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Radiohead headline Leeds and Reading, and open Reading with “Creep”
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Photo: monophonicgirl from México · CC BY-SA 2.0 · Wikimedia CommonsRadiohead closed Reading Festival on Sunday 30 August by going straight into “Creep”. Thom Yorke wandered up to the microphone, said “Wassup!” in the voice of the old beer advert, and the band started the first of 23 songs.
It was their first Reading since 1994. With Leeds the night before, it gave them their first headline slots at the twin festivals and their only British festival dates of the year. “Creep” has been played often since March: they played it at every Latin American show from the second Mexico City night on, and ended Poznań with it five nights ago.
At Bramham Park on Saturday they played for two hours. Yorke introduced “These Are My Twisted Words” as a new song, then had to wait while a technician sorted out a cable at his feet, joking that they could all get drunk later. After “2 + 2 = 5” he asked where “the bastard” was now, apparently meaning George W. Bush. He also told the Leeds crowd, I have no fucking idea which ones you know and which ones you don't know, to be honest.
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At Reading they came on at about 9.45pm, later than billed, and overran. Lit tubes hung upright from the roof, and the big screens split into a grid of live camera shots. Yorke said little between songs, except before “Bodysnatchers”, when he imitated the noise of a broken pedal. Colin's bass pedal just went chuuk
2 The main stage was quiet all day, DIY's reviewer says. Some casual listeners drifted off during “The Gloaming”, a few to Lostprophets on another stage. “Karma Police” was one of the weekend's big singalongs.
“These Are My Twisted Words”, which the band gave away as a free download earlier in the month, was the one new song both nights. Both nights the band led into the closing “Everything in Its Right Place” with a piece of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs' “Maps”. At Reading the Yeah Yeah Yeahs had played “Maps” themselves on the same stage earlier in the evening, slowed down for a singalong.
Setlists: Leeds (Bramham Park), 29 August, and Reading, 30 August 2009
| # | Leeds, 29 August | Reading, 30 August |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 15 Step | Creep |
| 2 | Airbag | The National Anthem |
| 3 | There There | 15 Step |
| 4 | All I Need | There There |
| 5 | Lucky | All I Need |
| 6 | Nude | Nude |
| 7 | Morning Bell | 2 + 2 = 5 |
| 8 | Weird Fishes/Arpeggi | The Gloaming |
| 9 | 2 + 2 = 5 | Climbing Up the Walls |
| 10 | A Wolf at the Door | Street Spirit (Fade Out) |
| 11 | Videotape | Reckoner |
| 12 | (Nice Dream) | Karma Police |
| 13 | The Gloaming | Weird Fishes/Arpeggi |
| 14 | Reckoner | Just |
| 15 | The National Anthem | Idioteque |
| 16 | Bodysnatchers | Exit Music (for a Film) |
| 17 | Idioteque | Bodysnatchers |
| 18 (encore) | You and Whose Army? | You and Whose Army? |
| 19 | These Are My Twisted Words | Lucky |
| 20 | Jigsaw Falling Into Place | These Are My Twisted Words |
| 21 | Paranoid Android | Jigsaw Falling Into Place |
| 22 | Just | Paranoid Android |
| 23 | Everything in Its Right Place (with a “Maps” intro) | Everything in Its Right Place (with a “Maps” intro) |
the night
Little John's Farm, Reading, 30 August 2009· coribaldwatch on youtube →