As the beautiful, uplifting melody of new song Lift came pulsing through the awe-struck crowd, the psycho bloke next to me stopped pushing and swearing and actually held my hand. A true rock and roll moment. Yes, this band have power...
Tonight, in the venue where Radiohead played some of their first gigs, this power manifests itself in a great energy and, more importantly, an uncontrollable happiness which is evident not only in every single face of the 400 strong audience but, more unusually, on the faces of the band. Thom, in particular maybe because it marks such a change: looks as if all his Christmases have come at once. Tonight, it seems, is pure self-indulgence on his part. “It’s good to be back‘ he shouts as he walks on, and his between-song banter includes an apology for sometimes being nasty to fans, but “I’m not very good and being nice”. Ed joins him in a charming rendition of a few lines of that bands She’s Electric and more, until he gives up and just plays the songs. After all, he asks, what do you say to people you know?
From the outset, this energy and contentedness exudes from every shining, smiling face in the building. Indeed, Thom’s figure, as the rest of the band rip joyously into set opener Bones. hands in pockets and a wry smile on his lips, proves him to be totally at ease, happy and completely in control, while the ecstatic audience hang on his every word. The atmosphere is electric, perhaps expressed best by Thom’s T-shirt, which says it all really, bearing the words “Final” and “Home”.
This gig, to everyone here that queued for hours for tickets and to everybody (about half the audience actually) on the guest list, is very special. When you experience the stunning, first class live spectacle that Radiohead have metamorphosed into over the years, it becomes clear that tonight means more than “local boys come good”. It’s a true homecoming gig that nobody present will ever forget, and which proves without a shadow of a doubt that this band, our band, deserve to and are now ready to go all the way.
The third album is the next step and Radiohead quashed many doubts about the possibility of successfully following The Bends by showcasing an array of fantastic new songs, ranging from I Promise, a wistful number gradually working itself up into a frenzy, to the blinding Paranoid Android (describing Thom, or so he says). I was stunned by their immediacy, and they proved to be definite highlights of the two hour long set (so long that Thom called the break before the first encore an “interval”!). We were also treated to an angelic Bullet Proof, a gloriously liberating, delirious My Iron Lung, and the conspicuous, yet welcomed, absence of Creep. It seemed that. in front of a home crowd. Radiohead finally felt able to free themselves from ‘that song“ and the relief felt by them and us as Thom smiled, “There's one song we’re not going to play tonight“ confirmed that stage has gone and Radiohead are now free to leap forward.
The climax of tonight, however, clearly both for the band and the audience, was undoubtedly the final five songs, before which Thom stood at the edge of the stage, leaned towards the crowd, cupped his hand round his ear and really played what we wanted to hear. So the magnificent Black Star and rare Banana Co. got an airing. followed by Thom‘s solo acoustic Thinking About You while the rest of the band watched from the audience. And then, after a stomping Stop Whispering, Radiohead left the stage to thunderous applause from an audience who then reluctantly dispersed. Yet the look of awe and the stunned expressions as they spilled out on to the street embodied everything that Radiohead stand for and have been building up to over the past years. No band around now has the power, vitality and endless originality of tonight’s heroes and although singing along to the The Bends line “Where do we go from here?” the answer is obvious. There only one way for Radiohead to go now. Higher and higher... to the very top.