Radiohead, Malahide and all that

We first saw Radiohead at the Royal Dublin Showgrounds back in 1997. OK Computer had just come out…22 June to be precise. Not that I’m Rain Man or anything when it comes to Oxfords finest…but each gig is well remembered.

So, when this tour was announce we thought we’d revisit that fair Irish city to catch them. The gig this time was at Malahide Castle though, so in the end we figured we’d skip the city for the weekend and check out Malahide.

It’s crap there. Don’t go ever. You won’t enjoy the beach at Portmarnock, the village of Malahide itself, the wonderful people, the great pubs and the relaxing time you can have there. We had terrible weather too, really warm and sunny, so you wouldn’t have enjoyed the day on the beach, either. I implore you. Don’t go. You’ll spoil it for me and this place should be kept a secret.

So, after a day of burning my ankles on the beach we headed to the gig. I’m not going to do an in depth review, I’ll leave that to noordinaryfool – from which vantage point you can read the debate about whether it was a good gig or not – but I will give y’all a snippet of video.

For what it’s worth, I’ve never been to a bad RH gig. The MEN in 2003 was the worst I’ve been to, but that’s down to the venue. Malahide Castle was superbly organised, the bulk of the other giggers polite and nicely behaved, a great venue and smashing weather. All this AND Radiohead – what more could you want.

But, as you know, you’ll get nothing unbiased about Thom et al from me. Seeing Radiohead live is the closest I get to a religious experience. I’m genuinely moved by their music, artistry and skill…and so is JC. Once a queen of dance, she know has a tear in her eye when Thom walks on stage. If you’ve never been to an RH gig, go. You won’t regret it…if you do send me the invoice.

Anyway, video, here’s Pyramid Song. You can see we were pretty close…and the HD vidcam did well, although I still think there is a slight issue with the Quicktime codec.

While I’m here, I’ll tell you what has started to annoy me. People going to gigs and not paying attention to the music…chitter-chatter all the way through it. It seems to be getting worse and afflicts both large and small venues. If you aren’t bothered about the band on stage, do us all a favour…shut your mooth and leave. Or don’t go in the first place. I’ve done both in the past. And why get completely wasted? £65 to get wasted in a field? Strange economics.

Yeah, yeah, ‘free’ country, paid my money, do what I want…yadda yadda yadda. Don’t want to hear it now and I don’t want to hear it at gigs.

-pc.