Shows like these remind me why Radiohead are the single greatest band in the world today. There is absolutely no comparison. Only Radiohead can make me spend $80 within the first 10 minutes i arrived at Blossom Music Center. $40 for their shirt, $30 for a Grizzly Bear shirt, and $10 for a tour poster. I could've spent another 10 bucks if i wanted to quench my deadly thirst with one of their ridiculously expensive bottled waters...but i held off.
The show started promptly at 7:30, which was a surprise. Grizzly Bear played a tight, quick 8 or 9 song set (don't have the setlist), but they showed why sites like Stereogum rank them as the best live band around. Daniel Rossen and Ed Droste perfectly complement eachother with their singing while Chris Taylor harmonizes in the background. They played old favorites, like "Knife" and "On a Neck, On a Spit" as well as new material, most notably "Two Weeks" (which they debuted on Letterman last week.) However, they were off the stage by about 8:10, leaving us wanting a little bit more. But it's impossible to be that greedy when you have Thom and the gang waiting to come on next.
And they didn't dissapoint. They took the stage at about 8:35 and Thom almost immediately broke out into his signature nerdy-white-boy dance on "15 step." For most of the almost 3-hour set, they neglected The Bends (damnit) and Pablo Honey (which everyone expected.) But their set was an otherwise good representation of their past work. My personal favorite of the night was possibly "Nude." It is is truly the best representation of Thom's beautiful falsetto and songwriting ability. However, this show was not only about the audiorgasms (yes i made that up), but also about the videorgasms (stick with me.) The lighting at the show was truly visually stimulating, epic, fantastic, and, well, simply ORGASMIC (as shown by the red headed broad in front of us who would NOT stop dancing like a complete lunatic...we tried to get footage but it was too dark). They also played "Pyramid Song" and "A Wolf at the Door" for the first time on their tour this year. Jonny busted out the ondes martenot for the haunting "Climbing Up the Walls," a personal favorite of mine. The set "ended" with "Bodysnatchers" and "How to Disappear Completely."
The first encore was a given. Everyone knew they had to come out and play some more classics, which they did. After starting out with the beautiful "Videotape," Thom said "You might know this one" and then everyone heard the opening signature guitar of "Paranoid Android." (which needs to be on Rock Band or Guitar Hero). After ending the 5-song encore with "Street Spirit," the folks of Cleveland weren't ready to go home just yet.
The second encore was nice treat from those old British geezers. "House of Cards," "Lucky," and "Everything in it's Right Place" finished off the show for good. The lighting during "Everything" was mind-blowing, as the words to the chorus were vastly projected behind the band. In a completely bad-ass exit, they left one at a time, Thom leaving first, followed by Colin and Phil, leaving Ed on his guitar and Jonny messing around with the ondes. When they both finally left and the lights turned on, everyone was still awestruck by the legendary performance they had just witnessed.
There There (live from Blossom) (decent quality)
The Full Set List (from ateaseweb.com)
02. There There
03. Morning Bell
04. All I Need
05. Pyramid Song
06. Nude
07. Weird Fishes/Arpeggi
08. The Gloaming
09. The National Anthem
10. A Wolf At The Door
11. Faust Arp
12. Exit Music (For A Film)
13. Jigsaw Falling Into Place
14. Idioteque
15. Climbing Up The Walls
16. Bodysnatchers
17. How to Disappear Completely
Encore 1
18. Videotape
19. Paranoid Android
20. Dollars and Cents
21. Reckoner
22. Street Spirit
Encore 2
23. House of Cards (Thom: “This is most definitely a love song.”)
24. Lucky (Thom begins: “Thanks to..” someone yells, “Hi Thom!” Thom waves and continues, “Hello Everyone. Thanks to Grizzly Bear.”)
25. Everything In Its Right Place
id like to give another shoutout to crazy bitch in overalls. without her stunning interpretation of the event at hand through dance, i would have never appreciated what was going on on stage
ReplyDeletenick, before paying respect to radiohead's stellar performance, i would like to say i thoroughly enjoyed your descriptions of audiorgasms, red headed broads and old British geezers. all the way up on the lawn and much too short to see anything on stage, i didnt realize until reading your review that they walked off individually - must have been pretty cool to see. and i must agree with you that radiohead is the single best band around who can deliver, in the words of emma, a concert "life changingly good".
ReplyDelete- Sophia
Hey! Strangely enough, I think my husband and I were sitting right behind you guys at the concert... If one of you left your jacket at one point prior to the concert and then came back. But, I remember seeing a redhead dancing and my husband spotted the lady in overalls.
ReplyDeleteAnyway, I was searching for concert reviews and stumbled upon yours. Just thought I'd let you know I enjoyed your review. What a fantastic show!
it truly WAS truly life changing, sophia. i'll remember that day for the rest of my life.
ReplyDeleteand thanks, stephanie. thats funny that you would be looking for reviews and happen to stumble on mine haha. where did you guys go though? find some better seats?
We went down a few rows until the true seat owners came back. It was worth a shot. :) We came back to our original seats and were right behind you for the whole Radiohead portion of the concert.
ReplyDeletethe song i was thinking about in the car with the rain, as well as the song with Thom's crazy flailing arm dance was The Gloaming.
ReplyDelete