January 9, 2008
Radiohead May Play Somewhere Near Seattle Sometime This Year

Could we be any vaguer? No, but that doesn't mean there's still not any reason to get excited. With In Rainbows making its formal debut atop the Billboard charts, Radiohead is set to cover North America in two tour legs, one prior to and one following their recently announced European summer tour (June 6 in Dublin through July 8 in Berlin).
There's no exact dates or venues just yet, but the band has confirmed the cities it'll be visiting on the tour. In alphabetical order:
Atlanta, Boston, Charlotte, Chicago, Cleveland, Dallas, Houston, Indianapolis, Los Angeles, Miami, Montreal, New York, Philadelphia, San Diego, San Francisco, Santa Barbara, Seattle, St Louis, Tampa, Toronto, Vancouver, Washington DC
Radiohead last played the U.S. in 2006, when they tried out much of the material that eventually appeared on In Rainbows. The '06 tour was only about a dozen dates and Seattle didn't make the cut, so (correct us if we're wrong) this would mark the first time the band has come to the area since 2003. That time around, the show was at White River Ampitheatre, which is exactly why the "somewhere near Seattle" is key. Sure, we'd love it if one of the most important bands in the world chose to play somewhere in town. Our dream involves them at Benaroya Hall, but we'd settle for WaMu Theater or, hell, even Key Arena, but if we must carpool out to the boonies, we'll do that too. Anything to see twitchy Thom and his four-man cadre of magnificent musicians squawk, bleep, skitter, and skronk through their monumental discography yet again.



Based on Thom's comments about the ecological impact of touring, we can only hope that they will schedule their visit in-city rather than in the driving nightmare of White River.
I wonder...does a band from overseas have any clue about whether the places they choose to are near or far from cities? I can just imagine...
Thom: "Hey, this White River Amphitheater--it's near Seattle, right?"
Radiohead management: "Ah. Um, sure Tommy, yeah, it's uh, just a hop skip and a jump away from the city.
Thom: "All I see is pasture."
Radiohead management: "Well it's really a farming town, more than anything...look, the new UTNE Reader!"