Tuesday, May 13, 2008

not to beat a soggy horse but...

This is just too perfect (you'll see why in a second). By now I'm assuming you've all heard about the debacle that was the Radiohead concert at the Nissan Pavilion on Sunday. If you haven't, well, read this and if you were personally affected, check out this group on Facebook. Luckily, everyone I went with was able to 1) park and 2) catch the show. And let me tell you, those first six songs -- All I Need, Jigsaw Falling Into Place, Lucky, 15 Step, Nude, and Pyramid Song -- were awesome. Even the fact that it was raining at first seemed kind of awesome. However...(you knew it was coming)...after I got over the initial elation of being at my third Radiohead concert, I began to think the epic elements were less awesome and more annoying hazardous to my health. The sounds of the storm and and my retardulous idea to try to make a one-woman tent out of a flimsy vinyl tablecloth led me to miss most of the latter half of the show, not because I physically wasn't there, but because I was too busy cowering under my soggy shelter using my breath to keep warm.

I tried to keep dancing, but when you have four layers of wet clothing on, a failed tablecloth, a broken umbrella (Thanks Hypothermia Guy #1) and the completely wrong footwear (turns out leather ballet flats do nothing to keep your feet dry), no amount of sweet, sweet dancing will stave off impending death (you think I'm being melodramatic...ha!). And so as much as I hated to do it since I absolutely adore Radiohead, we decided to cut out early before the encores, not just to keep warm, but to avoid the gnarly vehicle rush that would certainly cause havoc later.

Clearly, at that point, little did we know that the traffic jam in Nissan Pavilion's parking lot/drainage dish/white water rafting river/raw sewage field was one big clusterf*ck since before the show even began. It took us about two hours to get out, which again is better than if we had just ran our tank to empty circling around that hell hole for seven hours.

You know, it is tempting to be angry at Radiohead, as some bloggers are, for choosing to go with the Nissan Pavilion, in light of all the group's boasting of a "green" tour and what not, but I just can't be. (Although, as far as I'm concerned the Nissan Pavilion can still suck it). Radiohead to me is like the puppy (I have in my mind) that poops on the rug, samples it, then jumps on your lap and licks your face. Despite all the doo-doo and shenanigans, it's still a super-cute puppy and Radiohead is still, well, let's just say the best band to have ever graced this exceptionally messed up Earth of ours (I think I can listen to All I Need on loop until the end of time...). I'm not mad at them.

In fact, I actually like them a little more today, especially considering a statement they put out yesterday regarding all the retardulousness of Sunday:

To everyone who made it, and put up with the torrents on the lawn, and came early to catch the Liars and our show, thank you so much for braving the deluge. I hope you heard what you came for, the music and lights diverting you from the wet. We got out of there around three am, and the pic [Ed. note: See the hotness above.] shows Jonny waiting in the loading bay whilst the water streams across the tarmac. We've had floods at Bull Creek, lightning at the RFK stadium, so there must be some kind of Biblical fix between us and DC. Frogs next time?
Ha! That's right! It's not them, it's not the venue, it's not even the weather -- it's DC! I mean, "Biblical fix" between them and this city? "Frogs next time?" Brilliant! It's almost as if Radiohead just wrote a guest blog for me. Tight! Now if only they'd be so kind to come back -- maybe to Baltimore to avoid the DC curse? -- and do a free show to make up for the fact that so many people either had to bail out early to avoid hospital time or physically could not enter the event. Just throwin' an idea out there...

Or Nissan could just give us all our money back since they pretty much stole it. To reiterate, SUCK IT NISSAN PAVILION.

9 comments:

I-66 said...

For the record, Striker is not Radiohead because he has not pooped on the rug.

That is all.

Shannon said...

Cute as they are, I still blame Radiohead. You don't bill your tour as "green" and then perform in an exurb Bhopal.

Were you on the lawn? In other words, exactly how insane are you?

Marissa said...

I was 100 percent on the lawn. It was hell.

Also, however, I've been hearing rumors that Radiohead had no choice in venue selection and that it was the work of LiveNation and/or conflicting schedules.

N said...

The Live Nation website is as shitty and disorganized as Nissan Pavilion. I could not find corporate contact info for Live Nation on the website, so I called Nissan Pavilion asking for the contact info for Live Nation corporate, and the operator told me that Nissan Pavilion is Live Nation corporate for this region. I asked for a number for a headquarters and she would not give it to me, telling me that someone would get back to me regarding the Radiohead show.

Shannon said...

Aw. If I'd known you were there, I would have given you my stub as we left so you could get inside for a bit. It was still cold and wet, but you could have heard some of the show.

And, sorry, I refuse to believe a band with Radiohead's stature has absolutely no say in where they perform. If they have the clout to release a pay-what-you-want album on the Internet, they can press for better venues. That, you know, don't rip people off or play hell with the environment.

Marissa said...

n--

From what I'm hearing, several others have also had the same experience. Taking names, that is. If anyone else is interested, the number for LiveNation/Nissan Pavilion is (703) 754-6400.

shannon--

Yeah, except there is that Biblical fix going on. Basically, to get a good show, us suckers who live in DC are going to have to travel.

Oh and thanks for the offer, but I wouldn't have been able to find anyone as every piece of technology on my person failed due to the flooding.

Anonymous said...

I was in the pit...where it was still damp and chilly, so I can only IMAGINE how you all felt on the lawn. Other than the actual show, the entire day was HELL for me and my husband.

Anonymous said...

It was still a great show; definitely the best of the 8 Radiohead shows I've seen. "Weird Fishes/Arpeggi" took on a bigger significance in the cold rain fall. And it was lovely how the folks in the lawn hummed along in unison as the band finished "Optimistic."

As we were driving back to NYC the next day, we encountered a couple of bright-eyed college kids wearing the eco-friendly, nifty concert t-shirts at the road stop Burger King.

"We're you at the show?"

"Yeah, it was awesome. We were in the pit and we avoided the rain."

(Fuckers.)

For the record, the BK veggie burger is delicious. And their fries are tops.

Marissa said...

I must say it is nice to hear a different point of view. If we had been able to get the ponchos like we wanted and I owned a pair of waterproof shoes, the actual concert might have been a different story for me. However, nothing -- not even a delicious BK veggie burger -- could make up for the abomination that is the Nissan Pavilion.