Radiohead - The King of Limbs

There are people who would be annoyed if they played mostly new material at one of their headlining shows, I would bet. Crowds really do expect bands to just go on playing familiar, chart-topping material forever. It's more pronounced among people who are in their 30s-50s who assume that their favorite band from when they were 20 are going to play their runaway hits from the first few records every show, but any band that has had some mainstream popularity runs into this issue.

One thing I especially enjoyed last night from Peter Murphy's show was that he didn't play "Cuts You Up" -- he easily could have and he played other KROQ-hit level songs but it was kinda nice he went for it and didn't include the big one.

But that's the hilarious flip side of it, Ned -- it's so expected that now we feel happy when they DON'T go out and play the one big hit.

I'm kind of giggling now thinking about Radiohead playing all of King of Limbs, maybe a couple Can covers, and then jumping into playing Creep at the end

There are people who would be annoyed if they played mostly new material at one of their headlining shows, I would bet. Crowds really do expect bands to just go on playing familiar, chart-topping material forever. It's more pronounced among people who are in their 30s-50s who assume that their favorite band from when they were 20 are going to play their runaway hits from the first few records every show, but any band that has had some mainstream popularity runs into this issue.

― mh, Tuesday, June 28, 2011 12:40 AM (6 minutes ago) Bookmark

Yes, I fully understand this. But it doesn't make it right. And that's why I applaud bands "taking a stand" and doing what they want to do. If a certain audience like a band, they should have the decency to go into any concert of said band with an open mind. That's the trade-off no? You pay for an expensive ticket, the band provides for an entertaining evening, but on their terms. I can see why lol-festival crowd would be disappointed, because on average they care way less and just want to hear Creep and get drunk again, but saying a band is disappointing because the play songs of a *new* album is stretching it.

Oh, I didn't mean it made it right. If I pay for a ticket, I am expecting to hear whatever the band decides to play. If I look up information on previous dates on the same tour I may have some expectations if it's a similar venue and show format, but other than that, zilch.

I'll subscribe to anything a band likes to play enthusiastically - and if that's the latest material, sure, whatever. But man it'd be nice if performers realized a little more that they are, ultimately, entertainers and people are paying for these tickets. I really see no justification for the " we're not gonna do what you want, we're gonna do what we want " mentality when we, the audience, are paying.

I'm not really an advocate for the Greatest Hits mentality either... I'm not totally sure I could watch the band play Paranoid Android unenthusiastically just b/c some kid wants the footage for his iphone/facebook. I happen to like archival footage where typing in "1995 radiohead" will cue up exactly what I expect to see... having a band play it's greatest hits again and again not only demeans the rest of the catalog but also seemingly gives implication to a band that their best days are behind them.

so really, the argument could be avoided for all current and future artists if they just played bits from their entire discog but played heavy emphasis on their latest offerings. perhaps old material as a "warm-up"?

imo some musicians think of themselves more as artists than entertainers and feel that if you pay to see their work, they're going to attempt to practice their art

obviously some musicians are pure entertainers, some are artists, and some straddle the line. the fun part of being economically successful is you can do more artistic endeavors -- the caveat is that part of your audience will always see you as entertainers and throw a fit

So basically, kelpolaris, you're saying you're kind of fucked if you are a musical artist and you want to do new stuff and you have a ~1 hour festival set

if you are a musical artist and you want to do new stuff and you have a ~1 hour festival set you should probably just repeatedly play "Creep"

oh most definitely

especially if you're a non-radiohead band

I saw a 2003 Radiohead set that featured 'Creep' and 'The Bends' and ey lads if that's how unenthusiastic you're going to be when playing the hits then don't bother eh.

extended, three hour jam on i will imo

didn't see the setlist, but radiohead generally does a good job of mixing in the new material with the older, well-known stuff. reviewer probably tripped and got a stick up his butt

markers otm

Ach, how does "Radiohead unexpectedly turn up and play a set" be disappointing? Except for the "I couldn't get anywhere near" guys, which is fair enough.

I quite liked "Pop is Dead" but hey.

"Jamie Oliver unexpectedly turns up and doesn't cook me any food"

xp I was at the Park gig - the field was rammed, the sound further up the hill was pitiful and the weather was crap. In that context, hitting people with a string of Kings of Limbs tunes was never going to work. Within a few songs people were leaving like someone had let off tear gas. It wasn't a bunch of drunk dimbos wanting Creep. And it's not that KOL material is new - it's that it's low-key, low-energy and relies on good sound to bring the details, so it was just the wrong set for the environment.

