Radiohead at the Hollywood Bowl

 

So!  Umm... Err... I still don't have words to describe the show.  The best I can come up with is this one: surreal.  What with the concert venue (amazing, outdoor, amphitheater seating, hills surrounding you), the light show (fiery icicles, orange pulsing waves, purple scrolling lyrics), the dual screens on either side of the stage (featuring an electronically distorted view of each of the band members), and the music (since I have openly loved Radiohead so passionately this one doesn't really need a parenthetical explanation) - I do mean it when I say I felt like I was dreaming.  A very sensory overloading kind of dream.

We picnicked beforehand, sitting in the grass outside the Hollywood Bowl with hundreds of other eager concert-goers, drinking wine and eating sandwiches.  When we ran out of wine, we wandered around and got refills from similarly group-minded fans.  The atmosphere was very chilled out, yet brimming with a sort of understated electricity.  The temperature was an even 70 degrees.  The sun was setting over the hills behind the bowl; I could see the Hollywood sign perched up behind the venue, looking iconic.  Our seats were perfect, right in the middle of the stadium and absolutely no one around us was annoying or distracting in the slightest.  I had a list of the top four songs I wanted to hear, and they played three of them.  I had a list of the top ten songs I wanted to hear, and they played eight of them.  I had visions of what I thought this show would be like; expectations of how incredible I imagined it would be...and not only did my expectations fall short, they didn't even come close to encompassing the whole scene.

Because, in the end, that's what you really remember about something, isn't it?  It's not the exact order of songs, or the specific temperature outside, or the seat number and row you've got.  I mean, you take those things into account, sure.  But you don't recount the memory to someone, years later, based around individual items like that.  The whole is greater than the sum of the parts.  And the whole at this concert was so dreamlike and overwhelmingly perfect that it's extremely difficult to describe.  I can only say that I feel incredibly lucky to have been there; that the memory of this concert is certainly etched into my mind for the rest of my life, and that I am very, very happy.

Set list, Radiohead at the Hollywood Bowl, Sunday 8/24/08

1. 15 Step
2. There There
3. Morning Bell
4. All I Need
5. Pyramid Song
6. Nude
7. Weird Fishes/Arpeggi
8. The Gloaming
9. The National Anthem
10. Wolf at the Door
11. Faust Arp
12. Exit Music (for a Film)
13. Jigsaw Falling Into Place
14. Idioteque
15. Climbing Up the Walls
16. Bodysnatchers
17. How to Disappear Completely

Encore:

18. Videotape
19. Paranoid Android
20. Dollars & Cents
21. Street Spirit
22. Reckoner

Encore 2:

23. House of Cards
24. Lucky
25. Everything In Its Right Place

And, if you're wanting a little more, here's a link to a more detailed review of the show.

** Update: another link to a great review, this time with some excellent pictures.

Comments

[allthewine]

ahhhhhhhhh! I remember when I was the biggest Dave Matthews Band fan and I traveled to Chicago to see them on a whim and they absolutely blew my mind. What Im saying is that you'll never forget and I'm so happy you did this and sunshine and happiness and rainbows and puppies.

[Mike C]

Sounds like a wonderful time was had by all. I had a similar experience with my first Springsteen concert a few years ago. Still gush about it when people come back from their Bruce concerts and we relate our experiences. Thanks for sharing yours. You are a terrific writer Elise!

[Cassie]

I'm so happy it was everything you hoped it would be and more -- I know how much you were looking forward to it. I had a similar experience seeing Garth Brooks (me = country bumpkin) about 15 years ago. I was so young that I didn't really know what I was experiencing -- just that it was something magical. I will never, ever forget it. Yay for Radiohead in Hollywood!

[Chiada]

Woohoo, Elise! Congrats on getting to go to the concert and for having a blast!

I had a very similar experience when I saw U2 at the Great Western Forum (L.A. Forum) in California when I was about 19 or 20. It.was.awesome. And very surreal.

Oh, I saw Dave Matthews Band too and they were equally as great, but a smaller show than U2.