The Beat Surrender

Dream with me for a moment, you’ve got a chance to see your favourite band in the universe play at one of the best, if not THE best, venues in the country. Oh yeah, and it also happens to be your home town.

What could possibly go wrong?

I’d seen Radiohead on 3 prior occasions, outside at Glastonbury, in a big-top in a park in Warrington and in one of those clinical ‘arenas’ in Newcastle, no doubt home of the Newcastle Car Twoccers or whatever their local ice hockey team is called.

The Empress Ballroom, Blackpool, situated within the Winter Gardens, is a brilliant venue. For those of you who haven’t been, and you should, this is a fantastic setting. The building itself is opulent and steeped in history. It was opened in 1896 and has hosted the Beatles and was also home to the White Stripes live DVD, ‘Under Blackpool Lights’. And the tower is within spitting distance, it you are an Olympic class spitter.

It’s got everything you need from a venue, a splendid setting, loads of bars, great acoustics and even a springy dancefloor. Our two-strong party, myself and The Beat Surrender’s very own Kev, went through rigorous preparation to get ourselves in the right frame of mind for the gig. This involved a trans-pennine trains, planes and automobiles experience which left us in situ, in a boozer in Poulton-le-Fylde, ready to enjoy the FA cup final. It might have been easier to stomach if West Ham had just caved in as expected but in fairness it was one of the best Cup Finals for a long time.

Not the best comeback ever, by the way, this has to be Everton comeback from 2-0 down to win in 1966. Probably the only decent game at Wembley that year I reckon. Anyway, it’s fair to say we drank a few in very little time and the final and its aftermath was quickly taking its toll. In fact, the Kronenburg seemed to have Rohypnol type qualities as both gig go-ers were noticeably worse for wear.

After another train journey and a couple more stop-offs, we were there, being ushered into the aforementioned splendid venue. It was just after half eight and there was a bit of kerfuffle so we assumed that the arrival of support act Willy Mason (the Massachusettes born acoustic folk star, not the stupid haired Rugby League hardman) was imminent. Luckily Willy had risen above the chants of ‘You’re just a shit Bob Dylan’, which he endured from a boorish Yorkshireman at The Cockpit the previous year and decided to continue with his career.

Bizarrely and providing further disorientation for our party, it wasn’t Willy but Thom and the boys. In their earlier days, Radiohead apparently walked on stage to an awed hush as their mesmerised fans were too excited to make a noise as they came into contact with their heroes. None of that here as the Blackpool crowd gave them a rapturous welcome.

Kicking off with the slightly spooky ‘Morning Bell’, the Oxford lads were quickly into their stride. It’s hard to try to get across exactly what is so special about Radiohead’s music, many people dismiss it as being depressing. It’s kind of melancholy and stirring at the same time, I reckon.

Interspersed within the better known tracks was some new material. It’s hard to know what to expect from Radiohead after their return to top form with their 2003 album Hail to the Thief. Whilst having its trippy moments, this album was more OK Computer than the dark, yet mesmeric, Kid-A and Amnesiac.

The new material seemed to follow the slightly more upbeat theme, and shows there is life in new materials from the old dogs yet. Trawling the memory bank, There There stood out as the tub thumping track which it clearly is. The dancefloor’s spring got a bit of a run out there. Also the mean, moody and yeah magnificent Dollars and Cents was superb.

The melancholy mood returned with ‘Everything in it’s right place’ which features the lyric ‘yesterday I woke up sucking a lemon’. To be honest, I gave up trying to fathom Radiohead lyrics a while ago, far too clever for mere mortals. The Bends, title track from arguably the best album ever made, is probably the closest Radiohead got to raw rock music on the night.

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