sound of the suburbs

Montpellier is a large attractive town situated just a few miles from the coast and has an important community of students, it is maybe for this reason that the town has numerous venues to satisfy its healthy appetite for night life. There is, for example the 6000 seater indoor stadium Le Zenith that plays host to the big bands, though there is one venue that provides Le Rockstore with some unhealthy competition (the venue is heavily subsidised by different public bodies) the slightly smaller Salle Victoire II. Not really a venue with a lot of character as it is situated miles from the town centre, handy for the motorway, it resembles a shoe box and the last time I was there I can remember it having some of the worst acoustics my ears have even been punished with.
I had started promoting gigs at the tail end of 1992 having come up with the pun heavy name of Luna Tick as our identity. I worked closely with a French agency that also programmed the bands for the Black Sessions as hosted by French DJ Bernard Lenoir. It was through them that I was first proposed an up and coming band that heralded from the town of Oxford. Today everyone and their mother knows Radiohead but back then they had yet to break big time. If my memory serves me well the gig was arranged at very short notice with the date set for 17 June 1993. Before we had time to put the tickets on sale we heard the bad news that Salle Victoire had programmed Belly for the same night, these things happen! What did throw us a little bit was when we heard days latter that they were offering Belly as free gig. Quick negociations meant that we found ourselves with partners to help us with our financial loss and so were now in a position to have a free entrance for Radiohead. Along with another DJ at Radio Alligator I recorded a jingle for the show using 'Creep' the obvious song from their debut album 'Pablo Honey'. When the big day came we really did not know how many people to expect, there were no re sales to guide us and with the two gigs touching the same audience, it was in God's hands and let's just say that this once he was on our side! During the course of the afternoon we heard that Belly had been cancelled (what a shame), apparently the reason given was that the band considered the drive to Montpellier to be too long! Obviously for us it was to late to change our plans and so the gig went ahead as planned. When I talked to Fifi the other day day and asked him about the concerts that left the biggest impression on him this gig was mentioned, as he stated that at the time 'Creep' was nothing more than a minor indie hit but the site and sound of the 1000 capacity crowd singing along with it was something to be seen, it was obvious that Radiohead were going to go on to greater things. I have since seen them on three other occasions, 19 November 1993 opening for James in Marseille, a return visit to the Rockstore 20 November 1995 and 13 June 2000 in an open air Roman theatre in Arles, though it was that first contact at Le Rockstore that made me realise they were so fucking special !
I guess there is not much in the way of rare Radiohead material what with the way everything they do seems to find its way onto the web almost quicker than it does onto tape. Two songs for you today that were recorded live for an early Black Session in the studios of Radio France in front of a live audience the already mentioned 'Creep' anyone know the last time they played this live? And another song from their debut album 'Ripcord'.