Were Radiohead 'dirge-like' at Glastonbury?

I watched most of the show on YouTube and thought for the most part they sounded great, particularly Thom's voice, which had been seeming kind of feeble lately judging from some of the bits I'd seen online of recent shows of theirs in the U.S. Another reason this set stood out is the preponderance of older material they covered. A lot of the songs from the last three albums or so just don't translate well in a live setting because they're so intricate and busy.

baffled by this talk. if anything they seem to have been deliberately putting more 'hits' in sets of late, certainly more so than the last time they played Glastonbury in 03. i mean Street Spirit, Let Down, Paranoid Android, Creep, Lucky, Airbag, There There, Fake Plastic Trees, No Surprises, Karma Police.. jeez what did people want? covers of Wiggle It and Ooh Ah Just A Little Bit?

.. and the actual playing was top notch.

People need to bear in mind that it is former Shadow Chancellor Ed Balls who described them as such.

these are the same people with the boring 'oh they're depressing' opinion. confident + awesome sounding set

festival crowds deserve scorn, depression and boredom i hope radiohead did nothing but freeform synth and guitar drones

Nah, they weren't. Maybe if they'd played the whole of their latest album in front of a festival crowd, they may have been.

"Jazz Odyssey" not in the set then?

jeez what did people want? covers of Wiggle It and Ooh Ah Just A Little Bit? .

tbf that would have been amazing

they played a hits heavy setlist, it was rockin

xpost:

Ha yeah, they could have thrown in 'Let's Get Ready to Rhumble', 'Boom Boom Boom' and 'Mr. Vain' in for good measure.

We want them to legitimately cover Gasolina, that's what we want

Pero Thom Yorke no la gusta la gasolina

imo the best thing about Radiohead is the gulf between the public perception of what they do versus how they sound to people who have.. we'll say "wider music knowledge," maybe best typified by that viral fake BBC report about fans clapping at them tuning up

the perception they're doing really weird stuff, not really "music" makes me think "hmm, I'll check out this person is talking about" and it turns out it's something that seems like a pretty standard rock song with some extra instrumentation, or some krautrock riffing thing that still seems pretty normal

the other part of the fake festival article that entertained me was that festival crowds really will applaud and cheer at about anything, and a large portion of the crowd likes the band but aren't necessarily fans listening to every released. the coachella livestream this year included some audience interviews with people at the radiohead show and at least a couple people were like "I hope they play some stuff from Pablo Honey!!" or "I just kind of like Radiohead in general!" so yes, the audience is infinitely clownable at festival shows, and there are people who will crowd to the front regardless of band because crowding to the front is their thing

"It's Thom Yorke on the decks, let's get this party started" *plays audio recording from Stanford prison experiment* pic.twitter.com/qS3iYl2V2K

— Pixelated Boat (@pixelatedboat) July 25, 2016

I also agree w/everyone demanding radiohead cover some really energetic hits

Radiohead are always dirgey. Radiohead fandom is a form of dirge appreciation.

also true

Clean. Bandit. Breathtakingly. Brilliant. Four words I never expected to see in the same sentence (well, at least without a 'not' or 'weren't' or some such).

Hell, Thom covered 'Got to Give it Up' with Atoms for Peace. At this point, I'd imagine he's down for whatever.

credit to them for resolutely and deliberately offering something that is tugging in the opposite direction to major lazer and clean bandit.

but then a fairly damning indictment of the mindset of festivalgoers these days, turning up to see radiohead and becoming indignant that they are not not being radiohead?

leads to an odd inversion of "you had to be there, maaan" where those watching on TV are affording it greater reverence than those in the field at the time who were vocal in finding smug ways to craft a tweet about dirges. it's not inconceivable that in another 20 years, the one video that your kids will be hunting down on youtube to watch won't be that of the foo fighters.

It isn't now, either!

Thank god

Off topic: Festivals are both awesome and terrible at the same time. Most of the people in festivals don't really give a fuck about the music at all.

