You Have Not Been Paying Attention

I just got back from a trip to the homeland where I got to meet my new and wonderful niece Alicia. Not that there is much to see, she is only a couple of weeks and holding her is more nerve racking than anything. Well at least it is for me. I also got to hang with the rest of the family, my nephews Ryan and Cian. Awesome. There was the Saturday club with The Lads FC and while we age gracefully I find nothing so thoroughly enjoyable as discussion among the best bunch on the planet over a few creamy pints of Guinness, a throw back to anytime over the last 15 years. I am eternally grateful to have grown up with crew I did. Its humbling to have such friendships. Another reason for the trip home was the wedding of Ro McGettigan and Myles Dumas. It was a spectacular few days down in Wicklow. The Guinness was lovely, the sun was shining and everyone was in party mood. Ro and Myles looked great and I found myself dancing hard to the likes of Kate Perry and Lady GaGa which means that I was pretty much ga-ga myself. The next day saw a horrible bus journey and extreme hangover. I had Spencer Krug for company.

Last year, August 22nd, Radiohead played in Prague on the In Rainbows tour. A bunch of hardcore fans decided to meet up before the show with Flip cameras and agreed to spread out among the crowd so they could film the gig. The goal was to take all the footage and edit it to make a DVD of the live concert experience. There was nothing professional about the shoot, it was literally fans with the same Flip cameras. The editing was done over the last year. Ordinarily this is considered illegal and bands for the most part would not endorse such behavior however Radiohead are not some bands. They are on a completely different level and embrace the internet community which is why in the midst of illegal downloading the file sharing they are still successful. When they heard about what the fans were doing they completely embraced the concept and allowed them to use the soundboard recording from the show. So what started out as a fun project now has the bands stamp of approval and has soundboard 320kbps quality sound. Its a completely free download available in many formats, from fans to fans. So organic and beautiful. You can grab it in any of the many formats offered HERE

You can also read about the people that did the shooting and grab the setlist etc at the site. With so much amazing music out there I find myself often drifting into the sounds that are calling me at a given time. This summer the bands are Wolf Parade and Interpol. I saw 7 concerts between the two of them. However just viewing these videos reminds me how much I love Radiohead. Watching Idioteque literally gives me chills. I wish someone would do this with Wolf Parade because I think Spencer Krug is the closest vocalist to Thom on the scene right now (throw Jonsi in there too but his is a little bit of a different buzz). However such is the size of Radiohead that projects like this only get completed by the die hard community that surrounds them. The downside is of course that its almost impossible to see Radiohead in the venues that Wolf Parade and Interpol etc play. In fact, a band like Interpol are actually getting smaller which completely baffles me. Radiohead have the "cool" factor so therein lies the conundrum, if there is one? I'm waffling here. What I'm saying is that I think a band like Wolf Parade can be Radiohead in stature but won't be and a band like Interpol should be huge but they are now playing smaller venues and no longer selling out some shows. It must be very difficult to make it in the music world today and I respect those that devote their lives to the cause. I can't sing or play so I can only listen and support. Hats off to these kids in Prague. I would love to be part of a project like this. And by downloading and sharing we all kind of have a part. Awesome. Check out a couple of videos below and tell me it doesn't suck you right in. I love the comment one person made under Idioteque, "the best bit is between 0:01 and 4:26", I couldn't agree more.

Good to be back,

Love Kel