Radiohead – A Moon Shaped Pool

[cobl04]

^would be pretty cool if they played Decks Dark and Subterranean Homesick Alien in the same set.

Now it's time to bring back Fake Plastic Trees or ... god forbid ... High & Dry...

 

[Kieran McConville]

High and Dry isn't anything that special, surely? I mean, I was madly into it for about five minutes in 1996, but it's one of their lesser songs. It probably inspired Coldplay to form.

 

[LemonMelon]

Is Creep anything special? Not really, but the reaction they got for bringing it back was massive. Hundreds of thousands of Radiohead fans would be thrilled to hear High and Dry at their show.

Problem is, Thom actively dislikes that song, so it probably won't ever happen.

 

[djerdap]

He doesn't really like Creep either. People change and lighten up; maybe it'll happen some day, although I really doubt it.

Electioneering isn't a favourite as well on their side (it is the general conclusion that Jonny refers to that song when saying, paraphrasing: "There is one track on OK Computer I don't like") and I would love to hear that at some point.

Fake Plastic Trees will make a comeback before this tour ends.

 

[Kieran McConville]

Creep has a little more meat on its bones than High & Dry, in my view. That said, it's indeed moot.

 

[iron yuppie]

High & Dry might be the oldest Radiohead song. Video surfaced a few months back of Thom performing it in a band that predated RH by a few years, if I remember correctly.

 

[LemonMelon]

I thought Thom resented the success of Creep but didn't actually hate the song itself.

Regardless, I give them credit for bringing it back on occasion. I wish U2 would rotate their hits like that.

 

[gump]

Radiohead's setlist rotation is close to perfect for a band with such a large catalogue. There are very few warhorses that are always played (maybe Everything In The Right Place is the only older song played at every show?), and at least on this tour there is no "let's ignore Pop" tendency. This is the distribution of songs from last night's shows:

A Moon Shaped Pool - 8
OK Computer - 3
The King of Limbs - 3
Hail to the Thief - 2
In Rainbows - 2
Kid A - 2
The Bends - 2
Amnesiac - 1
Pablo Honey - 1

You can disagree with some song choices at the margins, but there was enough there to please all kinds of fans (different eras, deeper cuts, hit singles).

Now, where I think U2 does a better job than Radiohead in general is in the pacing of the sets. They had some really fantastic sequences (Weird Fishes -> EIIRP -> Idioteque -> There There ), but some of the transitions were really random (Let Down - Present Tense - Planet Telex comes to mind). I guess the big advantage is that you don't get anything as boring as the acoustic/b-stage sets.

 

[cobl04]

Electioneering is the worst song on OKC imo.

And yeah, I'd be surprised if they ever played High & Dry again because Thom really hates it.

 

[BVS]

Electioneering is the worst song on OKC imo.

This is a musical opinion that we can agree on; it always sounded like Radiohead doing Aerosmith to me.


Sent from my iPhone using U2 Interference

 

[Vlad n U 2]

Electioneering is one of my favourite Radiohead songs. Thom is combusting throughout the length of the song which is really good. I have always liked the aggression.

 

[LemonMelon]

The drum rolls on that track are fucking insane.

 

[lazarus]

I like the song but it's my least favorite on there along with Climbing Up The Walls, which at least sounds more interesting.

And I'd argue that Amnesiac is kind of the "Pop" of Radiohead's catalogue in terms of how little attention it perennially gets.

 

[cobl04]

Pyramid Song alone accounts for the lack of attention the album receives. If only Please was treated in the same way.

I still dig Electioneering a lot. It's just my least favourite song on a phenomenal album.

 

[Kieran McConville]

Speaking of Amnesiac, what I wouldn't give to see them crank out You And Whose Army or even Dollars and Cents.

 

[Kieran McConville]

Also I fucking love Electioneering. Maybe, maybe, it's OK Computer's 'Ignoreland', but better, and still pretty relevant to the larger theme (unlike Ignoreland).

 

[cobl04]

They play You & Whose Army reasonably regularly.

 

[Mack_Again]

wait has Radiohead played Airbag recently? can't find a decent live footages online.

 

[Kieran McConville]

They play You & Whose Army reasonably regularly.

Oh, ok. I haven't seen a version online from any show in the last ten years, but in all fairness, i wasn't looking very hard.

 

[cobl04]

They played it when I saw them, it's never been a favourite but it was really cool. Thom's snarling over piano is funny and then the drums and guitars come crashing in.

 

[lazarus]

Also I fucking love Electioneering. Maybe, maybe, it's OK Computer's 'Ignoreland', but better, and still pretty relevant to the larger theme (unlike Ignoreland).

I don't know if Radiohead could ever record something as dumb as Ignoreland.

 

[Vlad n U 2]

Laz deriding Ignoreland is one of the trademark features of B&C.

 

[Kieran McConville]

It wasn't the (alleged) dumbness I was thinking of so much as it sticking out like a sore thumb on an album that otherwise sounds quite different to it.

 

[LemonMelon]

The Tourist is probably my least favorite song on OK Computer. It's good stuff, but the ultra-slow tempo paired with Thom in his high register has a tendency to grate on me when I'm not in the mood for it (We Suck Young Blood has a similar problem, only that song is terrible). The solo usually wins me back over.

That's probably the most negative thing I have to say about the album as a whole.

 

[Kieran McConville]

They played it when I saw them, it's never been a favourite but it was really cool. Thom's snarling over piano is funny and then the drums and guitars come crashing in.

you and your cronies...

 

[Kieran McConville]

Unpopular opinion: I don't like No Surprises. I've never liked it. I get it, I get what they were going for there, and I respect it and all. But I don't like it. Partly because by that point in the album we've already had Fitter Happier and a few other iterations of this theme and it feels a little like overegging the matter. No big deal, the last two songs carry the album nicely home.

 

[Vlad n U 2]

I think Lucky is the best song on OK Computer, absolutely adore it. I'm not too sure how highly it's ranked by Radiohead fans. If they disagree, I'll fight them anyway.

 

[Kieran McConville]

Lucky is definitely up there, among my favourites. That, Let Down and Karma Police were probably what first turned me on to the album. Oh and Airbag. That too.

 

[LemonMelon]

I was so happy to hear Lucky on the In Rainbows tour that I just about cried.

The only reason I'm not furious that I'm missing the fantastic AMSP tour is because I already saw the perfect Radiohead show. Like Spinning Plates, Fake Plastic Trees, Lucky, Just, Planet Telex, the entirety of In Rainbows, I got all of it in one night.

Next time they come back to LA I'll be ready though.

 

[nielsgov]

And I'd argue that Amnesiac is kind of the "Pop" of Radiohead's catalogue in terms of how little attention it perennially gets.

Pyramid Song, You and Whose Army and I Might Be Wrong are played fairly regularly.

The Tourist is my least favorite on OKC and LeMel perfectly explained why. Electioneering is my second least favorite. But both those songs are still good of course.