I never understood the hate for Pop Is Dead. It's not a great song, but it's early Radiohead, y'know, trying to find their footing before The Bends, trying a bit of a Britpop direction, see if it works. Faithless The Wonder Boy should've been a single.

There was a TV show, Johnny Vaughan/Caitlin Moran, forget the title, and Ra were playing a bunch of songs, all boring. Then they did "Creep" at the end, and I was like "whoa!!". The only format available was on "Pop is dead" as a live version, so I bought that.

"The first in a series of remixes on 12" vinyl will be released on Monday 4th July (or Tuesday in the US & Canada).

The series kicks off with Caribou remixing Little by Little, and a remix of Lotus Flower by Jacques Greene, both of which we we're really excited about.

Hopefully you will find the vinyl in your local independent record shop, but if not, you can buy by mailorder here from the 4th. If you don't have a record player, digital versions will be available here, here, here and here. Or you can just listen to them here:"

http://www.radiohead.com/deadairspace/110701/caribou-jacues-greene-remixes

these are lovely!

Huh, weird thing was I was pretty sure I heard a DJ spin what sounded like a remix of said song last night on the way out of a good local spot around here -- I wonder...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5cML8bGN_8U

woah! You and Whose Army-esque. This and "Staircase" make me wonder what they're planning on doing w/ these spare songs.

also, nice to come back to he King of Limbs with fresh ears after an extended break.

the whole performance is here in excellent quality.

The performance of Give Up the Ghost they did for this is literally the only version of it I have ever liked.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qpMJzgH3r9o&feature=player_detailpage#t=2892s

Ahh, apparently linking to a specific time doesn't work here. Just click on 10 in the menu.

thankig u 4 the videos!!!

i didn't hate king of limbs or anything but the basement show is much much better than the record?

Bloom sort of starts out a mess, gets transcendental toward the middle (where the horns first enter), and then ends on a bit of a mess as well

The second percussionist sure fills out the sound nicely.

so weird that i only found out that this thing existed today. i don't know if that says more about radiohead's diminished profile, or my diminished interest in them.

I don't know if i've ever read anything about glastonbury that want totally stupid. Festivals are horrible anyway, radiohead should do whatever they want

Exactly.

people really seemed to not give a shit about this record

I feel I'm going to end up listening to these songs or variations of them for some time, since Radiohead is back into not just commissioning remixes, but doing them for tons of songs and connecting with artists I Iike.

xp honestly, I think of this as a deliberately subtle & casual timestamp release (didn't they even refer to it as a "newspaper album"?) and not some Grand Statement. I also think it'll age pretty well, even if it'll never be anyone's favourite RH record.

Yeah, I'll have to agree there, T. -- it just settles in nicely, and has turned out to be one of many good records released this year in general. Nothing wrong with that.

I like it a hell of a lot more than I'm Rainbows

So the remix series has been boring as hell

yep

a lot of them are better than the originals. the four tet one is great.

the Caribou one is good, but I don't know if that's just because Little By Little is a very good song.

Four Tet one is the best of a bad bunch i think. They all seem pretty half-hearted but the below par source material probably doesn't help

gotta repost this:

Topic: So Radiohead's going to have the top album for the 90s 00s and 10s
Message: Assuming LP8 will be a typical Radiohead album

TBF, even if I were a top producer I'd shirk at the idea of doing a decent KoL remix. The Caribou one is all very well, but you can tell he's struggling to do much with it.

Stephen Colbert meeting Radiohead is such a special occasion, a regular episode of "The Colbert Report" wasn't sufficient.

The Comedy Central show will air its first hour-long episode Sept. 26, when Colbert sits down with the British rock group.

Radiohead will perform four songs, featuring material off its most recent album, "The King of Limbs," as well as the recently debuted and unreleased track, "The Daily Mail." An additional song will also be performed for the online version of "The Colbert Report."

Colbert said in a statement: "I look forward to meeting the Radioheads and leveraging their anti-corporate indie cred to raise brand awareness for my sponsors."

"people really seemed to not give a shit about this record."

i've been briefly pondering my *current* lack of interest in radiohead. not just in the recent album but also stuff i've previously loved.