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Radiohead play “2 + 2 = 5” live for the first time in San Sebastian
Radiohead played a new song, “2 + 2 = 5”, for the first time on Wednesday, in the first encore of their second night at the Kursaal in San Sebastian. On Thursday it moved up into the main set, and the third and last night ended with Thom Yorke alone on acoustic guitar for “True Love Waits”.
Laurence Boisnard, who is keeping a tour diary for the Spanish webzine IndyRock, describes “2 + 2 = 5” as a song in three parts. It starts quietly, turns electric and ends in a passage she found very complex.
These were the first Spanish dates of the summer, after three nights in Lisbon and two in Porto, and the new songs still come first; on Tuesday the band played seven of them before reaching anything on a record. Boisnard first called that night a let-down, then took the word back and called it outstanding, and she rated Wednesday higher still. Radiohead headline Benicassim on Saturday and finish with three nights in Salamanca next week.
All three nights sold out the Kursaal's 1,850 seats. Fernando Martín, reviewing Tuesday for El País, heard two hours of music the crowd followed with near-religious devotion, and singled out “We Suck Young Blood” and “A Punchup at a Wedding” among the new songs.
The hall is new, with numbered seats and security in the aisles, and people stood and applauded after the songs all the same. On Tuesday many in it were French fans from just over the border, with English and Americans among them, most at their first show of the tour. One Frenchman complained to Boisnard that the new songs gave him nothing to sing along to. Yorke introduced “Sail to the Moon” with a thought on what to do once the polar ice has melted and the water comes in.
On Wednesday there was no barrier at the front. Yorke came forward to sing close to the first rows, and at the end of the main set he sat on the edge of the stage to listen to the band finish “Everything in Its Right Place”. Nobody rushed him.
Setlists, San Sebastian, 30 July to 1 August 2002
| # | 30 July | 31 July | 1 August |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | There There | There There | There There |
| 2 | Scatterbrain | Scatterbrain | Scatterbrain |
| 3 | A Wolf at the Door | Up on the Ladder | Myxomatosis |
| 4 | We Suck Young Blood | Lift | 2 + 2 = 5 |
| 5 | Myxomatosis | Where I End and You Begin | Where I End and You Begin |
| 6 | A Punchup at a Wedding | Sit Down. Stand Up. | Sit Down. Stand Up. |
| 7 | Sit Down. Stand Up. | We Suck Young Blood | We Suck Young Blood |
| 8 | I Might Be Wrong | Lucky | Airbag |
| 9 | Morning Bell | Morning Bell | Morning Bell |
| 10 | Lucky | Just | Lucky |
| 11 | Talk Show Host | Paranoid Android | My Iron Lung |
| 12 | My Iron Lung | In Limbo | Climbing Up the Walls |
| 13 | Exit Music (for a Film) | No Surprises | Paranoid Android |
| 14 | Dollars and Cents | A Punchup at a Wedding | A Punchup at a Wedding |
| 15 | Pyramid Song | Pyramid Song | Pyramid Song |
| 16 | The National Anthem | The National Anthem | The National Anthem |
| 17 | Idioteque | Idioteque | Idioteque |
| 18 | Everything in Its Right Place | Everything in Its Right Place | Everything in Its Right Place |
| 19 | Like Spinning Plates | I Might Be Wrong | I Might Be Wrong |
| 20 | Airbag | Knives Out | Talk Show Host |
| 21 | Climbing Up the Walls | 2 + 2 = 5 (first time) | Up on the Ladder |
| 22 | Paranoid Android | You and Whose Army? | How to Disappear Completely |
| 23 | Sail to the Moon | Sail to the Moon | Like Spinning Plates |
| 24 | How to Disappear Completely | Street Spirit (Fade Out) | Karma Police |
| 25 | – | Talk Show Host | True Love Waits (Thom alone) |
Songs 1 to 18 are the main set each night, 19 to 22 the first encore, 23 and 24 the second, 25 the third.
the night
Teatro Kursaal, San Sebastian, 1 August 2002· give me a radio and a headwatch on youtube →