Features

Sound fails Radiohead at Coachella

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Radiohead salvaged a headlining set at the Coachella festival from disaster on 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. — AFP