August 19th, 1997, 4:15pm. Andrea bursted through the door followed by Erica and Kim. I was a little disappointed in andrea's attire, but i guess the usual would be way to uncomfortable for what was ahead. It was time to depart... and I was so excited that I could've blown up.

The car ride was unexpectedly long, but that was ok. We pulled into the parking area hosting the sign "ARROW HALL - teenage fanclub and RADIOHEAD, August 19th" in time to line up for a good hour. Looking around at the many radiohead fans, i felt like i blended in. I also saw an unexpected large amount of older men.

6:00pm-ish, The security guards looked especially menacing in their tourquois golf shirts and black shorts. As they herded us into the hotel-like lobby of Arrow Hall, they shouted "I don't wanna see any running!" When we got into the building, we followed the herd into the women's washroom and after waiting for Erica to get her hands completely dry under the hot air drier, we entered the warehouse. It was smokey and dark with a cool bluey/red/pinkish light exploding from the stage. People were sitting in little clumps on the floor, but we decided to stand in the group around the stage. We reserved ourselves a nice spot about seven rows back, infront of (what was going to be) Thom's microphone.

After waiting for, I'm guessing an hour?, Erica left with her email friend (who we met up with) to get a candied apple. Raunch. Kim, Andrea and I tried our best to save their spots, but a group of people started cheering, and the whole 6000 population of the warehouse stood up thinking Teenage Fanclub had entered the stage. But... no. The water bottles and towels weren't even put out yet. Well, so much for seeing Erica again:) So we stood for a bit... people were smoking weed near us, which was nice... when a grey haired/bearded groupie came out and started tuning the guitar and bass. He got a nice big cheer for his five minutes of fame. Then the openers, Teenage Fanclub, poured onto the stage. The temperature got a little higher, and I was feeling a little clausterphobic, but I was impressed on how tame the audience was.

I'm sure Teenage Fanclub is a good band, but I was getting very bored of their music. It all sounded the same, and I just wanted Radiohead to come out... NOW! When they finally walked off stage, I felt a tap on my shoulder. "Do you know how goddamn hard it was to find you??!! I was looking for a blond girl with glasses on her head, and your not even wearing them! Ahh!" (I had taken of my sunglasses, and put them safely in the pocket of my cargo pants) Erica was definitely excited. She was giving Kim's and My shoulder raspberries, yelling "I smell like weed!" or "Bad touch" and was generally just being loud and annoying. The water bottles were being put on stage. My stomach was feeling even more queasy than it was before.

The lights went out. "Fitter, happier, more productive..." Girls screaming. I was feeling so excited that I thought I was going to explode. Jonny Greenwood was the first to enter the stage, I didn't see who was next... I just watched Jonny go to his guitar stand and keyboard. They started singing Lucky, and I was suddenly pushed against the person infront of me. Erica was screaming as she was smooshed against my shoulder. The sound was amazing! It took me a while to realize that I was actually there and not watching them on the tv.

The air was thicker as the song ended. My throat was hurting from yelling,] and I was feeling very uncomfortably wet. I was so not ready for the next song. Being an amateur moshee, when the first three chords of Just came on, I had already lost Kim, Erica and Andrea. The violence was insane! It was a constant struggle for footing, trying to push away from smelly people and straining to see the band over the bobbing heads. I was thinking "how am I ever going to last this whole concert?!" I found Andrea briefly, patted her head, and lost her. Kim and Erica managed to stay together the whole song. We never found Andrea, again. As the song ended, the crowd literally fell over. I had been pushed closer to the right-hand side of the stage (conveniently where Jonny was playing), kicked, kneed in the head by a body surfer and LOVING it. I was so disgustingly sweaty and hot, but so was everyone else. It didn't matter. I was watching Radiohead! Wow!

They played the songs (order??) Lucky, Just, Airbag, Iron Lung, Let Down, Karma Police, Paranoid Android, Exit Music[for a film], Fake Plastic Trees, Planet Telex, The Bends, Nice Dream, Talk Show Host, Bones, Climbing up the walls(In the beginning there were technincal problems and Thom got pissed off. Jonny looked scared that Thom might walk off stage), After that, Radiohead played an encore dedicated to the first few rows being pushed at the front by the F***heads further back. I was in the f***head section but still felt the dedication applied to me, too. They played Subterranean Homesick Alien, a B-Side, Lurgee, and Street Spirit [fade out], which is one of my favourite songs!:) During Street Spirit, I was sending telepathical messages to Jonny as he stared into the audience.

Thom thanked the people in the back of the warehouse and Jonny waved. He again cursed at the moshers and the concert was over. As Jonny was leaving the stage, he stopped, looked into the audience, and cracked the most fabulous smile! :)

My hair was literally dripping, and different areas of my clothes smelt like the the other people I was smooshed against. We herded out of the hall and found Andrea at the washroom (where we had planned to meet after the concert). Her pants were ripped along the inseam past her knee and temperarily mended with her many earrings. "Moshers kept stepping on the bottoms of my pants and I looked down and I thought 'oh! my pants are ripped!'" She had some nice stories. Erica and Kim had stories of molestors and other things. Somehow, they managed to stay together the whole concert.

After the hall was nearly cleared out, we went back in and bought t-shirts. Andrea and I got the same one. My money was soggy when I handed it over to the guy, but I think he was used to soggy money. I didn't fall over, helped one or two people up. Stood behind a guy with really smelly hair, encountered huge scary, moshing, hairy men while trying to get closer to the stage. The usual, nothing too exciting... other than getting to see RADIOHEAD perform!!! WOW!!!!! Now all I have to do in life is meet Jonny Greenwood. :)

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