“It’s been a very long day” Radiohead frontman Thom Yorke told the 312 very lucky fans inside the legendary BBC Radio Theatre last night. The boys from Oxford spent the entire day promoting their recent album In Rainbows and playing a pair of warm-up concerts for their upcoming tours of Europe and North America. For those not fortunate enough to win free tickets drawn from a massive lottery pool, the day’s events were broadcast live on the BBC’s Radio Two.

Radiohead opened the matinee show with the first two tracks from In Rainbows, “15 Step” and “Bodysnatchers.” The band sounded sharp, only missing a beat near the end when they dipped into Kid A for “Morning Bell” and “Optimistic.” Not pleased with the latter’s sound, Radiohead recut the tune as an encore. “We were getting off on playing it — and then we weren’t getting off on playing it,” explained Yorke to a crowd that was more than up for hearing another take.

The evening show — heavy on material from In Rainbows and OK Computer — will likely be what fans see on the upcoming tours. (more…)

• Amplive’s remixed version of Radiohead’s In Rainbows has finally gotten the green light from the Oxford quintet after the band initially denied its release. Rainy Dayz is available for free download here.

• Oklahoma State University has surrendered the names of eleven students who illegally downloaded music to the RIAA in compliance with a court order issued after the RIAA sued several universities.

• Fat Boy Slim and Underworld have been tapped to headline this year’s O2 Wireless Festival, taking place in London on July 5th.

• The Eagles will headline the third day (May 2nd) of the country music-filled Stagecoach Festival in Indio, California. The fest also features Rascal Flatts, Carrie Underwood and Big & Rich.

Over the course of Mark Binelli’s interviews with Radiohead for his cover story in the current issue, the band revealed what music and books had influenced them during the recording of In Rainbows and in the past. Click here to browse some of Thom Yorke and Co.’s favorite pieces of culture, from M.I.A. and Fleetwood Mac albums to Gravity’s Rainbow and The Kite Runner.

[Photo: Cochrane/PA Photos/Retna]

The Big News: Despite giving away their album practically for free in October, Radiohead still managed to muster enough sales to claim the top spot on the Billboard chart, as the finally on-CD-and-in-stores In Rainbows sold 122,323 copies to hit Number One. Alicia Keys‘ As I Am stayed strong at two, selling only 10,000 copies less than Radiohead. Last week’s top-seller, Mary J. Blige’s Growing Pains, fell to third place with 89,084. While the Radiohead numbers seem weak—their Hail to the Thief sold 300,000 copies when it debuted in 2004—the total doesn’t factor in the number of limited-edition discboxes or “pay-what-you-want” download purchases.

Debuts: You’d think In Rainbows would be the big debut, but because 8,500 street date-breaking copies were sold the week before, the album actually debuted (illegally) at 156 last week. The Juno soundtrack, backboned by the Moldy Peaches’ Kimya Dawson, was the top-ranked debut, coming in at number eight with 37,936 copies sold.

Last Week’s Heroes: After ruling the chart landscape at the end of 2007, Josh Groban’s Noel submarined, falling to the fifty-eighth spot this week. The rest of last week’s top ten remained the same, with only the Hannah Montana 2 soundtrack dropping out to make room for Juno. Save for the debuts, all the albums in the top thirty suffered a decrease in sales as the annual post-holiday malaise gets underway.

• James Brown’s former adviser, attorney Buddy Dallas, says the ongoing legal feud over Brown’s estate is delaying the release of the singer’s last recordings — an album assembled in the summer of 2006 — plus another fifty to sixty songs remaining in vaults.
• Kanye West has returned to blogging after a two-month absence following the death of his mother with a light-hearted post titled “Thank You For All Your Support” that features photos of himself and Beyoncé playing Connect Four. “When I was in Europe I would play this game for hours and hours,” he writes. “Every now and then people would speak of this legendary connect 4 champion……….. BEYONCE!!! I had 2 play her!”
• After its first day on the digital charts, Radiohead’s In Rainbows sits at Number Two on iTunes’ list of most downloaded albums, second to the soundtrack to quirky buzz flick Juno, which features tracks from the Moldy Peaches, singer-songwriter Kimya Dawson, Buddy Holly and the Velvet Underground.
• Twenty-nine of Van Morrison’s albums will be re-released, starting later this month with 1971’s Tupelo Honey, 1974’s live album It’s Too Late to Stop Now, 1978’s Wavelength, 1985’s A Sense of Wonder, 1989’s Avalon Sunset and 1999’s Back on Top. Each disc will come with bonus material of alternate, re-arranged and live versions.
• The Offspring frontman Dexter Holland says the band plan to release another record this year, blogging on their official site, “I‘ve got two lyrics to do, a couple more to sing, and various musical tweaks and fixes to get done. Then we‘ll be ready to mix.”

