No Surprises…

Dit citaat vond ik zojuist. Het zijn van die momenten waarvan je dan plaatsvervangend kippevel krijgt. Michael Stipe (zanger van REM) praat over een optreden van Radiohead waar hij in het publiek stond. Het optreden was in New York, ik meen een jaar of wat geleden, en is toen uitgezonden op TV. Ik weet niet zo goed in welke categorie dit hoort, muziek of wereldvrede. Wie het weet mag het zeggen. Je moet er even bij weten dat het nummer waarom het gaat in de maanden na 911 voor het eerst sinds jaren gespeeld werd en in die periode herhaaldelijk is opgedragen aan Donald Rumsfeld of Tony Blair of Bush zelve.

Michael: …at a Radiohead show in New York at the Beacon Theatre. It was a televised thing, and they had sold tickets for $2. The entire place was filled with fanatic Radiohead fans. Typically at a Radiohead show, everyone sings along to every song; they know every lyric. Sometimes you can’t even hear Thom Yorke’s voice over the din of the audience. But this night, when they walked onstage and started playing the first song, the audience was quiet, reverential. No one was singing along to any of the songs. It wasn’t until they played the song “No Surprises” that says “the government, they don’t speak for us.” And on that line, every single person in that room shouted out “the government, they don’t speak for us!” and on the next line of the lyric, they were dead quiet again. I was there with a group of people, including Q-Tip, and I looked over and Tip, and his mouth was hanging open. And I was like, “Did that just happen?” and he just nodded his head yes. Afterwards, we were sitting around at the bar with Thom and the band, and Tip and I said, “Do you realize what happened tonight?” and Thom said, “I almost fell over. I almost couldn’t sing the next line of the song.”

van ateaseweb.com.

Miko Flohr, 04/12/2004