Radiohead play Mansfield, a venue public transport cannot reach

Radiohead played two hours at the Comcast Center in Mansfield, Massachusetts, on 13 August, taking in the whole of In Rainbows and more than half of Kid A. Will Spitz of The Boston Phoenix was still in the car park at about midnight, an hour after the band finished, and waited another hour before he could start the 35 miles back to Boston.

The band worked with Best Foot Forward last year to measure the carbon cost of their touring, found that fans' travel was the largest part of it, and have asked audiences to come by public transport. No public transport reaches Mansfield.

The show itself he had no quarrel with. Thom Yorke, in tight red jeans, danced around the stage, and Spitz found the best moments at the two extremes. On one side were the spare “Videotape” and “Exit Music (For a Film)”; on the other “Optimistic” and “There There”, where Jonny Greenwood pulled harsh noise out of his Telecaster. Dozens of LED columns ringed the stage, by turns the inside of a hellish church organ and an ice palace to Spitz, and he thought the band had no need of U2's or Arcade Fire's grand gestures to carry a huge outdoor venue. At one point the crowd clapped along to the opening of “Kid A” as if it were an AC/DC concert.

He ended back in the car park, suggesting that the band practise what they preach, or at least let the fans carpool with them.