[Photo: Getty]

Since Rock Daily has been following Radiohead’s unconventional release of In Rainbows so closely, we figured we better hit our local Virgin Megastore this afternoon to find out who was out buying the physical disc today — and why. Here’s a sampling of five typical folks we spied picking up the album. The biggest shocker? All five did not download the album before hitting the store today.

Ryan Campbell, 24
Radiohead fan since: OK Computer
Did you purchase the online version? No.
Reason for buying CD: “I heard the sound quality of the online release was bad, 128k or something. I’m not an audiophile, but it was important enough to buy the album.”
Have you heard the record already? “I’ve avoided listening to it.”

Jennifer Rose, 24
Radiohead fan since: “About four years ago.”
Did you purchase the online version? “What?”
Reason for buying CD: “I don’t normally buy CDs, but I heard it at the listening station. I was just feeling it, and I was in the mood to buy something today.” (more…)

While everyone else was enjoying the long weekend off, Radiohead were busy making headlines that no one reported on, so we’re going to bring you up to speed. First, above, you’ll see the slow-motion, feather-heavy video for “Nude,” the second clip the band has shot for In Rainbows. The video seems to have been inspired by hours of watching those Japanese YouTube videos of objects getting slowed down to ridiculous effect; it was also the grand finale of the band’s New Year’s Eve broadcast called “Scotch Mist,” which featured Radiohead playing the entire In Rainbows in a previously recorded intimate live setting (watch that performance in its entirety here).

The broadcast, which aired on Radiohead.tv as well as Al Gore’s Current TV channel, came one day before the physical release of In Rainbows in U.S. stores. Talking to the BBC, singer Thom Yorke said it would have been “stark raving mad” to release the album only in its pay-what-you-want MP3 form, insisting that eighty percent of people still actually buy albums because “it’s really important to have an artifact as well, as they call it, an object.” While Yorke has usually had his jaw clenched when discussing the business side of In Rainbows, he did use the band’s Web site to blast a Times UK report that Radiohead asked their previous label EMI for £10 million and their back catalog to re-sign.

In a December 29th post, Yorke says, with rabid capitalization, “we did not ask for a load of cash from our old record label EMI to re-sign. that is a L I E” and “whAT we WANTED WAS some control over OUR WOrK and how it was used in the future by them- that seemed REASONAblE to us, as we cared about it a great deal,” and ultimately called the label “a confused bull in a china shop.” The band eventually signed with XL Recordings and Dave Matthews’ ATO Records, as evidenced by the markings on the compact discs, which are on shelves now.

Related Stories:

• EMI Reveal Radiohead’s Contract Demands
• Radiohead Team Up With Al Gore for NYE Webcast
• Radiohead’s “In Rainbows” CD2: A Track-By-Track Analysis

• Paul McCartney will be honored for his outstanding contribution to music at February’s Brit Awards. Committee member Ged Doherty told the BBC it would be an “historic moment” for the Brits. In other Beatles news, the band’s former hairdresser is selling off memorabilia — including a lock of John Lennon’s hair — because she wants real fans to have the artifacts.
• Eight tracks from Radiohead’s In Rainbows will appear on a free upcoming remix album due January 10th from California DJ and producer Amplive (whose other clients include Akon). Fans can nab Rainydayz Remixes by forwarding a receipt for In Rainbows from the now-defunct Inrainbows.com. Radiohead hasn’t commented, but they have revealed plans to do another Webcast in the near future.
• Steven Tyler was questioned as a potential witness by California police after his girlfriend, Erin Brady, was involved in a brawl Saturday night. Brady reportedly took action after another woman tried to take photos of Tyler while the pair were out in Hollywood; security broke up the fighting women. No charges have been pressed at this time.
• The RIAA is is still maintaining that ripping MP3s of your own CDs is stealing. In the case of Atlantic v. Howell, husband and wife Jeffrey and Pamela Howell are representing themselves against the RIAA after being sued in August 2006 for using KaZaA. While the Howells argue the files were for personal use and “for transfer to portable devices, that is legal for ‘fair use’” the RIAA filed a brief last week stating the MP3s are “unauthorized copies.”
• Roseanne Cash is recovering at home from successful brain surgery for a benign condition, her label said yesterday. Cash, who made the operation public early last month, is expected to return to the studio early next year.

Rather than ask American Idol runner-up Blake Lewis where he learned to beatbox or what he thought of Jordin Sparks’ debut album’s lackluster sales, we inquired as to how much Lewis, a known Radiohead fan, paid for In Rainbows. Well, he didn’t actually buy it yet, but when he does, Lewis says, “I’d probably spend $40 or something, just because that’s cool and they’re going a different route.”

