Tuesday, May 6, 2008

Shut up!


Radiohead tour began last night at the oft-renamed Cruzan Amphitheatre in West Palm Beach.

Pitchfork has more photos and the set list. Sun-Sentinel's Sean Piccoli has a review.

For an opening night, it was a very good set. Pacing needs a little reconsideration, however, with a disproportionate number of slower, quieter songs bunched together in the middle. But the sonics were very good considering the venue and the "light show" was cool, too.

This may not be a problem in some areas, but many of the beer-swilling audience talked throughout the set, and in the quieter portions of the show, the babble was overpowering. I'm an old fart, but I don't get it; it's one thing to make occasional comments, but it's another to have an ongoing conversation during the performance.

Why pay for tickets if you're not going to pay attention?

(In fairness, though, some sang along, but not to anything slow.)

Interestingly, Sean reports that the show was a couple of thousand short of being "sold out." Tickets were plentiful on the Miami, Fort Lauderdale and West Palm Beach Craigslists, though I didn't run into many scalpers at the gig.

Opening act, The Liars, played an enthusiastic percussive set.

1 comment:

Jim McGuire said...

"Why pay for tickets if you're not going to pay attention?"

Bragging Rights that is all! It kills me to go to larger venues just for that reason. It will never change and we will just have to deal with it.