Might be me being older and bitter but the festival experience did change a lot in the smartphone post-social media world.

ed balls upset that his his privilege is not being validated by thom engaging him from the stage with conversational smalltalk + bon mots but instead being presented with a more socially awkward invitation to enjoy the light + sound he has made. dave grohl, otoh, greatest rock band in the world, asking you every couple of minutes asking how you are doing and if you are in the mood for more rock.

healthy to have the sweet and the sour, but much easier to dig the snide blade into one than the other.

What's your parameter to put FF in the greatest rock band in the world?

If we go by record sales it's Coldplay
If we go by tour income it's U2 or Rolling Stones (Springsteen and Coldplay probably close)
If we go by facebook followers it's Linkin Park
If we go by wealth it's Eagles or Fleetwood Mac

Without looking I predict even Arctic Monkeys and Twenty One Pilots have sold more records than Foo Fighters in the past 7 years.

I know they're huge but greatest rock band they are not.

just checked and my prediction wasn't off. Not counting their upcoming record since we don't have numbers on that one but going by last albums:

Foo Fighters - Sonic Highways (2014)(490,000 copies US)
Arctic Monkeys - AM (2013)(550,000+ copies US)
Twenty One Pilots - Blurryface (2015)(1.5M copies US)

I'm going by US commercial reception only. If I add UK I'm certain Arctic Monkeys and Twenty One Pilots will also win against the Foo.

If we go by facebook followers it's Linkin Park

This... cannot be real, right?

It is and they're the rock band with more fb likes on their offficial page by quite some margin:

http://loudwire.com/metallica-20-million-facebook-fans-black-album-20th-birthday/

Linkin Park 33M
Beatles 20.5M
Metallica 20M

That's a 2011 article tho... care to find an updates source?

Oh wow they are at 61M Nowadays

I'll do a quick check:

Linkin Park 61M
Beatles 41M
Metallica 37M
Radiohead 11M
Foo Fighters 11M

ah, no parameter. was just repeating the BBC's descriptions of their iplayer sets https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/group/p056kg71

foo fighters "One of the greatest bands on the planet and after this set - one of the greatest of all time." https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/p055zhn7/glastonbury-2017-foo-fighters
radiohead "20 years since they first headlined the Pyramid stage, Radiohead return to Worthy Farm with no compromises." https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/p056bxjf/glastonbury-2017-radiohead

Oh my bad. Carry on.

Arctic Monkeys sold more than the Foo Fighters in the US?

Blimey.

but then a fairly damning indictment of the mindset of festivalgoers these days, turning up to see radiohead and becoming indignant that they are not not being radiohead?

leads to an odd inversion of "you had to be there, maaan" where those watching on TV are affording it greater reverence than those in the field at the time who were vocal in finding smug ways to craft a tweet about dirges.

Nah he's just done that really basic thing of turning up to watch the Pyramid headliners regardless of interest in their music. Loads of people do it.

I was shocked in the early 90s as a naive teenager to find so many people would go to Glastonbury and just sit at the Pyramid Stage all day, rather than actively seeking out music.

or something more interesting than just sitting around...

Off topic: Festivals are both awesome and terrible at the same time. Most of the people in festivals don't really give a fuck about the music at all.

― dance cum rituals (Moka), Wednesday, June 28, 2017 1:51 AM (six hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Moka otm

the one time I attended Coachella, which is creeping up on a decade ago, there were definitely people who were adhering to a schedule, going between stages to see particular bands, trying to work their way into a good spot in the crowd

there were also many people who were there because it's a festival and were just crowding as close to the front as possible for whatever acts had the biggest name. and the trail of people from the dance tent to the medical station who were probably rolling all day and nearly passed out. and the people who were there to show off their COACHELLA LQQK and be seen, hopefully by cameras

I used to go to GLasto to explore..

I came back one time to the group tent, and told of what I'd seen: "Guys, I found a Fine Dining tent/marquee!" to general disbelief. Nowadays, you'd think nothing of one, but this was 1988 or thereabouts..

What, that early!?!

I know.