Someone should make Blake aware that for an additional $40 he could get that equally cool CD2 (check out our track-by-track analysis here) with the discbox purchase. Still, $40 is generous, considering Blake hasn’t really loved Radiohead’s output of the, oh, last ten years. “I was a fan of the old Radiohead stuff. I never really got into the newer because I love The Bends, Pablo Honey and OK Computer. Those are my three,” Lewis says, before inadvertantly contradicting himself by adding, “I love the avant-garde stuff.” We were wondering why Lewis didn’t cover Amnesiac’s “Pulk/Pull Revolving Doors” on AI. The question now is, will Blake Lewis becomes this year’s Daughtry/Aiken, a.k.a. the Idol loser that outsells the winner? (His Audio Day Dream is hitting shelves this week to slightly more fanfare than Sparks’ self-titled debut.) While we anxiously await the Billboard numbers, feast your eyes on Lewis’ possibly In Rainbows-inspired video for “Break Anotha” above.

[Video: kevipodblog]

After having two months to properly digest Radiohead’s In Rainbows, now we’re running to the mailbox every fifteen minutes to check if our discbox has arrived and with it, an exclusive second compact disc of eight new songs. While the box shipped December 3rd, an email from Radiohead’s merchandiser told North Americans that it would arrive “five to eighteen days” later. Thankfully, we got our copy of CD2 early. So instead of threatening your postal worker, check out our track-by-track analysis of the In Rainbows companion disc, complete with clips of all the songs in their studio form. And to hear what all the new tracks used to sound like in earlier stages, check the In Rainbows preview, featuring live performances of the songs.

• Having already pledged his allegiance to Barack Obama, Jeff Tweedy will rejoin his Wilco mates for a two-week tour of the States in February/March 2008. The band will play Cleveland, Philadelphia and New Haven, CT before heading down for a week in the southern states. Check the full dates after the jump.
• Two long-unreleased Keith Richards songs will finally hit eardrums on December 11th when iTunes makes available Richards’ versions of Chuck Berry’s “Run Rudolph Run,” originally recorded in 1979, and a cover of Toots & the Maytals’ “Pressure Drop” from 2003. iTunes is also in talks to acquire Radiohead’s In Rainbows, a move that would be a thaw in the icy relationship between the band and the music service (Radiohead refuse to sell their songs individually).
• In other Rolling Stones news, Ronnie Wood is looking to collaborate with South Carolina’s Band of Horses after hearing the band perform on Jools Holland. Band of Horses also perform Wood’s “Act Together” in concert.
• The seventh annual Bonnaroo festival will place on June 12th to 15th, 2008, in Manchester, Tennessee. Whether or not Led Zeppelin and Metallica will be performing remains unknown — but unlikely.
• Is Jay-Z on his way out of his CEO seat at Def Jam? According to reports, with Jigga’s contract expiring at the end of the month, the rapper demanded more money than Universal Music was willing to offer, given the current climate in the music industry.

(more…)

• People will “feel the difference” when they hear the new U2 album, Bono tells The Independent. The album will find the Irish rockers taking on trance, metal and Moroccan influences. “Normally when you play a U2 tune, it clears the dance floor. And that may not be true of this. There’s some trance influences,” says Bono, forgetting his band’s own Pop album. “It’s not like anything we’ve ever done before, and we don’t think it sounds like anything anyone else has done either.” According to Bono, guitarist The Edge has “real molten metal” coming from his guitar, and that the band has recorded enough material to fit two CDs.

• On December 10th, Radiohead will close down InRainbows.com, thus preventing latecomers from downloading their new album for free and/or pay-whatever-you-want. The $80 discbox will still be on sale at merchandiser w.a.s.t.e., but only while supplies last. The physical CD hits stores on December 31st in the UK and January 1st in the States.

• According to authorities, rapper Pimp C, who was found dead yesterday in his L.A. hotel room, may have died of natural causes. Meanwhile, Lil Flip has recorded the first of what likely will be many of Pimp C tribute tracks.

• The Police drummer Stewart Copeland has apologized to Chilean president Michelle Bachelet after insinuating that she was less attractive than Argentina’s female president Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner. Copeland also invited Bachelet to the Police’s concert in Santiago.

• MySpace, looking to stay fresh with Facebook on its tail, has created a new MTV’s Unplugged-like series where they post interviews and performances with artists on their site. First up: James Blunt.

[Photo: Getty]

• Ozzy Osbourne’s infamous “bat coat,” which he donned on The Osbournes, sold for $3,300 at an auction this weekend that saw the family selling many of its most prized possessions for charity. A coffee mug Ozzy used on the TV show went for $1,625, while a sculpture by Edouard Douret sold for $10,500. Altogether, the Ozzchandise raised more than $800,000 for the Sharon Osbourne Colon Cancer Program.

