Radiohead, Hollywood Bowl, Sunday August 24 2008

Well, it’s been a while. I’ve stayed busy: I broke up with my boyfriend, moved, went to Israel, started smoking pot again, saw Robert Plant & Allison Krauss, Thievery Corporation, and went to the Playboy Jazz Festival. And, attended my very first Radiohead concert!

General synopsis: I think Radiohead was made for venues like the Hollywood Bowl. Large but not enormous, beautiful scenery, and a good backdrop for some aesthetic lighting choices. Though my seats were about as far away as you can be, I still felt very connected to everything happening onstage. This is in part due to Radiohead’s extremely tight production values and transcendent sound, but also the utmost respect with which most of their fans regard them. A few of my friends who saw them two nights earlier at Outside Lands complained that everyone was talking through the Radiohead set, but distracting chatter was at a minimum on Sunday, even up in the illegal smoking section where I was.

Crowd looked like: White people of all ages, who brought a few of their Asian friends. Not as many man-vests as I expected.

Opening act: I was in the bathroom or the beer line for most of The Liars set. I would describe them as art house rock, and are not my cup of tea. If I liked their music I would have been impressed by their show, but they would benefit from a smaller venue.

Security factor: Hit or miss at the gates. I was made to empty my Solo cup, but my bag wasn’t really searched. Inside, my friend was nicely asked to put out his cigarette, but smoking underneath the seat was (apparently) permitted. Dancing in the aisles was allowed, thankfully.

Set list here.