Saw Radiohead at Glastonbury in 1997 and can confirm they were dirge-y, I think I might have even left halfway.

(They were zillions times better on the In Rainbows tour.)

i note that those criteria above (sales, facebook likes etc) don't feature 'Spotify streams' which surely is the ultimate decider for such things these days?

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

i note that those criteria above (sales, facebook likes etc) don't feature 'Spotify streams' which surely is the ultimate decider for such things these days?

― piscesx, miércoles 28 de junio de 2017 22:28 (yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Is there an easy way to see all the streams of all the songs per artist? Top songs is easy:

ff - Everlong 146M
21P- Stressed Out 722M
Coldplay - Hymn for the Weekend 355M (although "something just like this" is 422M)
RH - Creep 178M
Arctic Monkeys - do I wanna know 360M

Linkin Park - In the End 241M

I'm sorry you old people. The people have spoken and the greatest rock band today is the Twenty One Pilots.

Also Linkin Park is more loved than Foo Fighters and Radiohead.

Also this:

Beatles - Here Comes the Sun 90M

Noone cares about the Beatles anymore. (To their defense they were added to spotify less than a year ago)

festivals are more about drugs IMO

if Radiohead was playing when I was on stims I'd probably think it's som dirge bogshite too

Noone cares about the Beatles anymore. (To their defense they were added to spotify less than a year ago)

― dance cum rituals (Moka), Wednesday, June 28, 2017 9:29 PM (one hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

also a significant percentage of their fanbase is not on spotify

They also rock less hard than Twenty One Pilots.

21 pilots are so, so bad

I know. It seriously makes me feel old how popular they are.

Although if I was 10 years younger I'm sure I wouldn't give a fuck about them still.

Going back to Radiohead tho... are they really completeñy dirge-like?

They sure have a lot of dirge like songs and Thom lyrics are 99% bleak and cynic but in every record since Kid A it seems the growing obsession with IDM and techno infected them with a need to "groove" less focus on "guitar-based jams and into bass and drums based ones a la Talking Heads and Krautrock or whatever artist they are stealing from in each new album.

At least there's a dancing Thom segment in each concert since Idioteque.

I'd never heard of 21 Pilots before this thread. Cheers everyone.

don't think radiohead are too dirge like,

we suck young blood would be the apex of their dirge IMO

I like it, but set-opener Daydreaming could be interperated as a dirge.

Good old Radiohead, starting their set with a dirge.

It took me a number of listens to get into and I'm a fan. I can't imagine anyone in the crowd at Glasto inclined to think of the band as miserabalist had their prejudices overturned when Thom busted out that one.

sad krautrock reacts only

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

Well, there ya go.

I like dirges. To me, that signifies a clear idea executed clearly. I don't understand how it became to have negative connotations as a descriptor.

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

I imagine ILM is far more pro-dirge than the average UK festival goer, which probably skews the results somewhat.

I know it's a joke tweet but his dj sets are not unfortunately prison experiment loops. He plays hip hop, IDM, house and dubstep mostly.

e.g.:

1. Get Off (Rob3 remix) by Blaqstarr & Diplo
2. Madame Hollywood by Felix da Housecat
3. Raid by Madvillain and Medaphor (and Madlib)
4. Quiet Dog by Mos Def
5. Pon da Floor by Major Lazer
6. On a Ragga Tip SL2
7. Fog Bank by Boy 8-bit
8. Feral (lone remix) by errr us and lone
9. Seamonkey(untold rmx) by Moderat
10. Kill bill Vol 4 by modeselektor
11. Undoing the laces by Nathan Fake
12. Mad again by Boy 8bit
13. Organ donor by Dj SHAdow
14. Original Nutter by Uk Apache with Shy Fx
15. I can’t stop this feeling(pangea rmx ) by Untold
16. why by Pangea
17. Night of the living baseheads by public enemy

Anyhow

https://38.media.tumblr.com/53c4f6afc9002e097632f74491036dda/tumblr_mkci0qhTs11qfx4who1_r1_400.gif]

yeah, that is what makes the tweet funny for me!

imo it's a pretty good indictment of my own tastes. I bought all the remix 12"s of that thom yorke side project because it was like a list of all the nerdo artists I listen to

;_;

it always reminds me that thom yorke apparently went to college with one of the basement jaxx dudes

tl; dr, festival crowds suck

http://thequietus.com/articles/22761-radiohead-glastonbury-2017-review

"I don't know how you could say that if you're a fan?!" is a pretty lame thing to say, really. Being a fan of something doesn't mean blind worship.

