Radiohead play to 35,000 in the rain at the RDS in Dublin

Radiohead headlined an outdoor show at the RDS in Dublin on Saturday 21 June, in front of 35,000 people, and the rain that had been forecast duly came. A few songs in, Thom Yorke peered out at the crowd. Has the rain stopped?¹ It had. Cool. This one's called Airbag.¹

Kevin Courtney, reviewing for The Irish Times, took the night as a dry run for the world success he saw coming the band's way. Teenage Fanclub opened early in the evening. Massive Attack followed, though Courtney found them not nearly loud enough.

The band walked on to a tape of the computer voice from “Fitter Happier”, with a few lights and not much else on stage. “Lucky”, familiar to anyone who bought last year's Help album, opened the set, and “My Iron Lung” got the whole field moving. “Exit Music (For a Film)” brought the set down and “Planet Telex” brought it back up, and “Paranoid Android” broke the lull of “Talk Show Host” and “Fake Plastic Trees”.

“The Bends” closed the main set. The band came back to a darkened ground for “Street Spirit” and “The Tourist”, the last track on OK Computer. Then, as the rain returned, they played “High and Dry”, and the crowd went home to it.