Yesterday I saw Radiohead to Bologna. It was the first of their four Italian dates (also in Bologna). Every date sold out immediately (14 thousand people per repeat). Consideration.
1. Twenty-five songs over two hours and five scores(18 songs plus seven other songs as encore). The setlist changes every date, but at least 13/12 songs remain. Few frills, no chatter (or the second or third part of “everything okay?” in Yorke’s Italian), zero improvisation. There is no disagreement on the Palestinian issue: fortunately and rightly so.
2. The band took each of their nine studio albums (except Pablo Honey, and that’s nothing new). The discs they fish most often are OK Computer And Greetings to thievestwo total masterpieces.
3. It’s inevitable, for a band with an unlimited repertoire, that some songs get lost at the end. On a personal note, I noticed the absence of Exit Music (for a film), Street spirit (fade out), Cara disappears completely. Clearly they are missed too Strange people And High and drybut this is already known. For decades.
4. The concert seemed to be in full swing and started. Let me explain. Of course the level is always high, very high, but when it comes to Radiohead I find it normal. There have been 6/7 peak superhumanbut also many moments where I am completely disconnectedbecause the songs – although perfect – I felt emotionally cold. And in some cases (3 or 4) they also painstakingly damaged my glands a bit.
5. Speaking of crushed glands, I mentioned moments like Bloom, Ful Stop, and Bodysnatchers.
5 buses. On the other hand, there are devastating peaks: Sit down, stand up (HUGE), No surprises, There (MONUMENTAL), Good Luck, Fake Plastic Tree (kudos always), Paranoid Android (a very cathartic moment and a true collective ritual) and the final Karma Police.
5b. Other 6/7 moments are also very high, of course including Videotape. Instead National anthem – which I like – in this version I’m less interested in it. Unlucky.
6. The acoustics are excruciating on the first two songs at least, negates the initial Planet Telex and unfortunately 2+2=5. The “screen” that initially obscures and covers the band doesn’t help either: the resulting visual effects are sumptuous, but for the first half hour you think: “yes, everything is fine, but now can you take it off and show me the band?”.
7. Radiohead technically and musically they are sidereal. They create sounds, they are never the same, they have been creating music for 40 years, they range from one genre to another (think of the hypnotic quasi-rap of Wolf at the door) and have codified a personal, lysergic, dreamlike, and deeply personal wall of sound. And this fact – also seen yesterday – makes them so by far one of the most important bands of the last 3/4 decade.
8. Radiohead is a very dependent band from the emotional and psychological phase you are experiencing. When Young Neil Oh Led Zeppelin they are eternal, but pure spring Oh Pink FloydRadiohead – to really understand yourself – has to catch you at a time when spleen and saudade (or its derivatives) are in full volume mode on. If not, here and there they seem further away from you, cold and in some cases even (here and there) boring person. I, who am not currently in spleen and/or melancholic mode, experienced this aspect to the fullest yesterday, going all the way from 9/10 to 6–/6+.
9. What is mentioned in point 8 is not a defect: it is a characteristic. Radiohead are still crazy, but for them to reach you fully, you also need your tendencies to be “destroyed” by them. I have loved them ever since Bend to Greetings to thieves including. Then I really appreciate it In the rainbowwhich is a masterpiece, but has diminished my interest. The last two albums, The King of Limbs and A Moon were in the form of pool, although they were good, I never listened to them. And yesterday I understood why. But the taste is different, or rather the sensitivity.
10. While I watch Thom YorkeI’m thinking about it Dino Campana: a hundred years ago (tragically) people like this were arrested, misunderstood, and put in mental institutions. Diversity was (and is) scary. Yorke (never had) anything human. There isn’t anything. He’s clearly an alien living in his own world and he tells us – in an inaudible voice – things that only he has seen. An enlightened soul, restless and very fragile. You can understand it just by the way he moves, by his appearance, by his constant isolation. Instead, boundless charisma emanated from himwhich makes him hypnotize you as he constantly “dances” and jumps around the stage, prancing around in unpredictable ways, becoming hostage to a deep malaise like a tarantula that burns through him. And at the same time it inspired him.
10a. Just to write a joke (which will be the only thing many people will remember from this article, because the human mind is so strange): at some point, in the image that appears on the screen, Yorke looks like Simone Tartarini, Musetti’s trainer. In fact, as Lorenzo’s coach, I wouldn’t think it was bad at all.
10b. In conclusion. Timeless band. His talents are many. History tour. Always high and often very high levels. Empathy is now off the charts and now very (too?) British. At least 6/7 unforgettable moments. Whoever finds the ticket should enjoy it, because very few groups like this have been born – and will be born. Actually less.
