Radiohead
93 Feet East, London
16 January 2007

An objective Radiohead review is hard to find under normal circumstances, but when only 200 people can offer an opinion, many of whom waited for 10 hours, it becomes impossible. That was the situation on Wednesday night as fans left shell-shocked after seeing the band play their smallest gig in years.

“What a fucking day!” was Thom Yorke’s summation as the band took to the stage to frenzied cheers, and he was not wrong. They may have been a few hours late and in a different venue than expected, but they were in no mood to disappoint.

As every last person squeezed into the room, Radiohead stormed through 15 Step amidst a flurry of mobile phones and cameras, quickly followed by Bodysnatchers.
As Nude started, fans began to salivate as it became apparent that the expected short set was, in fact, In Rainbows in its entirety.

The album sounds great live - not that anything else would be expected from the band - but it is worth pointing out nonetheless. Jigsaw sounds like the madder, older brother of Where I End And You Begin and was spectacular to watch; all five band members in their own world, totally in sync and tighter than expected when going full-throttle, with the intimacy only highlighting the chemistry between the members that usually goes unnoticed.
The band glanced a knowing look of acknowledgment at each other midway through the set and, just like the fawning crowd, they were enjoying themselves.

Thom Yorke batted away the crowds’ cries, ranging from “thank you” to “let’s go for a curry”, with the expertise of a well-travelled comedian, a comparison I never thought I’d be using.
“Warts n’ all,” he said after mistiming the start of House of Cards, before adding “and you wonder why the album took so long?”

As Videotape ended, Thom and Colin Greenwood, who had been hiding behind an amp for most of the night, shared a joke as Johnny continued to tweak the drum loop on his Mac.
The band headed off after thanking the crowd but returned to deliver a few more surprises at the end of an unbelievable day.

After Yorke performed a solo track from the In Rainbows boxset, he was joined by his bandmates who set about tearing the place down with a few older tracks, including My Iron Lung and The National Anthem.

The crowd reaction to the latter was incredible and, as the bassline ripped through the venue, any stragglers left outside Rough Trade would have felt it too. A breathtaking version of The Bends capped an unbelievable evening and, as fans reluctantly started to slink off into the night, everybody looked at their wristbands in disbelief. That did really happen, didn’t it?

Rob Facey (words and photos)