Late review

[Andrew]

Despite the way the show worked out, I guess I should make a brief note about what I thought of it, in the blogging spirit. Two weeks later, I remember:...liking the music more than I did when I saw them five years ago, but being less affected. Then, it was sufficiently exciting that I felt changed and motivated for a few days. I thought the occasional dose of extremely loud noise might be the solution to something or other. The guitar slashes in Creep, of all things, were joyously, incredibly loud, with white flashes of light. Anyway, the bold plans basically fizzled, and now either I'm too jaded to be affected like that anymore, or I simply didn't work myself into nearly the same kind of anticipation as last time.But the songs on In Rainbows are on average a lot better than those from Hail to the Thief, and especially so live. They seemed to be enjoying themselves. (It was one of their first opportunities to perform in several years, after all.) Given the weather, the predominantly rocksong setlist was perfect. I love Pyramid Song, but wasn't keen to hear anything without a heavy beat. I love No Surprises, but was hoping they wouldn't play it.I'm not quite the fan I was years ago, and it was good to have doubts swept away. They really are a proper rock band, and a terrific one, in almost every way....Jonny and Colin wearing t-shirts most of the time. I took this as a gesture of solidarity with the crowd....Jonny's enthusiasm, moving around as happily as ever while playing his guitar. That a song like Fake Plastic Trees can have that kind of guitar in it, and the whole fit together so nicely, is really worth appreciating....checking my phone every five minutes to see if the very nice Craigslist people who'd driven me there (out on the lawn) were telling me that they couldn't take it anymore. They didn't call, and afterward, when I finally dared to ask them how it was, they didn't seem too traumatized. I wonder if I missed it, though. I also felt guilty about not trying to smuggle them into the pit, which could have stood another few hundred people, if only for warmth, evacuation standards notwithstanding. Was a wristband all that was needed to re-enter the pit? But finding them would have been kind of difficult.