Watch One of Radiohead’s Best Live Shows: Bonnaroo 2006
Back in ~2008, right on the cusp of stardom, Lady Gaga did a crate-digging video in a London record shop and named Radiohead’s set at Bonnaroo 2006 as her favorite show she’s ever been to. A post-fame Gaga reaffirmed her choice in this 2018 Vogue interview. Many share her opinion. Here’s the official concert video of that Bonnaroo show so you can judge for yourself.
The setlist for the show:
There There
2+2=5
15 Step
Weird Fishes/Arpeggi
Exit Music (For a Film)
Kid A
Dollars & Cents
Videotape
No Surprises
Paranoid Android
The Gloaming
The National Anthem
Climbing Up The Walls
Nude
Street Spirit (Fade Out)
The Bends
Myxomatosis
How To Disappear CompletelyYou And Whose Army?
Pyramid Song
Like Spinning Plates
Fake Plastic Trees
Bodysnatchers
Lucky
Idioteque
Karma PoliceHouse of Cards
Everything In Its Right Place
Even the band loved it:
The lore surrounding this show is well-documented: It was among the longest live sets the band has ever played, both by duration (two hours and twenty minutes) and number of songs (29). It featured early, alternate arrangements of six unreleased tracks that would go on to anchor ‘In Rainbows’ the following year. Thom Yorke said it was “his favourite gig for years and years and years.” Jonny Greenwood called it “the best festival experience I’ve ever had in America.”
I’ve mentioned this before but my favorite show was also Radiohead, in Oxford in 2001. It rained and they played Creep for the first time in three years; the crowd exploded.
During the pandemic, the band uploaded a number of full-length videos of their live shows to YouTube. Enjoy.
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This set is legendary for many reasons, one of which is the early version of Videotape, which unlocks the mysterious syncopation found on the album version. Fascinating. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p_IHotHxIl8
Just today I came across this site of Radiohead fan edits which includes a crowd-removed version of Videotape from Bonnarro:
https://cosmobubbles.wordpress.com/
I was at this show, and it's the only time I've ever seen Radiohead live. Guess it's good to know it would've been hard to top..
I went to Bonnaroo just to see Radiohead, but my friend was there for Beck, and then, right before the set, my friend started crashing out cuz Jerry Garcia was gone or some shit, and when he finally let me head off, the show had started and I was a million miles back. So... I'm excited to finally see it in all its glory!
For pure listening look up the Paul Phipps mastered version of this set (Archive.org has it https://archive.org/details/radiohead2006-06-17sbd ). He's an audio engineer who got a straight off the board recording and spent time making this sound nearly as good as their studio albums, with perfect amounts of crowd noise and flawless editing for flow. I go back to this more than almost anything when I'm in that Radiohead mood.
This is a fantastic version and I've been listening to it all week, especially Videotape, which sounds almost cheery and triumphant here. I also re-watched the video Chad W posted above — what a great YT series Earworm was...I miss it.
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