Radiohead

In the magnificent setting of Piazza Castello in Ferrara, on a warm July evening, the last of five concerts held by Radiohead in Italy comes to life. A hugely anticipated tour, expanded from three dates to five, to spread the ecstatic sounds of “Hail to the Thief”, the latest work from the Oxford five-piece, to Italian audiences as well.

Opening the show were Low, who cut a fine figure despite the amplification being almost non-existent (if anyone talked, you couldn't hear the music at all). Radiohead fans were divided on how to treat this opening act: many were interested and listened attentively, while others reserved the same (unworthy) treatment usually given to support bands, booing the four musicians (the singer even told the hotheads in the front row where to go). Regardless, Low's performance manages to win over the 5,000 people present (and paying!), thanks above all to the driving riff of “Canada”. Many of the songs were drawn from “Trust”, the American band's latest album.

After 40 minutes, Low's set comes to an end, amid plenty of applause and a few boos: everyone is waiting for Radiohead. The anticipation becomes almost unbearable, and at 9:15pm Thom Yorke's standard-bearers appear all together: the evocative percussion of the two guitarists, Ed O'Brien and Jonny Greenwood, introduces “There There”, the first single from “Hail to the Thief”, an exotically flavoured track that, carried by Yorke's magnificent voice, blossoms into a rock ballad that sends Ferrara into raptures. But it's on “2+2=5” that Radiohead show their rockier side, setting off a pit in the front rows (which hurts a bit, given how packed in we are). Having won over the crowd's enthusiasm allows the English band to steer the set towards electronic atmospheres, with “Kid A” dusted off through “National Anthem”, “Morning Bell”, the title track, and the b-sides “Talk Show Host” and “Fog” (gorgeous, wrapped in a magical silence). Attention then shifts to the new album, where moments of techno experimentation (“Backdrifts”) coexist with mournful piano compositions, tailor-made for Yorke's falsetto (“Sail to the Moon”).

The band is on top form, the acoustics are perfect, with Colin Greenwood's bass holding sway. Yorke seems ecstatic: he dances, jumps, shouts and jokes with the crowd, who accompany him on the magnificent journey through “Fake Plastic Trees”, “Pyramid Song”, “A Wolf at the Door”, “Paranoid Android”, “Idioteque”. As if in a ring structure, the concert seems to close with “Everything in Its Right Place”. But that's just an impression: while the band takes a breather, Yorke appears alone on stage with an acoustic guitar to offer one of the gems of the latest album: “I Will”. And then, again, “The Bends”, “The Gloaming” and, once more from “Kid A”, “How to Disappear Completely”, which live comes across as even more celestial and melancholic than on record. It could end there, everyone seems satisfied but... wait a moment: what about “Karma Police”? It can't be missing! And indeed, there they are back on stage, dragging the walls of Ferrara into the hypnotic “Sit Down, Stand Up”, which Thom refuses to let end: the whole square has to keep singing “The rain drops, the rain drops...”.

And here it is, sealing the concert: “Karma Police”, with Greenwood on piano and Yorke on guitar. The embrace of “this is what you get” draws everyone in. It's over, after two and a half hours. It was worth spending those 30 euros to enjoy this truly phenomenal live band. All of it, I'll say it again even at the risk of being repetitive, set against the magnificent backdrop of Piazza Castello. Whoever wasn't there missed out on a lot. You could tell as much on the way out, when the kids left without tickets were crying on the pavement...

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