The day I went to see Radiohead, my left-eye was twitching with excitement since 2:00 PM. I jumped into the car, ready to be blown away by the notorious Radiohead. Instead, I ended up sitting in traffic for several hours listening to three Radiohead songs on the radio during the duration of the trip. I was getting fed up with the traffic and almost got out of the car to run to the venue, but being the lazy person that I am, I stayed in the car screaming at no one. I ran out of the car when I finally arrived at the venue hearing the faint melody of “Paranoid Android”.
        I stomped all the way up to the entrance, knowing that I had missed Stephen Malkmus and the Jicks. I’m sorry that I cannot report anything on them. I’d rather listen to the last second of them instead of not hearing them at all. The security guards checked my bag for the illegal drugs and weapons I love to carry around with me, and my hi-tech phone with a camera in it. After that short confrontation, I ran into the venue, unsure of where to go; I decided to go where most people were heading, but that wasn’t close enough to Radiohead for me. I walked a couple of paces in front and stationed myself in-between a couple of people that seemed hopped up on alcohol.
        Nobody seemed really excited (maybe they were all awestruck by Radiohead’s grandeur) where I was standing, and there was rarely any movement except for: (a) the movement of the hand from the side of the body to the mouth to smoke a cigarette (b) to move a head slightly to talk to his/her friend (c) to move past the people with lawn tickets or, (d) to shake beer around and wobble around because of intoxication. I couldn’t help but bob my head to the beat of the songs trying to forget my surroundings.
        Onstage, Thom Yorke said, “This is a song to have fun with”, and the band starts playing “We Suck Young Blood”. It was eerie how the crowd clapped together at the same time, fitting it into the professional sounds of Radiohead. A couple songs later, Yorke spoke again to say, “We love this song” before playing “Creep”. The crowd buzzed; people were not sure what to make of that comment. Was it mockery or honesty? Others roared because it was their favorite song. It really doesn’t matter what it meant because the concert was amazing. Fantastic. Superb. Mesmerizing. Atmospheric. Mystical.
        As usual, I had to leave before the encore, but I did get to hear a couple of seconds of the first encore song as I exited. Radiohead played like there was no tomorrow; the whole band was full of energy, taking it out on their instruments. Thom Yorke looked like a kid that forgot to take his Ritalin, but it all added to the effect that Radiohead is one of the best performing bands out there. My eye is still twitching while I type this, but it’s not from excitement but astonishment.