Radiohead-A-Palooza - Day 2 - Houston
Saturday was concert #2 of my Radiohead-A-Palooza 2008. You can read about show #1 here and here. Saturday’s show was in the Houston ‘burbs. Since the venue is about 230 miles from my house, obviously a road trip was in order. My plan was to drive down on Saturday, see the show, and stay in the area Saturday night.
I started having some “issues” on Friday night. You see, I was determined to have a camera of some sort at the show. I read on the venue’s website that they do not allow “professional” (AKA removable lens) cameras, and that small cameras were at the performer’s discretion. You can’t always tell how serious a place is about these policies until you’ve actually been there. I was planning to try and take my “big” camera in, but if they wouldn’t let me in with it I didn’t have a backup. I tried to find someone that I know that could let me borrow their camera, but I didn’t have any luck finding anyone. In my desperation I came to embrace an idea that I initially rejected as crazy – I decided to buy a cheap small camera to use if I couldn’t use the big one. I figured I could maybe sell it on ebay later on and hopefully recoup a decent portion of the cost. Obsessive much?
One problem is that usually this is the kind of decision that takes me weeks of research and contemplation, except I only had a couple of hours. I went to the store Friday night and succeeded only in staring at all the cameras in confusion. I decided to sleep on it and try again Saturday morning. So with a greatly compressed version of my normal research I decided on my budget and desired functions and hit the store again Saturday. I made a decision and a purchase, packed my stuff, and hit the road.
I didn’t leave home as early as I had planned, but I had a reserved seat for the concert so I didn’t think there was much point in getting there too terribly early. I checked in to my motel, grabbed some dinner, and headed for the Woodlands Pavilion. I pulled into the parking garage at about 7 for the 7:30 show. I had a brief bit of concern about the fact that as I got close to the venue that it started raining. If you read about the first show, you know that rain played a big part. Luckily it wasn’t raining hard and it didn’t look like it was going to be sticking around long. By the time I got parked, grabbed the cameras, and headed out of the parking garage, the rain had stopped, never to return!
I hadn’t been to this venue before, so I wasn’t quite sure what to expect. I’m used to places that are warehouse-like and surrounded by acres of desolate parking lots, so this turned out to be a pleasant surprise. The Pavilion is located almost in a park-like setting. It’s surrounded by trees, and the parking lots are scattered around the periphery among the greenery. At times I felt like I was on a nature hike as I walked to the gate!
I finally made it to the gates, and I have to say that my hopes of getting the big camera in sank. They were doing some serious security checks at this place. Anyone wearing a hat had to remove it so security could look at it, you had to completely empty all your pockets, they were making some people roll down their socks, and they were checking people’s waistbands! It was the tightest security I’ve ever seen at a concert. When I got to the front of the line I told the lady that in the interest of saving time I wanted her to tell me if my camera could be brought in before she made me do all that other crap. She looked at it and then asked me if it had a detachable lens. I lied and said “no”, and I thought for a minute that it might actually work, but then she said she was going to have to ask this other lady about it. Other lady came over and said “Nuh uh”. I was going to have to check my camera before I could enter. I asked if my new camera was OK and she said that it was. I went through all the other security stuff and the lady said for me not to wait in line again, but to just walk back up to the front of the line when I came back. I have to say that even though I think this policy is really stupid, at least the security people were nice and didn’t get all aggro about everything, which can sometimes happen. Some security people let this small amount of power go their heads and act like Dirty Harry. So while I can complain about the policy being bullshit, I can’t say that it’s unfair because things pretty much went down like the website said they would. I figured it wouldn’t hurt to try, and it didn’t.
By this time the opening band had started, but it was still early in their set. I started up the steps to head to my seat. I had a ticket on row P, which is the 16th row from the stage. I entered near the start of the lawn section. As I looked at the row letters I started getting excited seeing just how close that really was. I made it to my seat, which was on the left side of the stage, and I was really happy with how close I was. I had the feeling that this would be quite a different experience from the first show I went to.
