Year of the glitch: Sound fails Radiohead at Coachella: HumSub.TV
Year of the glitch: Sound fails Radiohead at Coachella: HumSub.TV: Radiohead salvaged a headlining set at the Coachella festival from disaster Friday, following a glitch-plagued opening in which the audio system repeatedly crashed.
The experimental rock icons, booked for the third time to lead the premier festival in the California desert, played most of two songs in awkward, inadvertent silence with frontman Thom Yorke oblivious that the audience could no longer hear.
After twice retreating from stage to deal with audio problems, Radiohead soldiered on with raw renditions of its best-known songs — including “Creep,” the English rockers’ 1992 debut single that they have since played sparingly.
Such glaring technical problems are exceedingly rare for a band the caliber of Radiohead — long a critical favorite — or Coachella, one of the world’s most lucrative cultural events renowned for its punctilious organization.
But it is the latest in a series of once unthinkable glitches in top-tier events, including an embarrassing snafu in awarding the top Oscar and sound issues at the Grammys.
Radiohead opened powerfully underneath a sea of transcendent light-beams and stars — a “moon shaped pool,” in the words of the title of the band’s last album.
Three songs in, Radiohead cranked up the energy on “Ful Stop” with a purple-drenched, crater-laden display that had the feel of a lunar landing, but audio issues were soon sorely noticeable with jarring bleeps over the music.
The sound turned off completely two songs later on “15 Step,” with lead guitarist Jonny Greenwood appearing to notice problems. But Yorke, locked in his personal zone with his eyes closed and a sound monitor in his ear, jammed away with passion unaware that the crowd could see but not hear.
– Awkwardness for Radiohead –
Similar issues quickly arose again on “Let Down” off Radiohead’s seminal 1997 album “OK Computer,” with members of the crowd, after a collective groan, singing along to substitute for the inaudible Yorke.
Rarely chatty on stage, Yorke took responsibility for the technical problems and voiced appreciation to the crowd for staying put.
“I’d like to tell you a joke to lighten the mood or something like that, but this is Radiohead, so fuck it,” said Yorke — making, in effect, a joke about the band’s grim reputation.
Radiohead stripped back the sound on several subsequent tunes but did not give up the loop effects that have become a band hallmark. And the sound fortunately pulled through for Greenwood’s thundering jolts of guitar on “Creep.”
The problems came despite growing technological confidence at this year’s Coachella, where drones captured crowd footage, cellular reception stayed mostly consistent and a planetarium-style dome led by Hewlett Packard offered festival-goers a 360-degree journey through space.
One artist who zeroed in on technology Friday was leading DJ Richie Hawtin, who debuted a new live show of free-flowing graphic projections set to the artist’s unusually improvisatory brand of techno.
– Introduction to grime –
Stormzy, part of London’s fast-emerging genre of grime, voiced delight as his energetic set packed a steadily growing crowd in the afternoon sun.
“This is grime. It’s like hip-hop but a lot faster,” he explained in a succinct introduction of the genre, quipping that the audience probably didn’t think a British artist could rap.
“I don’t care if you don’t understand my accent,” he said, describing his reception as a “glorious occasion.”
Skepta, arguably the biggest figure in grime and the latest winner of Britain’s prestigious Mercury Prize, was also due to play Coachella but canceled citing visa problems.
Indie rocker Father John Misty performed on Coachella’s largest stage with a chamber orchestra to accentuate his introspective lyricism — a contrast to his ironic, much-noticed set two years ago that featured a semi-nude, extraterrestrial-masked female key-tar player serenading a woman plucked from the audience.
Up to 250,000 people are expected to come to Coachella over two consecutive three-day weekends, which have identical lineups, after the city council in Indio, California approved a 25 percent rise in attendance.
Lady Gaga is set to headline the festival on Saturday in a preview of her upcoming world tour, while Kendrick Lamar is the final night’s headliner in the wake of the acclaimed rapper’s latest album release.
Year of the glitch: Sound fails Radiohead at Coachella: HumSub.TV
Year of the glitch: Sound fails Radiohead at Coachella: HumSub.TV
About HumSub TV
Introduction
HumSub TV is Pakistan’s leading forwarding-thinking, edutainment channel, aimed at promoting and upholding peace, interfaith harmony and social responsibility within Pakistan through informative and insightful programmes and documentaries; analytical interviews on issues pertaining to social, economic, legal and environmental set-up; dedicated shows to canvass and thereby promote the culture and heritage of Pakistan and in-depth coverage of national and international news.
HumSub TV is the first channel and thus a pioneer within its own right that mainly focuses on emphasising the “Rights” as well as the “Obligations” of the citizens in light of the Constitution of Pakistan, numerous International declarations signed by the Government and various laws that have been promulgated over the years but are not in the knowledge of the common citizen.
HumSub TV also aims to enter into bilateral agreements with other countries to promote not only their culture, heritage and tourism, but also their educational and medical facilities.
Following the successful launch of HumSub TV’s head office in Blue Area, Islamabad; the bureau office has been set up in Lahore.
Vision
To project positive image building of Pakistan and inculcate nationalism, as per the vision of the founder of the nation, Quaid-e-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah.
Mission
HumSub TV is resolute about the promotion of a pluralistic, inclusive and egalitarian society in Pakistan where all citizens are allowed to contribute to promote interfaith harmony, peace and collective wisdom in the social, political and economic development of Pakistan and to encourage critical and lateral thinking in the society. HumSub TV strives to make a positive contribution to this end.
HumSub TV’s Theme
HumSub TV, Pakistan’s first EDUTAINMENT Channel, has been set up for not only those audience residing in Pakistan or overseas but the international community on the whole. The vision of the channel is to project positive image building of Pakistan and inculcate nationalism as per the vision of the founder of the nation.
HumSub TV strives to make a positive contribution to this end by promoting pluralism, inclusiveness and egality in Pakistan and give voice to the suppressed. It endeavors to act as a positive catalyst for social change and Pakistani nationalism. It envisions providing a platform for airing critical and lateral thinking and collective wisdom by inviting positive minded intellectuals and opinion forming individuals for the promotion of interfaith harmony and peace in the social, political and economic development of Pakistan.
Whereas the channel airs upbeat edutainment programmes, it, nonetheless, has the primary objective of countering negative anti-Pakistan regional and international propaganda as well as advancing fundamental rights as encapsulated in the Constitution of Pakistan.
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