back in 1995. But things haven’t changed much for the band when on stage. This was my third Radiohead concert and it became clear that the band was still loyal to its fans, as I sat and watched what was to become a 25 song set list.
They played My Iron Lung and coming in at number ten was Fake Plastic Trees, off the Bends. It was at this point that I no longer paid any attention to the rain and cold and reminisced back to my high school days when The Bends became a life changing discovery that opened me up to a whole new world of music.
As usual the visuals of the show were eye popping. Each member was given his own big screen which made up the backdrop. This accompanied by the Wednesday night fireworks at Laronde made for some great eye candy. To top it off, we were treated with not one but two encores. The first set including Bangers and Mash and Karma Poilce, while the second set gave us three mores songs finally ending with Everything In It’s Right Place.
Radiohead's seventh album In Rainbows released as a digital download for which customers chose their own price outsold all their previous albums combined. The band continues to push boundaries and take the audience to unexpected places. Always changing their sounds and experimenting in new ways, whether you love them or hate them, you have to respect them.