| well, that was the best thing i've ever experienced. and i mean that sincerely. i made the 4 hour drive from alabama and arrived at 7am and waited with no food or water. blergh. around 2-4pm(i had no watch either) we started to hear the band soundcheck a bit. 20 minutes or so was spent checking instruments and riffs and stuff, and then i heard thom's voice, and got chills. very special moment for me. 'motion picture soundtrack' and 'like spinning plates' were toy'd with but neither played. '..spinning plates' sounded really cool, with thom on piano. but he hit lots of wrong notes, so who knows when they'll be ready for that one. after what seemed like an eternity in the heat and humidity, the gates finally opened. no one at this gate was checked for anything. it was just a big rush. i could have brought anything inside had i wanted to. that doesn't mean i was fond of these 'PAS' people. they were slightly rude. i even think there were loads of promo posters after the show that were supposed to be free, but they had decided to keep them and charge $7 to make some illegal money. bastards. i started about 3rd row, but somehow ended up about 5th or so. if people who got there earliest got the best seats, i should have been front row, but people cut and no one cared. i didn't really care that much either. so beta band comes out and do their thing. they were ok, but nothing memorable other than their interesting space suits and the lead singer's interesting rap noises and super sized gold tambourine. i was really into kid koala. i heard 'irregular chickens' a while back and was looking forward to him. really amazing stuff he can do with turntables and records. and he looked like a sweet little boy. he was smiling and doing cute little hand actions to the music. he was having loads of fun. and then, click. everything cuts off, and we're confused, he's confused. he smiles, waves, and leaves. it starts sprinkling and there's lightning, and i'm thinking, 'ok this is where i don't see radiohead'. but it stops thank god. very suddenly jonny's radio comes on, the band runs on stage to their spots and it begins. intense. the people who have meant so much to my life in the past few years are there in the flesh in front of me. very very wow, ahh, oh my god, oh my god, etc... but then i remembered all of the girls passing out at michael jackson concerts, and i laughed. 'national anthem' was a highlight. it was a tempter tantrum. thom snarling in the mic. song after song after song is incredible. the crowd was loud and the band was loving every second of it. thom's voice never struggles, beautiful. during the opening strums of 'exit music' some guy screamed something, maybe 'who let the dogs out', cuz thom said 'who let the dogs in?'? funny. thom thought so. infact he ended up strumming the opening chords quite a few times because he started laughing. perfect. the lights for 'dollars and cents' were f'in cool. thom let out about 6 good consecutive all-or-nothing screams at the end. i could sit here and talk about every song, but i'd just melt and trip over myself everytime. jonny was amazing as always. especially on 'pearly'. get a bootleg of that. thom halted 'pearly' the first time, cuz 'the snare's too loud. it's not a fucking rock song'. very funny, though his expression was an agitated one. mr perfection. and then he jumps higher with the opening note and it restarts more rawk and vigorous. yes. 'paranoid android' was everything i wanted my favorite radiohead song to be. :P awesome lighting too. 'idioteque' was caffeine. thom went absolutely MENtal on this one. and so did we. he came out close to the stage waving his hands at us violently fast, summoning us to jump up and down and go insane. and we did. wow. on 'how to disappear..' thom said 'did you read in the papers about the stuff going on in genoa?', 'this one's dedicated to all the children getting their heads cracked open by the police.' breathtaking, even though the ondes didn't start working till nearly the perfect time. i'd never heard an acoustic sound so great. really. i'm starting to wonder when i'll stop thinking about this show, and i don't know if i will. truly, the best experience of my life. easily. |
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