BIG RADIO

I am currently in Edinburgh, enjoying the warm hospitality of an old friend Laurence and his lovely fiancé Issa.

Last night, on Effie’s birthday, we were party to an outdoor Radiohead gig, supported by Beck and Deerhoof. Earlier that day we bumped into Beck on the street and took photos of him. He was a bit busy being photographed so we didn’t bother him. But it was a nice birthday treat.

We arrived early to the gig, just in time to see Deerhoof. The tiny Japanese lady singer with her massive-looking Paul McCartney bass was pogoing around the stage with an awesome guitar player and a noisy minimal drummer (just bass drum, snare drum, hi-hat). They played a very fun short set.

Then Beck. He strolled on with his enormous band and rocked through some classics. The stage show was accompanied by a puppet show at the back with puppets of each band member. They would follow the movements of the band on stage and it was highly amusing. The band were inventive with percussion and if they had nothing better to do, would just jump around the stage in bear costumes.

When they finished the first part of their set, we were treated to a big screen short movie about the Beck Puppets touring Edinburgh. It was an hilarious exercise in crude jokes about kilts, buskers on the Royal Mile, bum sex, and Radiohead (that last comma was vital). The only thing about the performance that was lacking, was Beck’s enthusiasm. His band seemed to be having loads of fun, dashing around the stage, playing with the puppets, tinkering with wine glasses for percussion and singing their bits off. Beck, despite all the madness, seemed unable to even raise a smile for the whole set. Oh well, we all enjoyed it.

And then Radiohead. By this point I was very excited. Radiohead have been a band that I have always hugely admired and respected. And on a personal level, it was their songs that really inspired me in India. Many jam sessions were spent just trying to play as many of their songs as possible. I found that every one of their songs was a challenge, both to play and to sing and I really began to appreciate how much emotion Thom Yorke and the team invest in their music. The Bends and OK Computer especially, contain simply perfect songs that manage to sustain tension and then pay off cathartically on such a huge scale.

And then three weeks after returning from this frankly life-changing trip, soundtracked by Radiohead, I was able to see them in the flesh in a stadium. I was able to hear the classics, the dance tunes and the awesome new material. And with my loved one. It was too perfect.

There was barely a spare ten minutes when my face wasn’t streaming with tears. I was so overwhelmed.

They started with the burst of ‘Airbag’ and from the moment the gig started I sang every word that I knew and danced every moment it was possible.

Thank God they took the electronic direction in their music, it makes them such a powerful and varied live act. They have those faultless rock classics sitting besides some awesome trance-inducing experiments. The new material was satisfying and reliably unpredictable. Where do these rhythms come from? And these bass lines? Their ability to turn left doesn’t seem to have escaped them.

So, for two hours, with one eye on the gorgeous big screen graphics, one eye on the stage or just both eyes tightly shut, I threw myself about the crowd, singing, screaming, shouting, and crying. There was a bunch of drunken Scots who were irritating everyone around us. I didn’t care, I would just hold them at arms length, or have a dance with them.

They finished the night with the previously untouchable ‘Creep’, and I was just laughing for the first half of the song, I couldn’t believe it. But what a way to finish.

So the experience was totally cleansing. Totally cathartic. Every anxiety I’ve had about the future, about my relationship with Effie, about my decision to play music for a living escaped me entirely for two hours. It never seemed more right to play music for a living if it’s possible for a band like Radiohead to exist, for music to be this perfect.

So for today, I am happy. Exhausted, dehydrated and weak. But such is the nature of catharsis.

Just don’t ask me what are my plans.