As show time drew near, the seats around me filled up. Everyone was sitting, but as soon as the lights went down and the beep/bloop entrance music started everyone stood up. In a bit of a departure for the tour so far they opened with “15 Step” instead of “All I Need”. I thought that was a good choice since “All I Need” is kind of mellow. I was mesmerized from the start. This was a completely different experience than the first show. Here I actually had visuals to go along with the music. Sitting on the lawn in VA I was very far away from the stage. There was no way to see facial expressions on anything other than the video screen, which was not a typical video screen setup. The lights also made much more of an impression on me since I was a lot closer.
I did take photos with my new camera, but the experience left me a bit frustrated. It’s really designed to be a camera for people who don’t know and/or don’t care to know how to use a real camera. It’s made for point and shoot stuff. It was pretty difficult to get fast enough shutter speeds to get non-blurry images. Zooming in too much resulted in some really grainy photos. I think I got some decent shots of the whole stage setup, but I didn’t get many good close-ups. I realized late in the show that I could shoot video. I tried to shoot during the second encore. I was very careful about my framing, trying to hold the camera still, etc., but I forgot the most important part – you have to press the shutter button to record! So I ended up with no video (I found some shot by others though).
I thought the setlist was outstanding. Once again they played every song from “In Rainbows”, which I have no problem with. They didn’t play “House of Cards” as the show closer this time, which I thought was a great move. I think that song is way too laid back to work as a closer; I think you want to go out on a high note. They played some great songs that I didn’t get to hear at the first show, like “Morning Bell”, “The National Anthem”, and “Where I End and You Begin”. They played two songs that weren’t even on my wish list that blew me away – “Climbing Up The Walls” and “Street Spirit (Fade Out)”. I did miss “Paranoid Android” and “Karma Police”, and my wish to hear “2+2=5” didn’t materialize, but that’s nitpicking. I thought the crowd seemed like they were pretty into it.
The lighting rig was pretty damn awesome. They used these big light tubes with LED lights in them. As you can see from the photos there were a variety of colors, and during “Planet Telex” they busted out the rainbow mode. I loved what they did during “Weird Fishes”. The lights were blue, and there were small parts of the tubes that were a lighter color that kind of “floated” and reminded me of fish.
The second encore killed. It started out with “You and Whose Army?”, and Thom did his bit with the camera getting an extreme close-up of his eyeball. Everybody went apeshit. Then the final song was “Idioteque” and Thom did his “I’m being chased by a swarm of bees” dance in the middle of it and everybody went double apeshit. At the end of it all I sat there with a big stupid smile on my face while I waited for people to file out. I felt like I saw something amazing and special. I think that feeling was muted a bit at my first show because of the difficult weather conditions and the fact that I had to leave before it was over. Being closer made a difference too. This time I really had the feeling that I had just seen greatness. That it doesn’t get any better than this.
I went back to my motel room happy and eagerly awaiting the chance to see them from even closer up the next night in Dallas.
I started having some “issues” on Friday night. You see, I was determined to have a camera of some sort at the show. I read on the venue’s website that they do not allow “professional” (AKA removable lens) cameras, and that small cameras were at the performer’s discretion. You can’t always tell how serious a place is about these policies until you’ve actually been there. I was planning to try and take my “big” camera in, but if they wouldn’t let me in with it I didn’t have a backup. I tried to find someone that I know that could let me borrow their camera, but I didn’t have any luck finding anyone. In my desperation I came to embrace an idea that I initially rejected as crazy – I decided to buy a cheap small camera to use if I couldn’t use the big one. I figured I could maybe sell it on ebay later on and hopefully recoup a decent portion of the cost. Obsessive much?
One problem is that usually this is the kind of decision that takes me weeks of research and contemplation, except I only had a couple of hours. I went to the store Friday night and succeeded only in staring at all the cameras in confusion. I decided to sleep on it and try again Saturday morning. So with a greatly compressed version of my normal research I decided on my budget and desired functions and hit the store again Saturday. I made a decision and a purchase, packed my stuff, and hit the road.
