I wish I could claim the above photo, but it was taken courtesy of some dude on Flickr at this past Saturday’s Radiohead show in The Woodlands. I wish I had smuggled in a camera as many people had the sense and nerves to do so and were able to capture some great shots and videos (this guy blakeeb got some pretty decent clips). However my “seat” in the lawn had better views of the drunks around me than anything else, so it’s hard to say if I would have captured anything of interest.
As with the past few times I’ve seen Radiohead at the Woodlands this show did not disappoint. Great setlist, sound (for an outdoor venue), and performance by the band. Radiohead usually incorporate live cameras into their performance and this time around they had a long video wall strip behind the stage that captured all kinds of angles of the guys while they were performing (visible in the photo above). Some of the cameras were hand-held while others were attached to stage equipment. During “You And Whose Army?” Thom usually looks into a camera while playing the song on the piano and makes eye contact with the crowd and he did it again this time which made for a very engaging performance because he gets his face right up on that camera and you see his eyes staring out at you on the massive stage screen. It’s become a favorite moment with the crowd over the years. In a blog post over on the Houston Press website the writer notes these cameras as well and makes the interesting comment below:
“The band had cameras set up in small intricate places, under mike stands or attached to light fixtures that capture previously unseen symbiotic relations between band members: facial ticks, head nods, eyes sealed shut in concentration. This was more a recital between a group of friends in a rehearsal space than a rock show.”
One of my favorite members to watch is Jonny because he is truly a master of the many instruments he uses. At times he records samples of the other members’ audio tracks such as the vocals and then resamples them back into their live performance. The result is a multi-faceted blend of audio bliss. His side of the stage looks like a spaceship.
The worst part of the evening was having to deal with the drunks that flanked our lawn spot. They spent more time talking to each other and texting all sorts of hilarious things that we were able to gain a glimpse of (I guess drunks don’t really care if you can read their “love notes” between them and their significant other) than really listening to and engaging with the band that they had paid $50 to see. Then there’s the enjoyment of being able to walk away smelling of cheap beer when they spill it on you after taking a drunken misstep. The best part of the night was hearing two guys yell back and forth to each other as the crowd shuffled through the exits like cattle. Apparently there was a party afterwards at one guy’s house where he had “…a 12-pack of Belgian beer and a huge pile of weed.”
While grabbing a very welcomed cup of coffee after the show I noticed a group of people in front of me and that one of them had one of the printed setlists from the stage. I asked her where she was located and she said that she was up in the pit! I would have gone to great lengths to get up to that spot, to be right up on the stage during the 2 hour set. After talking with her a little bit longer I found out that her tickets were only a fraction more than mine! Apparently she bought them on pre-sale and was lucky enough to grab some immediately when they went on sale. Oh the rotten luck! Next time I’m going to try my hand at some of those pre-sale tickets, as no doubt her experience differed greatly from my “Frat Boy” branded one.
