Radiohead's muddy gig tops magazine poll
A live performance by Radiohead has been voted the greatest gig of all time.
The band’s appearance at the 1997 Glastonbury festival was the surprise winner in a poll compiled by Q magazine.
It was voted ahead of the Beatles’ final rooftop concert at Apple HQ.
The Sex Pistols legendary Screen on the Green gig in 1976 also failed to beat Radiohead, as did Oasis at Knebworth and any of the acts from Live Aid.
Radiohead’s Saturday night set in front of 40,000 mud-drenched fans was described by festival organiser Michael Eavis as the most inspiring festival gig in 30 years.
The only Beatles show to make the top 20 was their impromptu free performance on the roof of Apple’s Savile Row headquarters in 1969.
Their first live concert for three years, it was also the last time they would play together in public.
But it only made seventh in the list compiled by Q readers and contributors.
Nirvana’s appearance at the Reading Festival in 1992, at the height of their fame, was voted into second place.
Third were Oasis, who played to more than 250,000 fans at Knebworth in August 1996.
The Oasis gigs set the record for Britain’s biggest rock concerts, broken by Robbie Williams last year when he played to a total audience of 375,000 at the same venue last year. But Robbie’s concerts do not make the top 20.
Coldplay’s “triumphant” set at Weston Park, Staffordshire, for V2993 were fourth, ahead of Brian Wilson’s recent gig at the Royal Festival Hall in which he performed his lost masterpiece Smile for the first time in 40 years.
The rest of the top 10 was made up of Madonna’s Earls Court shows in 2001, her first in Britain for eight years; REM’s appearance before Nelson Mandela at a free Trafalgar Square gig in 2001; Queen’s memorable Live Aid performance in 1985; and Pink Floyd’s spectacular Earls Court show in 1980.
Top 20:
1 Radiohead – Glastonbury (28 June 1997)
2 Nirvana – Reading Festival (30 August 1992)
3 Oasis – Knebworth (10-11 August 1996)
4 Coldplay – V2003, Weston Park, Staffs (17 August 2003)
5 Brian Wilson – Royal Festival Hall (26 February 2004)
6 Madonna – Earls Court (7 July 2001)
7 The Beatles – Apple HQ rooftop (30 January 1969)
8 REM – Trafalgar Square (29 April 2001)
9 Queen – Live Aid, Wembley Stadium (13 July 1985)
10 Pink Floyd – Earls Court (4 August 1980)
11 Sex Pistols – Screen on the Green, London (29 August 1976)
12 Stone Roses – Spike Island (27 May 1990)
13 U2 – Slane Castle (25 August 2001)
14 Eminem – MEN Arena, Manchester (8 February 2001)
15 Flaming Lips – Bristol Academy (18 January 2003)
16 Stereophonics – Earls Court (17 December 2003)
17 The Strokes – Heaven, London (28 June 2001)
18 Red Hot Chili Peppers – Camden Palais (14 June 1999)
19 The Libertines – The Forum, London (18 December 2003)
20 The Verve – Slane Castle (29 August 1998)
