Show Notes: Radiohead @ ACL Taping (3/7)

As I regroup and prepare my brain for a second night of Radiohead mania, I wanted to reflect a bit on our evening the Moody Theater. Getting be one of the relative few that got to go, I carried a bit of reverence into the venue, no doubt one of the smallest they will play on this or any tour. I was soon disappointed that not all concert-goers shared this feeling of privilege.

Click past the break and I’ll reveal my highs (the band) and the lows (the crowd) and the set list.

There were a lot of people. It was obvious that Austin City Limits was going to fill the place to the rafters. They did mention that there were 19,000 requests to get in the door through the blog form. There was a bit of royalty on hand; Director Paul Thomas Anderson was confirmed and RayRay and I strolled in with our close personal friend, Major Applewhite. Yes, it would seem the Major is a Radiohead fan (man crush grows). Plenty of the blogosphere was on-hand as well, kind of a reunion.

Terry had his customary housekeeping notes, including Moody Theater being recognized as leading venue with regards to its green initiatives. Pride. We were warned to keep the cell phones in the pockets and then Radiohead was intro’ed.

Thom is rocking the ponytail.

Ah, the wonderful noise of two drummers and plenty of guitar – Ed, Johnny and Thom start strumming, while Colin and Phil are joined by Clive Deamer in the rhythm section. The sound is big. It is voluminous. It carries weight. Thom spoke a few times, reminding the crowd that the new music is what keeps them, I believe the term he used was, pushing on. He complimented the large hair of one young lady in the crowd. Our favorite phrase was “passing by like a wet fart.” Johnny was a worker, cobbling backgrounds, piercing guitar, soothing keys – always bouncing from station to station, mid-song even.

I won’t bore you with play-by-play, but “Myxamatosis”, “Magpie”, “Reckoner”, “Arpeggi/Wierd Fishes” were all amazing. “Staircase” was spellbinding. “Paranoid Android” was a surprise ending.

So on to the bad. People, shut up. Stop checking Facebook to see how many likes you got from checking in. Stop live-tweeting the playlist. Did I mention, shut up? To the two young ladies in the row infront of us, I am so glad you left. I hope you think of me as insanely rude. Badge of honor. This was a special occasion. This was being recorded for television. There were people willing to kill standing outside and you waste it with chatting about whatever crap it was you thought was more important than what Terry called history. Onwards and upwards.

And for the record, I took that pic on my phone, brightness turned down and between songs…

Speaking of songs, the setlist.

Bloom
Little By Little
Daily Mail
Myxomatosis
Magpie
The Gloaming
The Amazing Sound of Orgy
Staircase
Reckoner
Arpeggi/Weird Fishes
Identikit
Lotus Flower
There, There
Feral
Idioteque
–
Skirting on the Surface
Paranoid Android

We also have some awesome sketches of the show to share with contributor/amigo jon.wagner who also has his take of the show over on his website.