Being a fan of something doesn't mean blind worship.

This is true. However, the inverse is also true: I think that if someone is a really hardcore true fan, they will never outright disown something that the band does. If anybody does either of these things and proclaims themselves to be a big fan of the band, I will pretty much disregard future utterances from them.

I've always thought a really true hardcore fan will be the most critical, while still giving props where they are due.

Which is basically what Mr. Clarke did in the linked Quietus piece.

I've always thought a really true hardcore fan will be the most critical, while still giving props where they are due.

Yup, this.

Otherwise "true fan"/"hardcore fan" generally means "batshit insane obsessive" to me.

do you know what fan is short for

Yes, fucking annoying nobhead - and you're the biggest fan of 'em all.

But yes, even though the word "fan" derives from "fanatic", people are perfectly capable of being into things without being ludicrously over the top about it.

A fan is someone who says their favourite band is cool.

pretty much every hardcore Radiohead fan I've met doesn't like speaking about Pablo Honey.

Yes, only in Radiohead fandom can a good record be deemed to be a shit one because it didn't get the critical blowjobs the rest of their albums did.

Nah, it's just shit.

So is The Bends.

just and planet telex are the only good songs on the bends

have always thought that planet telex sounds like an ok computer track more than a bends track

just and planet telex are the only good songs on the bends

― global tetrahedron, Tuesday, July 4, 2017 7:04 PM (sixteen minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

*Remove bookmark from this Thread*

Stale challops. I'm by no means a "fan", but The Bends, High and Dry, Fake Plastic Trees, My Iron Lung, Street Spirit are all great songs, too. Try harder.

Yeah, stale challops indeed. It was a great record in 1995 and remains a great record.

oh ya my iron lung is good too

'High and Dry' sounded wonderful at the time and still does - beautiful melody, gorgeous vocal. People enjoy having a go at this song for inspiring a few crap post-Britpop bands, but hey, The Beatles inspired a lot of shit music too, and I don't see anyone knocking them for that reason.

i do, i will never forgive the beatles for inspiring herman's hermits

I see young kids wearing Beatles shirts all the time

the beatles are a v popular 60s brand

'Bones', '(Nice Dream)' and 'Black Star' are three big favourites of mine, too.

Radiohead is a v popular 90s brand, altho not as big as bill clinton or AOL

This was amazing, looking back

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sseeWU25RvA

I know it's a joke tweet but his dj sets are not unfortunately prison experiment loops. He plays hip hop, IDM, house and dubstep mostly.

e.g.:

1. Get Off (Rob3 remix) by Blaqstarr & Diplo
2. Madame Hollywood by Felix da Housecat
3. Raid by Madvillain and Medaphor (and Madlib)
4. Quiet Dog by Mos Def
5. Pon da Floor by Major Lazer
6. On a Ragga Tip SL2
7. Fog Bank by Boy 8-bit
8. Feral (lone remix) by errr us and lone
9. Seamonkey(untold rmx) by Moderat
10. Kill bill Vol 4 by modeselektor
11. Undoing the laces by Nathan Fake
12. Mad again by Boy 8bit
13. Organ donor by Dj SHAdow
14. Original Nutter by Uk Apache with Shy Fx
15. I can’t stop this feeling(pangea rmx ) by Untold
16. why by Pangea
17. Night of the living baseheads by public enemy

― dance cum rituals (Moka), Friday, 30 June 2017 16:57 (one year ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Shit, I just love the idea of Thom Yorke dropping On a Ragga Tip.