Radiohead are now perceived as some what of an alternate electro indie band. releases such as kid a , amnesiac and even hail to the theif may back this up, but i feel that radiohead were at their live best( i have never seen them live, but i have watched loads of gigs of them on tv etc.) in the bends era. This dvd is one of their breakthrough gigs which saw them became a major player in british music. This gig was a few months before the bends was released, so im guessing that a lot of the crowd wouldnt have heard quite a lot of the material (they didnt download everything then lol). The gig starts off with You, and it really has a lot more power than the studio version. the three pronged guitar attack really is evident. In the second verse, after every line thom sings, johnny, uses those creep style guitar stabs to add tension. Johnnys unique pixies influenced solo sound as wild and crazy as ever, with him throwing in random lead parts not heard on the album such as at the end of You, he starts shredding octaves. the next song is bones which is at the time unreleased song. They perform a convincing version of this bends song, and keeps building to the end, where Johnny again crazy solos. Ripcord is the next song and is probably one of the highlights of the entire gig. The three guitars really do this song justice, when thom screams 'no ripcord' Johnny plays seem real weird chords over thom playin the open chords and ed playing the bar chords and it sounds majorly impressive. Johnny steals the spotlight in the outro to this song, where plays some jerky sounding lead part.They perform a not yet quite finished version of blackstar, which starts with the entire band rather than the faded in intro. the song sounds tight but is not a highlight of the gig, although the vocal harmonies sound rather impressive.
The next song is the in comparable creep. The song is performed fantastically dynamically, the verse picked chords are played perfectly by ed, and this song does no wrong at all, it really comes alive when johnny starts playing his awesome lead. Thom holds that mazing vocal note longer than he does on the album version. my only criticism, is the lack of piano at the end, but it certainly does not spoil this early 1990's teen anthem.
Thom then claims that the next song is about knowing who your freinds are. This is the bends. This song is probably the most impressive dynamic song on the dvd, with again all three guitars really coming into play to get that radiohead power that no one else can get. Songs like the bends, for me anyway, show how radiohead have wrote some of the best rock music since led zeppelin. One of the unsung highlights of this album is about half way through, the fantastic b side, Maquiladora.again all based round a very simple riff, with all three guitars coming into major play again. Johnny plays a nice little muted hammer on and pull off lead part in the mellow bridge section. the solo section sounds a little like kashmir, such is the power of the guitars. Johnny throws in some random sounding pinched harmonics, that sound absoloutely phenomanal, and i had never heard pinched harmonics in anything other than metal where they are used predictably.
All in all this dvd is an amazing live performance of britians most important rock band today, and whether your a fan of the 'head or not, this is worth a watch. dont be put off by all the alectro tags they have, this is an explosion of three guitars coming at you in a tractor. It is an interesting battle between Thom Yorke and Johnny Greenwood for center stage, but they dont go against each other too much, and it just makes for more captivating viewing. Ed also puts on one hell of a show, but he lets the 2 creative geniuses behind radiohead take center stage.
Pros +
+Maquiladora
+Johnny ups his game for this dvd with some amazing lead parts, and the pinched harmonics in maquiladora are phenomanal
+The three guitars are really well used
+Thoms blonde hair haha
Cons -
+Fizzles out a little near to the end
+Street Spirit doesnt seem to have the emotive powere of the album version
+Planet Telex wasnt played
+The encore tracks arent great
+Pop is dead is a boring song
