NME Festival Guide
2009

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Radiohead open with 'Creep' at Reading Festival 2009

Thom Yorke and co wrap up this year's event with a surprise

August 30, 2009 | 6 Comments
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Radiohead shocked fans by opening with 'Creep' as they headlined the final night (August 30) of the 2009 Reading Festival.

Taking to the event's Main Stage, frontman Thom Yorke casually wandered up to his mic, simply greeting the crowd with "Wassup!" - mimicking an old beer commerical - before launching into their 1992.

The set later included recently download 'These Are My Twisted Words', which they also played at the Leeds Festival yesterday (August 29).

Radiohead also played the likes of 'Just', 'Karma Police' and 'Idioteque', alongside several songs from last album 'In Rainbows', including 'Jigsaw Falling Into Place' and '15 Step'.

Before playing 'Bodysnatchers', Yorke informed the audience that bassist Colin Greenwood was having technical difficulties.

"Colin's bass pedal just went chuuk," he said, mimicking a guitar pedal blowing up.

However, the band continued for the remainder of their set without problems, though Yorke kept the chat to a minimal level between songs.

The band ended their set with a blistering version of their 1997 anthem 'Paranoid Android', followed by an effect-laden 'Everything In Its Right Place'.

Radiohead played:

'Creep'
'The National Anthem'
'15 Step'
'There There'
'All I Need'
'Nude'
'The Gloaming'
'2+2=5'
'Climbing Up The Walls'
'Street Spirit (Fade Out)'
'Reckoner'
'Karma Police'
'Weird Fishes/Arpeggi'
'Just'
'Idioteque'
'Exit Music (For A Film)'
'Bodysnatchers'
'You And Whose Army?'
'Lucky'
'These Are My Twisted Words'
'Jigsaw Falling Into Place'
'Paranoid Android'
'Everything In Its Right Place'

NME.COM was at both Reading And Leeds Festivals sites this weekend (August 28-30). Head to NME.COM/festivals for news reports, blogs, video interviews and photos from the event.

Get next Wednesday's (September 2) issue of NME for the ultimate Reading And Leeds Festivals review.

Plus have your say on this summer - fill in the annual NME Festival survey now to cast your verdict on 2009, and tell festival chiefs who you want to see next year.

rob_m73

Aug 31, 2009

There's not many words that can describe how good this show was. Playing Creep at the beginning of the set was a genius move and the crowd clearly loved it. An absolute hit-filled set with dazzling light and screen shows that really showed the Reading stage can be amazing if used to its full potential. I was right down near the front and everyone was clearly loving it. Absolutely incredible.

IndieWriter

Sep 1, 2009

amazing gig, forced a few mates to go who would have headed for La Shite or Lost 'are you a 14 year old girl???, what the fuck?' Prophets and they had just as good a time as me. Best band in the world, FULL STOP

jackory1

Sep 1, 2009

They were so good it made me wee a little bit

toploader

Sep 1, 2009

loved the dancing Thom!

mike0091

Sep 1, 2009

I wish I could have been here. Unfortunately I was too busy to make it to Reading and ending up selling my ticket for a measly Â£50 :(On the plus side, I used some of that Â£50 to buy the new 2cd re-release of Hail to the Thief that was released yesterday. You can listen to some of the tracks here - http://www.clearspring.com/widgets/49b51b8fe356dd2b

a l a n c

Sep 1, 2009

I turned up cynical (after being bored senseless at Glasto a few years back, when SFA on the Other Stage was obviously the much better proposition), and left awestruck. Creep was a masterstroke, but the mix of songs from their 7 albums was properly career-spanning. Sure, there was the disappointment of a few songs not getting played (I'd've liked No Surprises, Stop Whispering and Thinking About You, but you can't have everything, right?), but this was pretty much everything you could've hoped for from a festival headliner.