Radiohead stop “Idioteque” and bring back “Go to Sleep” in Newark

On 1 June, Radiohead's second night at the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey, “Idioteque” fell apart halfway through and Thom Yorke walked off the stage. The band came back for two encores, and the first brought back “Go to Sleep”, which they had not played since 2004.

The main set included “Staircase” and “The Daily Mail”, two songs released together as a download single the previous December. By the Huffington Post's account, Yorke introduced “The Daily Mail” by talking about the Occupy movement, saying that he supported the cause but not the violence. Graham Fuller, reviewing the show for The Arts Desk, singled out both, “The Daily Mail” climbing from its piano chords to a long climax. From high at the back of the arena he thought it the right set in the wrong place, with the songs from Kid A onwards too inward for an ice-hockey arena.

Fuller watched Jonny Greenwood seem to struggle with “Idioteque” and lose his place before Yorke said Fuck it¹ and stomped off. Salvatore Bono, there for the Huffington Post, heard the sound cutting in and out, and the rest of the band followed Yorke off one at a time, laughing about it. The song had given trouble the night before too, when John Everhart of Under the Radar heard its sample and drum machine fall out of time.

Yorke came back telling the crowd Shit happens³. “How to Disappear Completely”, Fuller's highlight of the night, opened the first encore, and “Go to Sleep” followed two songs later, its first outing since Melbourne in April 2004. Straight after it Yorke lost the words of “Paranoid Android”, the only song of the night from OK Computer. I didn't sleep last night, I was sick as a dog. Sorry.³ he told the crowd when the band came back for the second encore.

Setlist, Prudential Center, Newark, 1 June 2012