Radiohead open their UK arena tour in Manchester

Radiohead opened the UK leg of their arena tour at the Manchester Evening News Arena on Saturday with “There There”, Jonny Greenwood and Ed O'Brien pounding drums before they picked up their guitars, and Thom Yorke and Phil Selway in suits. When the guitars came in, green light flooded the arena.

After Asian Dub Foundation's support set, the band came on at about nine, early enough to catch some of the crowd out. The calypso on the pre-show tape cut into electronic noise, the house lights went out and they were there.

The stage was banks of video screens showing grainy pictures in front of a striplight backdrop, which Neal Snowdon, reviewing for Manchester Online, thought the real eye-opener of the night. There was almost no talk between songs, though Yorke broke into a jig whenever the music picked up.

Snowdon gave the songs and the musicianship five stars, though the band were too absorbed in playing to put on much of a show, and plenty of the crowd went to the bar for the experimental songs from after 1997.

For James Griffiths of The Guardian the electronic songs, which can shut a listener out on record, land live with the force of hammer blows, and the night was astonishing.

Setlist, Manchester Evening News Arena, 22 November 2003