tuesday june 9 1998
oh dear. rereading this, i realise that it is quite.... well, i'm usually a bit more coherent. i swear. i wrote a more factual (less emotional...eww!) review here. (catherine? PLEASE include this link!) anyways, the account on this page is messy, but it does sort of convey what it was like to be there....
i have found NIRVANA and it is radiohead. thom is a godD, i tell you, the one fucking only goD! hes short, and has a widows peak hairline, an his baggy pants came down over his shoes so just the toes were showing. oh, hes so purdy. kayt took notes�i�ll get copies tomorrow. i dont remember very well the order of songs or anything, just a mishmash of images. lovely, lovely images....
seats, such kick-arse seats. balcony, 3rd row, center. kayt on left, gettel on right. spiritualised opens, nice�45 minute wall of sound/noise/music. 25 minute wait or so..why the hell are they playing shitty music? ice cube? hawuzza? silence..i know somethings about to happen..it does.
oh god, its really them. thom is such an expressive figure centerstage. ed, wearing glasses, left. jonny (�anorexic girl�) right. phil on elevated platform with drums, behind thom, slight left. colin on bass, right of phil. but most of all..thom.
random details:
oh god, my ears are ringing, my head hurts, my eyes hurt. its almost 2am....i dont plan on sleeping tonight. think i�ll go remove contacts and make some coffee. im not going to sleep tonight. i figure i�ll be more tired if i get just a couple hours of sleep than i will if i stay up and make more coffee. i just want to reflect on radiohead....fantasize about thom....mmmmm. enjoy a few hours of living in my own world, where thom is dictator for life and music is the only law and those who have no right to exist, dont. a world where anything is possible and dreams sometimes come true....
radiohead live is an experience i would liken to enlightenment or spiritual liberation. i cannot describe it. a right mixture of sound music, noise, lights, and expressive movement/dance. the paramount was a perfect theatre. small enough to be intimate, large enough to have a crowd. where with any other band a mosh pit would have formed, people stood packed, mostly still, enthralled by the music, sometimes swaying. the �event staff� (security) was a joke; they stood around, doing nothing. they were entirely unnecessary. what would the point of moshing or violence or trying to get onstage be, anyway? i mean, shut up, its radiohead. just listen damnit. thom said to the enraptured crowd at one point, �youre either really really stoned or youre listening.� isnt that wonderful? people were listening! something out of the ordinary: a rock concert about music appreciation. we loved thom and the whole crowd at that point. thom just gave us a complement! special, no?
so radiohead played from about 9:15 to 10:30 or so, ending with my iron lung. then thom said �thankyou, goodnight.� and they all left.everybody was clapping and cheering and such for 4-5 minutes, so encore, of course. finally they returned to the stage, which just made me so happy. you know i love you guys! 2 songs off pablo honey (no creep, o course), and then street spirit. every song they played which id heard on cd, was even more incredible live. i swear, it was incomparable. so they left again after fade out. no dont go! on my feet, sos kayt. yelling, screaming, waving, clapping hands above my head. i looked around. there were some green lights shining on the crowd. everyone was standing, clapping with hands raised, cheering. i got the feeling that everyone in the theatre was projecting waves of love towards the band, even tho they were out of sight backstage. it was tangible. nonstop for another 3-4 minutes. i saw the smile on thoms face when they returned. i know you must understand that we love you! they played 2 more songs, hell i hardly remember what, ending with the tourist. thom, you are goD. i was prepared to clap till my arms fell off and yell till i lost my voice for a third encore, but the houselights came on and everyone started leaving. no matter. euphoric high. the two unexpected (for me) encores left me feeling fulfilled, satisfied, oh so much more. thankyouthankyouthankyou. kayt, who had been hopping around, barely able to contain her excitement, before the show was now calm, as i hopped around somewhat hysterically. the stupid grin ive had plastered to my face all day in joyous anticipation, and wore in the dark as i sang along to almost every song, i still wore. i musta looked like a complete dork, but quite honestly i couldnt care less. radiohead:)
we looked for kat in the crowd leaving the theatre, but did not see her. wandered up the street, past 3 buses, to stage entrance. a little crowd of, oh, 20 people were waiting there, waiting for radiohead to emerge. we waited patiently for an hour, but no sign of em. too bad�even if i couldnt get em to sign my okc liner notes, i woulda liked to reach out and touch thom. but it was cool to stand around and talk to kayt about the concert.
SOLID. a very accurate discription of the show. in this instance it means every single song was hot shite good, that altogether it was out of this fucking world. it was thom breaking 3 guitar strings on just. it was his smile, all their passion, their diversity, their expressiveness, their stage presence. it was 2 encores. it was an hour and a half of the purest music. solid means truly exceptional, a real once-in-a-lifetime. my first radiohead concert. i loved radiohead before�now im addicted. i was barely worthy of this show�next time i will be a goddamn disciple. kayt said shed sleep on the street the night before in order to get tix, and i promised to join her. and i will! i swear it.
but do you understand? this concert was absolutely perfect! i wish i had a video, or even just a plain audio tape. it was perfect because everyone, both the band and the crowd, got lost in the music. everyone spent an hour in a euphoric, music-drenched world, together. i dont usually go for such communal bonding things, but this, this was different. this was a whole new level. this was approaching ecstasy.
hell, how does one get close to such people anyway? i remember thinking several times during the show, �thom is such an incredible human being.� definitely 1 in 6 billion. but also just another mortal, just like me.
you cannot possibly understand. it was the most powerful, must wonderful thing ever to happen to me in my nearly 16 years.
i refuse to apologise.