Radiohead at Victoria Park, June 24 2008

1
 

Radiohead fans enjoy the sunshine at east London’s Victoria Park, Tuesday June 24, shortly after doors opened at 4pm. The band return to the venue tonight (June 25). A second successive sell-out crowd of 20,000 is expected.
Pic: Andy Willsher

2
 

Radiohead at Victoria Park. In 2007, Oasis’ Noel Gallagher railed against Radiohead’s genteel background, saying: "I never went to fucking university. I donâ

3
 

Radiohead at Victoria Park, June 24. Yorke emerged for the final encore alone, explaining that the band were "running out of time, the pumpkin leaves at 10.30," as he played ‘Cymbal Rush’ solo. The whole band returned for ‘You And Whose Army’, before they wrapped the show up with ‘Idioteque’.
Pic: PA Photos

Advertisement

4
 

Radiohead subjected many of their songs at Victoria Park to subtle reinvention. For example, ‘The National Anthem’ was laced with snippets of recorded conversation, ‘Reckoner’ was given a slightly longer outro (with the string arrangement replaced with extra guitars), and ‘How To Disappear Completely’ was augmented with some beautiful, theremin-style guitar parts from Jonny Greenwood.
Pic: PA Photos

5
 

Thom Yorke salutes the crowd at Victoria Park, June 24. The band’s performance has divided NME.COM users, with some feeling "cheated" by the preponderance of ‘In Rainbows’ material at the expense of crowd-pleasing hits, others blown away by the dazzling sound quality and lightshow.
Pic: Andy Willsher

6
 

Radiohead merchandise, much of which is made from recycled material. The band have declared their intention to reduce their carbon footprint as much as possible. Their current tour uses low-energy LED lights, while band and crew have reusable water containers rather than plastic bottles.
Pic: Andy Willsher

7
 

Radiohead’s setlist was: ’15 Step’, ‘Bodysnatchers’, ‘All I Need’, ‘The National Anthem’, ‘Pyramid Song’, ‘Nude’, ‘Weird Fishes/Arpeggi’, ‘The Gloaming’, ‘Dollars And Cents’, ‘Faust Arp’, ‘There There’, ‘Just’, ‘Climbing Up The Walls’, ‘Reckoner’, ‘Everything In Its Right Place’, ‘How To Disappear Completely’, ‘Jigsaw Falling Into Place’, ‘Videotape’, ‘Airbag’, ‘Bangers + Mash’, ‘Planet Telex’, ‘The Tourist’, ‘Cymbal Rush’, ‘You And Whose Army’, ‘Idioteque’
Pic: Andy Willsher

Advertisement

8
 

Radiohead’s Thom Yorke, who admitted to being "terrifed" in the hours leading up to the band’s giant Victoria Park gig. Towards the end the frontman thanked the 20,000-strong crowd for the "good vibes", before playing seldom-aired ‘OK Computer’ track ‘The Tourist’.
Pic: Andy Willsher

9
 

Victoria Park, east London, the site of two huge Radiohead gigs on June 24 and 25. Radiohead are no strangers to Victoria Park: they also played there in October 2000, the same week fourth album ‘Kid A’ was released.
Pic: Andy Willsher

10
 

Support at Radiohead’s east London mega-gig came from eccentric singer-songwriter Bat For Lashes, of whom Thom Yorke is a big fan. He once said that her song ‘Horse And I’ made him "feel like a wolf".
Pic: Andy Willsher

11
 

Radiohead bassist Colin Greenwood meets fans backstage at London’s Victoria Park. The guy on the right is sporting one of the plastic headdresses which had been handed out to Bat For Lashes fans as a tribute to Natasha Khan’s outlandish trademark headgear.
Pic: Andy Willsher

Advertisement
Advertisement