I can’t think of many reasons to travel to Blackpool. On the face of it, there are many reasons to stay well away. Sea-front vendors that dispense nipple tassels is a good one. Stepping over used condoms on the steps to the sea wall is another and encounters with drunkard youths trying to buy Es from every pedestrian they pass makes three.

However, there is one band on this earth with the pull to defy student budgeting and repulsive locations. They are Radiohead and on Friday night they were the best band in the world.

Blackpool marks the start of the UK leg of Radiohead’s current tour, having already taken in Amsterdam and Copenhagen. It concludes later in the summer with some festival appearances. As best I can tell, they’re following the same formula as they did before the release of Hail to the Thief; playing a number of smaller theatres now before the album comes out and following up with a larger venue tour in the Autumn.

Green Plastic has the set list, which contained a good mix of old and new, going back as far as 1993’s Black Star from the Bends. Obviously Pablo Honey didn’t feature and notably there was nothing from Amnesiac.

‘Emotionally intense’ is a good phrase to have about when you review Radiohead. Indispensable in fact. You laugh (Ed and Jonny messing with their drums before ‘There There’), you smile (Jonny Greenwood trekking across the stage to join in backing vocals on ‘Black Star’) and you get lifted to moments of complete sing-along euphoria (many times). But in an instant you can be laid bare by something entirely different.

‘Exit Music’. A glorious piece of stark, ghostly, heart wrenching brilliance. People just don’t know what to do when Radiohead play this song. The moment the solo guitar is recognised there’s a cheer, which fades to leave just Thom Yorke’s voice. At first, a few try to sing along, but they’re too loud and they stop. A few more try to clap in time, but it feels so awkward that after a only few bars they stop too. Some individual at the back shouts ‘Go on Thom!’ just to break the terrifyingly frozen audience. Thousands of people standing perfectly still in absolute silence. Watching. Listening. Shivering as they’re consumed by a song that’s bigger than every one of us.

For me, ‘Exit Music’ is worth a £35 ticket on its own. Then they played Paranoid Android. I like the word ‘juxtaposition’ about now.

The new songs are also sounding excellent. It’s not a massive shift from Hail to the Thief, but it’s Radiohead making more great music having learned and evolved just a little bit more. There’s a good mix of styles and I particularly liked ‘Bangers n’ Mash’ and ‘15 Step’. Both have a great rocking beat. Radiohead you can dance to, fancy that. ‘Big Ideas’ is also magnificent.

There was something there to please every Radiohead fan, Thom was on great form and you can’t help but appreciate the effort that goes into these shows as entire instruments are brought on and off for the benefit of one song.

I think Stuart may be emotionally damaged from having lost his Radiohead virginity, but he did manage to gasp something about ‘a near religious experience’.

If you’ve got a ticket for Wolverhampton or London this week, I envy you. Radiohead are just so good right now. Willy Mason makes for excellent support too. Enjoy.