We had tickets but obviously couldn't go as Laura's still in the Radcliffe Infirmary, so if any of you lot did go, I'd be interested to know if the gig was any cop. In particular, how did Humphrey Lyttelton go down? Did you get the thunder we got over in Jericho? Et cetera.
For anyone who's interested (see "I may be away for some time" thread on ILE) Laura's making a superb and rapid recovery from her op and was transferred out of the Intensive Care Unit back to the ENT ward on Thursday. With any luck she'll be back home in a week or so.
It was a bloody close call and has forced me into some radical rethinking of life, priorities of, etc.
Anyway, I'm not really "back" as such but just wondered if the gig was any good. In view of radical new audience development vis-a-vis ver Strokes I've also added to that thread. See yous all in a bit.
― Marcello Carlin, Sunday, 8 July 2001 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
Glad to hear that Laura is OK!
As to South Park, well... you know how they say that Radiohead fans
are miserable, wet bastards? Well, they're right. Literally. I have
never been so fucking rained on in all my life. I can't BELIEVE that
all day, the weather held, with only a few sprinkles during Beck, and
then the moment the sun went down, and Radiohead were going into their
glory, the fucking clouds let loose and we were subject to the sort of
downpour that would make Noah give up.
All in all, my impressions are a bit soured because of the weather.
And I hate festivals. Even "no-brand, no logo, non-corporate"
festivals like Radiohead's, it just didn't stop the sheer awfulness of
what makes festivals crap just cause the beer mugs had crying bears
instead of Budweiser logos. Too many people, crap sound, and the
huge TV monitors around the site were only turned on for Radiohead's
set. And they showed exactly what was broadcast across the web. Why
were we even there?
Because of stupid EMI and their stupid contest winners we were delayed
for HOURS and we didn't get to the site until a bit before Sigur Ros
went on. OK, without EMI we wouldn't have even been there, so props
and all, but I was still annoyed, as we missed Rock of Travolta, who
are fast becoming one of my favourite new bands. But they said that
they had a good time, and it went well, despite the mindfuck of a
little indie band in their first time in front of 20,000 people.
Sigur Ros were...
Well, they suffered from the same problem that basically *ALL* of the
bands, except maybe the excrable Supergrass (who we ignored to hang
backstage and drink champagne with the lovely Rock). Take some very
atmospheric, beautiful music, best listened to in the quiet and
relaxation of your own home, on headphones in the dark- and then
listen to them in a rain-soaked field with 42,000 people. There was a
special roped-off area at the front, to prevent crowd crush, which was
fucking great for the people who got there early, and the people with
"Access Most Areas" passes, but for the rest of us, it just meant that
we saw even less.
Paul's surmisal of Sigur Ros's entire set was "We're seeing what is
possibly the best band of the day, and all I can hear is people around
me talking, and all I can see is a tye-die banner, and a blue rubber
chicken."
They did their best, they had a string section and everything, but
they just couldn't overcome the sheer size of the place.
Supergrass, as I said, are not my cup of tea. We went backstage and
played spot the celebrity (hey, there's Robert Carlisle! Hey, there's
Kate Moss! Hey, there's Meg Matthews!) with our mates.
Beck was, unfortunately, playing a moody, introspective acoustic set.
You know, the one performer who had the stage show, the moves and the
personality to fill a field of 40,000 with the funk, and he was
playing mopey ballads. Very short set, couldn't even tell you what he
played, cause I couldn't hear him.
I do have to admit that Radiohead were on top form musically. I just
wish we could have heard them or seen them better. Of course, it was
mainly geared towards the newer "electronica" stuff (which amazingly
becomes quite RAWK live, freeform jams which take shape and grow
interestingly instead of wibbling squelching nonsense) but they did
pull out some of the stadium rock numbers. I mean, yeah, Creep was the
last encore. (How many encores did they do? 3? 4? I lost count, cause
I was so miserable and wet and seeking shelter in the t-shirt tent)
They did Airbag and Paranoid Android and My Iron Lung and all the
singles and stuff.
Oh, and they did Talk Show Host, which was a nice surprise. And for me
the best moments were the huge dance jams like Idioteque and I Might
Be Wrong. They are a fantastically good live band, but... it just
wasn't worth braving 42,000 people and the worst weather Oxford has
ever seen, to see them. If you stayed home and watched the webcast,
you had a better time.
― masonic boom, Sunday, 8 July 2001 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
fourteen years pass...