I didn’t leave home as early as I had planned, but I had a reserved seat for the concert so I didn’t think there was much point in getting there too terribly early. I checked in to my motel, grabbed some dinner, and headed for the Woodlands Pavilion. I pulled into the parking garage at about 7 for the 7:30 show. I had a brief bit of concern about the fact that as I got close to the venue that it started raining. If you read about the first show, you know that rain played a big part. Luckily it wasn’t raining hard and it didn’t look like it was going to be sticking around long. By the time I got parked, grabbed the cameras, and headed out of the parking garage, the rain had stopped, never to return!
I hadn’t been to this venue before, so I wasn’t quite sure what to expect. I’m used to places that are warehouse-like and surrounded by acres of desolate parking lots, so this turned out to be a pleasant surprise. The Pavilion is located almost in a park-like setting. It’s surrounded by trees, and the parking lots are scattered around the periphery among the greenery. At times I felt like I was on a nature hike as I walked to the gate!
I finally made it to the gates, and I have to say that my hopes of getting the big camera in sank. They were doing some serious security checks at this place. Anyone wearing a hat had to remove it so security could look at it, you had to completely empty all your pockets, they were making some people roll down their socks, and they were checking people’s waistbands! It was the tightest security I’ve ever seen at a concert. When I got to the front of the line I told the lady that in the interest of saving time I wanted her to tell me if my camera could be brought in before she made me do all that other crap. She looked at it and then asked me if it had a detachable lens. I lied and said “no”, and I thought for a minute that it might actually work, but then she said she was going to have to ask this other lady about it. Other lady came over and said “Nuh uh”. I was going to have to check my camera before I could enter. I asked if my new camera was OK and she said that it was. I went through all the other security stuff and the lady said for me not to wait in line again, but to just walk back up to the front of the line when I came back. I have to say that even though I think this policy is really stupid, at least the security people were nice and didn’t get all aggro about everything, which can sometimes happen. Some security people let this small amount of power go their heads and act like Dirty Harry. So while I can complain about the policy being bullshit, I can’t say that it’s unfair because things pretty much went down like the website said they would. I figured it wouldn’t hurt to try, and it didn’t.
By this time the opening band had started, but it was still early in their set. I started up the steps to head to my seat. I had a ticket on row P, which is the 16th row from the stage. I entered near the start of the lawn section. As I looked at the row letters I started getting excited seeing just how close that really was. I made it to my seat, which was on the left side of the stage, and I was really happy with how close I was. I had the feeling that this would be quite a different experience from the first show I went to.
As show time drew near, the seats around me filled up. Everyone was sitting, but as soon as the lights went down and the beep/bloop entrance music started everyone stood up. In a bit of a departure for the tour so far they opened with “15 Step” instead of “All I Need”. I thought that was a good choice since “All I Need” is kind of mellow. I was mesmerized from the start. This was a completely different experience than the first show. Here I actually had visuals to go along with the music. Sitting on the lawn in VA I was very far away from the stage. There was no way to see facial expressions on anything other than the video screen, which was not a typical video screen setup. The lights also made much more of an impression on me since I was a lot closer.
I did take photos with my new camera, but the experience left me a bit frustrated. It’s really designed to be a camera for people who don’t know and/or don’t care to know how to use a real camera. It’s made for point and shoot stuff. It was pretty difficult to get fast enough shutter speeds to get non-blurry images. Zooming in too much resulted in some really grainy photos. I think I got some decent shots of the whole stage setup, but I didn’t get many good close-ups. I realized late in the show that I could shoot video. I tried to shoot during the second encore. I was very careful about my framing, trying to hold the camera still, etc., but I forgot the most important part – you have to press the shutter button to record! So I ended up with no video (I found some shot by others though).
I thought the setlist was outstanding. Once again they played every song from “In Rainbows”, which I have no problem with. They didn’t play “House of Cards” as the show closer this time, which I thought was a great move. I think that song is way too laid back to work as a closer; I think you want to go out on a high note. They played some great songs that I didn’t get to hear at the first show, like “Morning Bell”, “The National Anthem”, and “Where I End and You Begin”. They played two songs that weren’t even on my wish list that blew me away – “Climbing Up The Walls” and “Street Spirit (Fade Out)”. I did miss “Paranoid Android” and “Karma Police”, and my wish to hear “2+2=5” didn’t materialize, but that’s nitpicking. I thought the crowd seemed like they were pretty into it.
