Radiohead, Victoria Park, 25th June 2008

First off, I'm going to post the setlist, so then I can harp on about how awesome it was.

'Reckoner'
'15 Step'
'There There'
'All I Need'
'Lucky'
'Nude'
'Weird Fishes/Arpeggi'
'Myxomatosis'
'The National Anthem'
'Faust Arp'
'No Surprises'
'Jigsaw Falling Into Place'
'Optimistic'
'Videotape'
'Everything In Its Right Place'
'Idioteque'
'Bodysnatchers'
- - -
'House of Cards'
'The Bends'
'Bangers + Mash'
'My Iron Lung'
'Karma Police'
- - -
'Go Slowly'
'2+2=5'
'Paranoid Android'

Now that that's over with...

This was an amazing gig. If you're a Radiohead fan you'll have seen that we got an absolutely fantastic setlist - damn near all the songs they played are favourites of mine, and even the ones that usually aren't were still great - never really liked Bangers + Mash until I saw Thom going crazy on his own drums while the entire crowd danced away. Notably the setlist of the previous night was markedly more obscure, and while some fans who might consider themselves more hardcore (cough) would have preferred that, I'm not ashamed to say I think ours was much better. The only song from their list I really would have wanted on ours is Climbing Up The Walls.

That said, there were Bad Things. These Bad Things consisted primarily of twats in the crowd, particularly the drunken teenage idiots who thought that the guitar solo in There There was an excuse to go all "WOO HOO FUCKIN' ROCK AND ROOOLL" and spoil it for everyone else by charging through the crowd moshing all the way.

The other Bad Thing was the wait, although this was par for the course, really, and worth it in the end - we had a really good place quite close up facing the centre of the stage. Kudos to Bat For Lashes (the support act) for doing their best but their set was really quite forgettable, even if Natasha Khan is a hell of a lot easier on the eye than Thom Yorke.

Oh, Thom, you crazy crazy man. I'm not sure if his dancing was ironic or genuine, but it was hilarious either way - "How you doing, Jonny?" got a few lols, mainly due to the look of surprise we got from Jonny Greenwood. You'd have to be there but I found it hilarious.

Probably the most magical part of the show was just after Karma Police when the band had just gone off before the second encore - someone started singing the last couple of verses of the song again, and the entire crowd joined in, singing our heads off and waving arms everywhere.

I was surprised (pleasantly) to get songs like Optimistic and 2+2=5 - songs that I had really been hoping they would play but not really expecting them to. With the former in particular, Phil Selway (the drummer) started a drumbeat that I didn't recognise - which got me thinking "ah, hell, obscure number coming up" and then the guitar kicked in. Awesome.

Thom introduced The Bends with "Some of you might know this one...I don't know" - well, he would, wouldn't he? I knew that they were about to play that song because of Thom's soundcheck of his guitar sounded identical to when they played that song at their small January London gig. We also got an equally fantastic performance of My Iron Lung, the only other song from that album.

Bodysnatchers was amazing - who says Radiohead can't get heavy? - Idioteque was superb and I even enjoyed Everything In Its Right Place - a song I usually skip. My favourite moment, though, has to go to 2+2=5 - the entire crowd shrieking "All hail to the thief /All hail to the thief /But I'm not /But I'm not!" and going completely mental was not something that should have been missed. Oh, and Paranoid Android. Karma Police and Paranoid Android? We were blessed. God my throat was sore at the end.

The journey back could have been hell - but thanks to some fence-jumping and Claire's knowledge of the tubes it was pretty efficient, although by the end of it I was knackered. To the friends that I was with - I'm glad I was with you guys. *sniff* You were all awesome and I hope you all had as good a time as I did. I LOVE YOU GUYS-okay, that's enough. I wouldn't have gone with anyone else -well, that's a lie, I would have but I wouldn't have enjoyed myself as much.

(special mention to the rabid Muse fan I was chatting with between songs)