• Radiohead’s “Jigsaw Falling Into Place” video, shown during the band’s Webcast, has officially been released to YouTube. Meanwhile, the discbox option of In Rainbows, featuring eight new songs, has begun hitting mailboxes worldwide. While the band’s merchandiser w.a.s.t.e. e-mailed customers yesterday saying that the box should reach U.S. customers in “five to eighteen days,” those lucky enough to live in Europe (they received theirs today) have leaked its contents on the Web.

• Check out Brian Wilson’s “Smart Girls,” a semi-sorta rap song the Beach Boys brainchild recorded in 1989 with his associate Dr. Eugene Landy playing the role of hype man. The song was released as a limited-edition cassingle (remember those?) as a personal gift to 250 of his friends and associates for the holidays back when the first George Bush was in power.

• While nearly every industry profited this past Black Friday, CD sales still slumped, with the number of albums sold coming in eighteen percent less than the same weekend last year. As a result of the endless beatdown on the record companies, Island/Def Jam and SonyBMG have begun cutting jobs.

• In a merger of truly epic proportions, video game companies Activision and Blizzard — a.k.a. the makers of Guitar Hero and World of Warcraft, respectively — have merged in a $18 billion deal.

• Don Imus made his return to talk radio this morning, broadcasting live from Town Hall near New York’s Times Square on Citadel Broadcasting Company’s WABC-FM. Tickets were sold for $100, with proceeds benefiting the Imus Ranch for Kids With Cancer. Imus, who was kicked off CBS radio in April after uttering racially insensitive remarks on-air, will operate out of a studio across from Madison Square Garden after today’s show.
• Whitney Houston also returned to public performance, giving her first show since divorcing Bobby Brown and reportedly working with an addiction coach. Houston’s set at Malaysia’s Live & Loud Music Festival this weekend included “Heartbreak Hotel” and, of course, “I Will Always Love You” (watch clips here).
• Garth Brooks has set two records at Los Angeles’ Staples Center after tickets for his five upcoming charity performances sold out in fifty-nine minutes. Brooks became the first artist to sell out that many shows in one day at the arena, and he will also give all five performances in under thirty hours due to scheduling conflicts with L.A.’s basketball teams.
• In an upcoming interview with U.K.’s The Observer, Radiohead’s Ed O’Brien says the band parted ways with EMI due to a personal conflict that arose when the band tried to negotiate a deal with EMI’s new owner, Terra Firma head Guy Hands. “EMI is in a state of flux. It’s been taken over by somebody who’s never owned a record company before … It was really sad to leave all the people. … Terra Firma doesn’t understand the music industry.”
• Diana Ross and Brian Wilson were among those honored last night at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts for their achievements in the field. At the event, which will air December 26th on CBS, Ross was recognized for spreading “romance and joy throughout the world” while Wilson was celebrated for his “era-defining transformation of the sound of music” with the Beach Boys. Martin Scorsese, Steve Martin and pianist Leon Fleisher were also part of the 30th class of honorees.

• Akon has been charged with endangering the welfare of a child and second-degree harassment five months after throwing a fifteen-year-old boy from the stage during an upstate New York concert. Things turned ugly at the June show after Akon asked security to find a fan who threw something at him onstage. When Akon responded by tossing the teen into the crowd, the victim landed on a girl in the audience who later said she suffered a concussion. Akon is due in court Monday for arraignment.

• With her VMAs debacle behind her, will Britney Spears try a second MTV comeback? Various fan sites claim she’ll premiere her recently shot video for “Piece of Me” before the end of the year in a “BIG event,” which may be a live appearance on MTV (the network just launched a contest for fans to make their own version of the video).

• Lil’ Kim says she made a mixtape, Ms. G.O.A.T. (a.k.a. Greatest of All Time, due in a few weeks), to give back to her fans. “It’s been a year and a half since I been home from jail; I felt I owed them something.” Tracks include a remix of Britney’s “Gimme More” (substituting “It’s Lil’ Kim, ho” for “It’s Britney, bitch”) and a freestyle targeted at Remy Ma over 50 Cent’s “I Get Money.” Kim says a proper album should be out next year — after she’s free from Atlantic records and in charge of her own music.

• Axl Rose showed off his inner fireman when the Malibu blazes struck his home over the weekend. “He helped a lot,” his assistant told reporters. “He was with the hose everywhere.” Damage to Rose’s home was contained on the roof, so presumably those Chinese Democracy masters are still safe … somewhere.

• The culprits behind the fake Radiohead site radioheadlp7.com seem to be trying their hand at a second hoax by writing a new post claiming they’re Oasis frontman Liam Gallagher. “The rumors you have heard are true,” “Liam” writes, “I am responsible for this site … We’re having a time recording the new album.”

[Photo: Getty]