The Boy Who Likes To…

RA D IOHEA_D AT RT_E 047

Well the last 24 hours have been a bit of a roller-coaster. My emotions at the moment seem a little bit on a knife edge. But one thing at a time, lets start with the easiest. And I need cheering up.

The impromptu free Radiohead gig that I mentioned yesterday and asked someone to be me a solid for…seeing as I got no offers I went myself.

I made an excuse and left work, told them that I wouldn’t be long.
Knowing what Radiohead fans are like I was expecting the queue to be around the corner within the hour of Jonny making the post on their blog. So after an hour and thirty minutes trying to weigh out the pros and cons of going I decided to take a look at the queue.
After getting off at Aldgate, getting lost walking past many Universities I kept getting the feeling that my journey would be wasted.
And the journey felt even longer as I got on Brick Lane and couldn’t find the venue. It said 91, but 91 looked like a sofa warehouse. So after checking out a few maps and a bit of luck at spotting a sign I found the record store.

And I was in for a shock when I saw the queue.
I had arrived at about 12.30. 2 hours after the word got out and there was just around 50 people there. How could I not queue up?
Next I had to figure out what to do for the next 7 hours?

Lucky for me a few other single Radiohead fans arrived just after me so it wasn’t long we all got to talking about life, work, hobbies and of course Radiohead. There was even hope of killing time with a crossword, except Random Dan had mistakenly thought there was a puzzle in when their wasn’t. Damnit Dan (this is a joke that only me and three other people who I will never see again will get)

Just a quick note, had it not been for the three randoms who I put my trust in when I went for toilet/food/drink breaks I wouldn’t of made, Thanks Random Guys.

Things started to get a bit busy at 5ish. I was getting worried as the queue infront of me seemed to be getting wider and places were very limited, turns out there was only 176 wristbands to hand out. At 6 they started to give out wrist bands. After a nervous wait of about 20/30 minutes the bouncers finally got to me and handed me my wrist band (number 047 out of 176). It was at this point that I started to breath properly and began to relax. It had been 5 hours, only another 2 more hours to go.

Alot of people then started to turn up. It began to get a little messy. I was just pleased that I had already got my wrist band and had my way in. But more and more people kept turning up. We would later find out that the police had some concerns and the venue was to be moved because of concerns over the crowd and the venue not hold many people. Some people estimated that there were over 15o0 fans crowded outside the shop.
Even a media circus turned up. I got interviewed for Sky News. Which I later thought was a bad idea as I had told a little white lie to my boss to leave. I hope he doesn’t watch the news. I’ve even spotted myself waiting in line on the BBC video report. (Can you spot me?/Will I get away with it?)

So the gig was put back by 2 hours and moved down the road. Only a few hours extra, there was no way I was turning back now.

Finally in 93 Feet East another two queues 40 more minute of waiting. Peoples feet were aching, patience was running low the temperature had really dropped, which was hard for those that had rushed out without  although we did get to see the band as they walked through the beer garden from the car park.

Eventually at 22.20, two hours twenty minutes later then planned – beat that Winehouse – the band all appeared. All the crowd forgot about the last 10 hours and started to cheer.
The sound and acoustics of the venue sounded so different from anything else I have heard Radiohead play. Especially as the whole stage had been set up in about 2 hours. It was just like they were saying “hey yous guys, come listen to this really quick, but we have to leave soon.”
They played all their In Rainbows album. Some hits and misses, it wasn’t flawless but it was fantastic. The usual suspects stood out amongst the rest, 15 Step, Video Tape, Jigsaw and my favourite Reckoner. It was just Radiohead and less then 200 other people. And me.

The encore was just as good, if not better. Thoms solo with Up on a Ladder. Colin making the crowd laugh during Thom “having a serious moment,” and Thom checking Jonny was ok on You and Whose Army.
But I think the major crowd pleases were the two tracks from The Bends, My Iron Lung and The Bends which showed that Radiohead can still thrash out those guitars rock stylee.

All in all I had a great time. A long wait, but the gig was well worth it.
It wasn’t their most perfect or possibly even greatest performance but it will be one of their most historic gigs as the band are at their peak.
For those 176+ people and myself that got to see this intimate gig it will certainly be the most memorable Radiohead gig ever.

BB/C _6 M usic /Revi_ ew
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