It's The Devil's Way Now.
On Monday June 26th 2006, The Pinyon went on assignment to San Diego California to see some old and dear friends of ours. They're called Radiohead.
I woke pretty early that day, knowing full well what was in store for me. I'd compare it to Christmas morning, but frankly that has lost some of it's luster lately and would not do justice to the actual excitement I was feeling.
I was going to see Adioheadray.
My friends Jeff Kite and Robert Mann joined me on this excursion and we rented a fast car and set off for San Diego ("which I believe means, A Whale's Vagina").
On a side note, that joke was repeated ad nauseum throughout the entire journey. If you're not familiar with that joke, I pity and envy you.
Here are Robert and Jeff with the aforementioned car. Robert is the jerk who put his hand on his face when I asked them to pose for a picture, so this is what he gets. Lovely shot of Jeff though, very Flava Flav.
We cruised down the Interstate number 5 for a while and then cut over to the Pacific Coast Highway hoping to find of some kind of Sushi. What we found was Sushi, and lots of it. We stopped in Oceanside California at an awesome place called Hon's, where you can get all-you-can-eat Sushi and actually drink with the people who serve it to you. We all got full, and got happy, and then got back on the road. Here is a picture of the dining room at Hon's. If I were the type to use the word "charming" to describe restaurants, I would use it here.
Lovely, no?
What's that you say?
Get to the good part?
This insignificant minutiae is boring you?
Fine. But I was just trying to build suspense, you impatient bastards.
So we saw r at the Embarcadero Marina Park, which is right on the water in downtown San Diego (you stay classy) and the stage itself is actually at the end of a peninsula, so plenty of people with boats just floated right outside the fence and watched the concert for free. It was a nice venue, but it was no Gorge.
The opening band was called Deer Hoof or Moose Feet or something along those lines and was surprisingly mediocre for a Radiohead opening band. It was a threesome with a female japanese lead singer whose only english words spoken were "Thank You". Maybe if had I understood the words, the songs would've been more enjoyable. Maybe.
Finally, at about 8:15, with the sun going down in the San Diego Harbor, the boys took the stage,
and then they proceeded with playing the rock and roll music. For those of you not particularly interested in Radiohead, forgive me while I geek out for a second. In fact, you may just want to stop reading now and head over to Mark's blog, where you can look at his dumb ass pictures of Europe. What a prick. For the rest of you, the set list was as follows:
There There
2+2=5
15 step
Morning Bell
Kid A
Arpeggi
Videotape
National Anthem
Nude
Down Is The New Up
Paranoid Android
All I Need
Gloaming
You and Whose Army
Idioteque
Bangers And Mash
How To Disappear Completely
---------Encore---------
House Of Cards
Street Spirit
Just
Everything In It's Right Place
------2nd Encore--------
4 Minute Warning
Lucky
There were nine songs which I had never heard before, and I must say that they F'in rocked! I'm calling it right now, Arpeggi will be one of the classic Radiohead tunes when all is said and done. You can find bootleg performances of it on Youtube, if you're interested.
I thought it was a nice little mix of songs, but I was hoping for just a bit more from The Bends and OK Computer. I don't know when the next album comes out, but the rumors are next spring. Boooooooo.
After the show was over, I drove the car back and we made it from San Diego to L.A. in 1 hour and 37 minutes, which could be a record.
All in all, it was a satisfying show, but it really made me miss my friends who were there with me at The Gorge the last time I saw Radiohead. Ah, the memories.
Above is the obligatory blurry photo that looks like every other photo of every other concert that you've ever seen, except that if you look very closely, you can almost make out the lazy eye. Almost.
