Photos by G.
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Radiohead. June 1, 2012. Prudential Center in New Jersey. Mind blown!
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Holy Cow! At the half way point in 2012, I can honestly tell you that I witnessed the best show of the year as Radiohead raised the bar by which all other concerts will be measured. New York’s Madison Square Garden is under summer renovation so arena bands are forced to take their shows to New Jersey when they hit the east coast. Though many people complained about the commute, every ounce of blood sweat and tears to get to the Prudential Center in Newark and back was worth it!
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The show began with the electronic dance band Caribou playing a great 40 minute set. The flashing lights they used were a preview of things to come.
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The last time I saw Radiohead perform a full show, it was one of the coolest light shows I’ve ever seen. They upped the ante and put on an even more spectacular lighting display for their “King Of Limbs” tour. For each song, 9 screens above the stage transformed into different patterns, backed with dual screens flashing trippy designs in different colors that changed during every track. As the show went on, the lighting seemed to get better and better and there were several times where my friend and I were literally speechless at what we were witnessing.
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Lead singer Thom Yorke’s voice has a quality to it that could bring you to tears or get you to rock out and his “dance like nobody’s watching” moves are too precious (and infectious) to even try to describe. The show kicked off with “Bloom,” the opener off their latest album “The King Of Limbs” and it was followed by “15 Step” and “Bodysnatchers” from their epic album “In Rainbows.”
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Vintage tracks such as “Myxomatosis,” “Pyramid Song,” “The Gloaming,” “How To Disappear Completely,” “Go To Sleep,” “The National Anthem,” and “Paranoid Android” made the audience freak out in delight as they were peppered in between 6 out of 8 tracks from “The King Of Limbs.” A few non-album tracks and new songs were played including “The Daily Mail,” “Staircase,” “Supercollider” and the new “Identikit.”
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During “Idioteque,” the main set closer, there were a few screw ups both lyrically and musically and Radiohead abruptly aborted the song and walked off stage. When they returned, Thom Yorke mentioned that he was very ill last night and didn’t get much sleep so he was very thankful for the crowd’s love, which was overwhelming! He also talked about the Occupy Wall Street movement and mentioned that a lot of the evil bankers who have put the world’s economy into the nightmare it currently is are still out there on the loose and that it’s time to take a stand.
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The final encore included “Give Up The Ghost,” “Reckoner” and the show closer “Everything in its Right Place.”
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It’s very interesting that a lot of Radiohead’s songs are not geared for stadium sized sing-a-longs, but with the mesmerizing light show, they could have sung the phone book and kept the entire crowd on the edge of their seats. For bands that feel the need to play the hits to fill the seats, PRINCE, please take note.
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If you even think of missing Radiohead when they perform in your city, THINK AGAIN!
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Wow! What a night! That’s all I have to say.
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The setlist was:
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Bloom / 15 Step / Bodysnatchers / Kid A / Staircase/ The Daily Mail / Myxomatosis / The Gloaming / Separator / Pyramid Song / Morning Mr. Magpie / Identikit / Lotus Flower / The National Anthem / Feral / Idioteque (cut short).
First Encore: How To Disappear Completely / Supercollider / Go To Sleep / Paranoid Android
2nd Encore: Give Up The Ghost / Reckoner / Everything in its Right Place.
[caption id=”attachment_27204” align=”alignnone” width=”300” caption=”Radiohead - The Merch”]
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