Radiohead! Hollywood Bowl 8-25-2008

Monday night I drove down to the Hollywood bowl with Peter and Greg to see Radiohead. We parked just below the Hollywood/Highland intersection and trekked up the road to the bowl, which was overflowing with people.

We got all the way up to our seats in section U1, and yes, the sections are in alphabetical order so we were nowhere in the vicinity of being "close up."

Their set list was a little unexpected, as far as the order in which they played many of the songs. They pulled out a number of the "big-hitters" from In Rainbows rather early, and started the whole show with the laid back, tambourine laden "Reckoner."

The set list was as follows (courtesy of www.ateaseweb.com)

01. Reckoner
02. Optimistic
03. There There
04. 15 Step
05. All I Need
06. Pyramid Song
07. Weird Fishes/Arpeggi
08. The Gloaming
09. Videotape
10. Talk Show Host
11. Faust Arp
12. Tell Me Why (Neil Young Cover)
13. No Surprises
14. Jigsaw
15. Bends
16. The National Anthem
17. Nude
18. Bodysnatchers

Encore 1
19. House of Cards
20. Planet Telex
21. Go Slowly
22. Fake Plastic Trees
23. True Love Waits Intro/Everything In Its Right Place

Encore 2
24. Cymbal Rush
25. Karma Police
26. Idioteque

"All I Need" and "Videotape" came rather early on, and since I felt like it took them the first five songs to really get going, I felt a little robbed on "All I Need." From "Pyramid Song" on, however, they really started firing on all cylinders, and even from section U, we were singing along and air drumming to many of the songs.

I didn't bother taking any video because I knew that people with much better seats than me would do it, so here are some of the highlights of the show:

"Weird Fishes/Arpeggi"


"All I Need"


"Videotape"


"Idioteque"


"Karma Police"


So it was really a great show, but having seen them at that same venue in 2005 in MUCH closer seats kinda left me wanting a little more. When you're dead center and get the full spectrum of sound and lights and the deafening sound of thousands of people singing along, it's quite something...to say the least.