Radiohead at the White River Ampitheater (WA), Aug. 20, 2008
We sent our go-to teenage photography wizard, Clara, to Washington to see and shoot Radiohead. She is our new hero.
Ten minutes before Radiohead starts, and I’m sitting in bumper to bumper traffic. It is taking five minutes to drive a mile and I’m crying and screaming at my brother about the idea of missing the beginning of their set. I don’t think little Auburn, WA has ever seen this amount of traffic or ever will again. A few minutes and several broken laws later, I’m running through the gates of the White River Amphitheater just minutes before Radiohead go on. It’s freezing cold outside and starting to rain in the partially covered venue. It’s the middle of August and people are bundled in North Face jackets and scarves.
When Radiohead takes the stage, I automatically forget about everything negative. It is a sensory overload from the first second all the way to the end of the show. Their LED light show is incredible - bars of multicolored light surrounding the band, pulsing in time to the music. The whole venue feels very surreal, like it was plucked out of some kid’s dream. Am I on the same planet I was a few minutes ago?
The band plays a heart wrenching two-hour long set. To see a band like Radiohead in sold out venue with a capacity of 10,000 people is overwhelming. (At one point, Thom requests to see the people out on lawn—the noise is deafening.) Hearing Radiohead play “Pyramid Song” has been a dream of mine for about two years now, it’s their sixth song and gets me blubbering like a baby. Another highlight comes when they play “Faust Arp” and fumble. Twice. Thom and Johnny simply laugh through the whole thing, singing a bit of Neil Young’s “Tell Me Why” while Phil runs from backstage and drops a dollar at their feet. It’s kind of amazing to see them mess up—a relief to know they’re human. The band’s two encores are the most explosive parts of the show for me, especially “in limbo”, which I think sums up the whole show: “You’re living in a fantasy world.”
SET LIST:
15 Step
Reckoner
Optimistic
There There (blew my mind)
All I Need
Pyramid Song (made me cry)
Talk Show Host
The National Anthem
The Gloaming (was so shocked they played this)
Videotape
Lucky
Faust Arp
Jigsaw Falling Into Place
Climbing Up The Walls
Dollars and Cents
Nude (really haunting to hear live .. Thom Yorke can really hit his high notes)
Bodysnatchers
Encore 1:
How to Disappear Completely
Arpeggi/Weird Fishes
Idioteque (amazing)
In Limbo (amazing)
Street Spirit
Encore 2:
You And Whose Army? (Thom dedicates the song: “My favorite part of Seattle is what happened with the WTO - which was a sick, sick organization and still is. This is dedicated to anyone who was in Seattle in those days.”)
No Surprises (amazing)
Everything In Its Right Place (each member of the band individually left the stage, waving to the audience and thanking them)
Links:
Radiohead
RadioheadSpace
All Thom-centric photos by Clara Ridabock.
NILINA MASON-CAMPBELL
says:Thank god you made it in time! The set-list with commentary (plus review and photos) is rad! Or rather (amazing). I’m semi-surprised they played my favorite “All I Need” so early in the set.
Posted @ August 22nd, 2008 at 7:41 pm (August 22nd, 2008) | Flag this Comment | permalinkMICHAEL MANNHEIMER
says:Without a doubt, this is one of the best live reviews I’ve ever read here on LocalCut. Way to ace it, Clara!
Posted @ August 22nd, 2008 at 7:43 pm (August 22nd, 2008) | Flag this Comment | permalinkCary Clarke
says:‘Twas a great show indeed.
And it took, I kid you not, a full two hours to actually get out of the parking lot. That beats (in a bad way) the hour and a half it took the last time Radiohead played that venue.
To kill the time my friends and I started plugging the sheet music that Deerhoof released for their first “Offend Maggie” single into Garageband.
Posted @ August 22nd, 2008 at 8:46 pm (August 22nd, 2008) | Flag this Comment | permalinkClara Ridabock
(post author) says:@ Cary Clarke - oh, the parking lot was insane. my brother and i slept in the car until 2:30am before even trying to leave.
and thanks, nilina and michael!
Posted @ August 22nd, 2008 at 10:14 pm (August 22nd, 2008) | Flag this Comment | permalinkCASEY JARMAN
says:still sick over missing this show. in rainbows has taken a while to grow on me but i love it now.
Posted @ August 23rd, 2008 at 6:41 pm (August 22nd, 2008) | Flag this Comment | permalinkdevo
says:reallyz/ you didnt like in rainbows at first? i think it is a perfect album.
Posted @ August 24th, 2008 at 12:36 am (August 22nd, 2008) | Flag this Comment | permalinkMInh
says:I’m super jealous you got to go this, the photos look great. I rank the Radiohead albums 1. Bends 2. Ok Computer 3. In Rainbows Don’t really ever pull down any of the others except to hear Morning Bell or Sail to the Moon or Creep if I want to remind myself what it was like to be a teenager.
Posted @ August 24th, 2008 at 11:48 am (August 22nd, 2008) | Flag this Comment | permalinkDave Depper
says:I too am sick over missing this show. What was I thinking? I’m not a super-freak Radiohead fan or anything, but I saw them in the same venue in 2003 and it might have been the best show I’ve ever seen, no joke.
Casey, how on Earth did it take a while for In Rainbows to grow on you? I think it’s their most immediate album.
This is a kick-ass review, by the by.
Posted @ August 25th, 2008 at 9:35 am (August 22nd, 2008) | Flag this Comment | permalinkRicci Swift
says:Nigel Godrich coming out to rock the tambourine during “In Limbo” was pretty priceless.
Posted @ August 27th, 2008 at 5:34 pm (August 22nd, 2008) | Flag this Comment | permalinktravis
says:i still haven’t got IN RAINBOWS. i heard about, but some how missed the whole choose yr own adventure download thing…
i was at the radiohead show in 2003 and i can confirm that yes, it was the best show i’ve ever been to.
the jicks did play a part in that though, i was waiting at the gate by the stage to make a mad dash for the front row of the nosebleeds when i got to hear SM&JICKS do a nirvana medley for sound check….kinda an icing on the cake type thing.
Posted @ August 28th, 2008 at 10:53 am (August 22nd, 2008) | Flag this Comment | permalink