Radiohead @ Reading 2009: spellbinding

I’ve been re-watching a video of Radiohead’s recent Reading gig. Their performance was spellbinding.

Radiohead @ Reading 2009 had it all: an inspired festival set-list from across the seven-album catalogue (below)… impressive stylistic range… virtuosic musicianship…

Not to mention Thom Yorke, who reached a special place, playing, er, Thom Yorke to perfection. And a stage set which enriched the music, emphasising its sheer ambition.


Set-list:

Creep
The National Anthem
15 Step
There There
Karma Police
Arpeggi
Just
Give
Jigsaw
Paranoid Android
Everything In Its Right Place


Those of us who are resolutely anti-outdoor gigs (and festival-averse) were well served by Britain’s Ministry Of State Culture, aka the BBC, bringing Reading into our homes.

And while I’m hardly in the target demographic for BBC3, the digital TV channel targeting acne-ravaged bed-wetters, this superlative concert illustrated a core Music For Grown-Ups belief: great art knows no boundaries.




Gerry Smith