I stood on the grass of the amphitheater surrounded by a group of unusually tall friends, taking steps backward on the hill hoping to catch the first sight of Thom Yorke and Radiohead. It was my first Radiohead concert, not by choice, but because circumstances have always prevented me from seeing them live. And let's face it, they don't tour the States regularly. The Liars were definitely a great choice for their opening, but my anticipation did not let me think of anything but Radiohead. When the lights dimmed and eventually turned to darkness, I dug my fingers into the arm of the closest person I found, for certain I thought my heart would stop.
They opened the show with "All I Need" from their latest album In Rainbows and nothing could have set the mood for the night better, this was all I needed. I was among the probably 20-30,000 people there that night when Radiohead kicked off their tour in the Amphitheatre in West Palm Beach. As a long time fan of Radiohead, with Pablo Honey and the Bends as part of my early music collection(hey, I'm only 23), and having collected all of their works since then, this was definitely a moment that I had been looking forward to for a while.
It was almost surreal, looking at the stage, large clear LED rods seemed to be floating at disparate lengths, brightly changing colors and revealing images to the beat of each song, I called them the LSD sticks. Besides the rods, all you had was the band, the music, and the darkness of the night... it was definitely a sight to see.
And the music, impeccable is all I can say. I could not have imagined a more clean and perfect sound and was in awe at the end of each song. They played most of their new material from In Rainbows interlaced with their older songs such as "Idioteque", "The Gloaming", and "Everything in it's Right Place". Thom Yorke's shrill "this is really happening" from "Idioteque" stayed on my mind the entire night. One of my favorite songs of the night, "Weird Fishes/Arpeggi" was simply divine and as it ends Thom Yorke apologizes because apparently they had not practiced it enough and it did not sound like they had intended and they attempted the song again. Totally unnecessary because it sounded perfect the first time, but I did not complain.
The show was simply wonderful. Between songs Thom Yorke joked about spending the last three days on South Beach and never feeling more out of place for being pale and British. I scorned myself for staying away from the crowded beach scene that weekend.
Towards the end, they went off stage and my heart sunk at the thought that although they had played for a good period of time, it was already coming to an end. I braced myself during the next couple of songs thinking that they could be the last songs for the night, but they continued playing not two, not three, but five songs including "Exit Music". I was in heaven.
They walked off stage and what I thought was the encore, apparently wasn't when they came back with two more songs, "Reckoner" and "Street Spirit(fade out)"... so fitting.
It was a wonderful night, one that will definitely be on my videotape at the end of my life.
They still have a few shows left before they go to Europe and return to the States in August, anyone who has been thinking about going to see them, I highly recommend you do.