Victoria Park: Radiohead Christens 'In Rainbows'

Seeing Radiohead is always something of a novelty; they're international yet elusive. Like stunning, rare, slightly bizarre birds, the Oxford-formed band have been performing and recording tracks since the nineties and in the last decade have created a striking difference to the face of British rock music; in short, getting tickets is something of an Olympic sport mingled with a lucky dip.

Radiohead played their music to over 20,000 dedicated admirers, finally christening their new album In Rainbows to all of us at the expansive Victoria Park.

The festival feel to the gig - the insatiable smell of warm air, Bat For Lashes as support band, the stands, the stalls, people wearing masks, the In Rainbows t-shirts, the packed out bar, the friendly vibe - injected an indescribable atmosphere; giving all the Glastonbury guys a little taster of what their weekend is going to be like and made the Reading and Leeds fans long for August ever more.

Kicking off with 15 Steps and Bodysnatchers, the In Rainbows tracks break the almost unbearable anticipation running through the audience only to build up the suspense once more with a perfectly timed All I Need. Supporters of the new album were not disappointed as the set list included Nude, whose lyrics are imprinted on many of the t-shirts ("You'll go to hell for what your dirty mind is thinking") and seem to be the anthem of the tour, Arpeggi, Jigsaw Falling Into Place and Reckoner. Faust Arp met with particular glee and almost seemed to overpower the cries for Videotape, which was played after the first encore.

There was something for everybody; for The Bends boys, Radiohead blasted out Just and Planet Telexand The Pyramid Song and You And Whose Army? gave the Amnesiac applauders their fix. Hail To The Thief was largely ignored, although the band surprised fans by playing The Gloaming whose hypnotic drum beats and incredibly eerie vocals had a lot of fans screaming that it had made their night.

What is slightly surprising, if only for the irony if nothing else, was the surprising amount of tracks that were played from Kid A, which was a few weeks from release the last time Radiohead played at Victoria Park eight years ago. This album served to prevent Radiohead from becoming the 'current' best Bristish band in return for producing a musical experiment.

If Kid A was considered anything short of a success eight years ago, last night will have changed things. The National Anthem, Everything In It's Right Place were the backbone of the set, with the magnificent lights show which I have only seen at spacey Muse concerts lit up the night, and the show-stopping Idiotique finished the night, with it's iconic drums and keys and blazing vocals.

One technical flaw of the concert was that during the piano-based songs, such as The Pyramid Song, was that the big screen only showed up at the back of the stage, not to the sides, meaning that not everyone in the crowd could see the screens for the duration of these songs. The piano songs were brilliantly executed and although their intimate nature seemed out of place at such a big venue, it was nevertheless much appreciated.

Yorke, as always, made the night for most people, driving the front crowds into a rousing chant of Free Tibet, taking on a cockney accent for Bangers and Mash and going between guitar, piano and drums, while singing on every single song. Johnny Greenwood wears a hat for the beginning of the concert, a large disappointment for many fans who have nicknamed him Johnny Hair. Thankfully he takes it off.

Radiohead's humble pleasure at playing Victoria park is evident and Yorke endearingly asks the audience to sing along with him for Planet Telex, claiming he "forgets the words."