The lighting rig was pretty damn awesome. They used these big light tubes with LED lights in them. As you can see from the photos there were a variety of colors, and during “Planet Telex” they busted out the rainbow mode. I loved what they did during “Weird Fishes”. The lights were blue, and there were small parts of the tubes that were a lighter color that kind of “floated” and reminded me of fish.
The second encore killed. It started out with “You and Whose Army?”, and Thom did his bit with the camera getting an extreme close-up of his eyeball. Everybody went apeshit. Then the final song was “Idioteque” and Thom did his “I’m being chased by a swarm of bees” dance in the middle of it and everybody went double apeshit. At the end of it all I sat there with a big stupid smile on my face while I waited for people to file out. I felt like I saw something amazing and special. I think that feeling was muted a bit at my first show because of the difficult weather conditions and the fact that I had to leave before it was over. Being closer made a difference too. This time I really had the feeling that I had just seen greatness. That it doesn’t get any better than this.
I went back to my motel room happy and eagerly awaiting the chance to see them from even closer up the next night in Dallas.
Setlist:
01. 15 Step
02. Bodysnatchers
03. Lucky
04. Morning Bell
05. Nude
06. Pyramid Song
07. Weird Fishes/Arpeggi
08. The Gloaming
09. The National Anthem
10. Faust Arp
11. Videotape
12. Optimistic
13. Where I End And You Begin
14. Reckoner
15. Everything In Its Right Place
16. All I Need
17. There There
encore 1:
18. Jigsaw Falling Into Place
19. House of Cards
20. Climbing Up The Walls
21. Planet Telex
22. Street Spirit (Fade Out)
encore 2:
23. You And Whose Army?
24. Idioteque
Here are the weird fishees
Jonny is a rock star
This picture is grainy as hell, but I love the hoodie.
It looks like they're in rainbows here. Get it? "In Rainbows"? Roy G. Biv y'all.
And the crowd goes wild! Climbing Up The Walls
Idioteque
posted by JC at 10:31 PM
4 Comments:
I'm so jealous... and that "in rainbows" picture just rocks. I think you made a great decision with the camera. And honestly, I totally miss having my other Canon to take the little video shots. That thing was awesome (AIHTW). If it hadn't broken beyond repair I would have kept it forever for that aspect alone.
I wish we could have gone to the other shows with you. But I'm glad you've had such a good time. I live vicariously through the life of music junkie JC.
JC, I can't believe you were in Houston and you didn't let me know you were gonna be here!!!! You might have heard that I smell bad or something, but I would have definitely taken a shower for the occasion and we could have grabbed dinner or something. Next time you better let me know, YO! I'm glad you had such a good experience. I like the Woodlands Pavilion, except that it's pretty miserable in the middle of summer for all day festivals....
wow wow wow. I love the In rainbows as well. I bet you keep the little camera for such shows. It's nice to be able to throw a little thing in a purse or man purse tote. This show sounded great and can't wait to hear about Dallas. Hey are you seeing Tom Waits? Did you mention this?
h - I'm trying to decide whether to keep that camera or not. I really want something that can take better photos I think. I wish you all could have gone too!
c - now why would you want to ruin a perfectly good weekend by meeting me? The weather the other night was really nice, it was so cool out. I'm not a fan of outdoor venues in Texas in the summer. I nearly died at Stubb's last August when I went to see Ween.
pg - I do like the idea of having a small camera since it is much easier to sneak into shows. I did get tickets to Tom Waits! I haven't blogged that yet, I'm kind of behind on stuff.
For some reason I'm really obsessed with "Idioteque". I've been listening to all the versions from the first leg of the tour. There's something I find oddly appealing about how Jonny is just kind of sitting over there fiddling with some electronic equipment during the whole song. And I like Thom's dance.
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