RH in Wellington, NZ: 29th Jan 1998 - REVIEW (again, its long!)
Alan
OK, heres the review of the second show I saw, the very next night, in my home town of Wellington!
Even though in all honesty the show wasn't quite as good, it was probably the most enjoyable day
overall, for reasons that will become clear shortly! :)
Something I forgot to mention in my last message, which proved to be crucial is that the girl who
worked in the music shop (ie: had access to HEAPS of promotional posters etc...) was right behind me
at the Auckland show, and we sort of had a conversation during the show. I saw her after the show
and she said come to the shop tomorrow and she'd find me something cool! YES!
So, the next morning still feeling really sore from the previous show, I headed into her shop early
Thursday.... best decision I ever made! She had her photos back from the brad/rh shows so I got to
see them. They were OK - hope mine turn out better. But, onto the interesting parts. She managed to
score me a vinyl sized poster of the OK Computer cover. Its very cool, and came in handy later that
afternoon!! Anyways, just as I was about to leave, she says all breathlessly: "did you see
Thom??!!".... i'm speechless! It turns out he's having breakfast in a little cafe up the road! WOW,
at this stage we have to decide what to do.... eventually we decide to walk in as though we're just
customers buying stuff, but then we see Thom sitting all alone in the corner like an ordinary
person, and decide to go over and say hi. We didn't stay long at all of course - the man was trying
to have breakfast! - we just told him how amazing the show last night was (he agreed!) and how I was
going down to Wellington tonight too. Turns out he hates flying, but was relieved to learn the
flight was only an hour!
My first encounter with a member of Radiohead! I dont think we overstepped the mark (going from
being interested fans to just plain intruding) since we were real quick in leaving, and didn't ask
questions, take photos or autographs. I hope not at least..... :|
I then headed to the airport..... just as I was about to get on the plane, I see a guy in a
radiohead t-shirt on the same flight as me to Wgtn! Could there be another person doing the
double??!! Yes, there was! I was very impressed. Had a longer conversation with him on arrival at
Wellington - he had met the band the previous afternoon! hehe, he asked Thom for an autograph and he
just said "fuck off" to him... ouch!! That was before the show at their hotel I think. He asked
another band member to play a song for him, and was so happy that they did.... the song he chose? My
Iron Lung! Jeez, they only play that one at *every* show anyway!!! He was still happy though. He
also met them at Auckland airport just before seeing me, and did get the signatures this time, plus
had quite a chat apparently - he seemed very stalker-like from his stories!! He also had another
juicy nugget of information for me: what flight RH were arriving in Wgtn on! YES! :))
Armed with this new info, we head over to the Air-NZ terminal to see them arrive! Theres about 30
people there already waiting for them (they'd been there all day!) including a Marilyn Manson
lookalike girl (she was real nice though)..... some of them had videocameras - I wasn't not sure
what RH would think of these..... I told them all how great the previous nights show had been - they
were suitably impressed/jealous! I go into the shop to buy another new vivid (again, just in case!)
Finally after what seems like an eternity, RHs plane arrives. The first to come out is Jonny..... we
go up to him and using my vivid he signs stuff for everyone (including my poster, a Pablo Honey
vinyl and a white Street Spirit vinyl). He was really nice to us all, but leaves the building on his
own, which was strange.
We then search for the remaining members. Someone says "baggage claim" and we all run over there.
There I saw one of the funniest things ever - it was Phil, then some businessman, then Ed, then
Colin standing in line waiting for their baggage!! The suit guy in the middle looked shocked and
bemused as we all pulled out the videocameras and cameras and aimed them in his direction! I wonder
if he knew who he was standing next to! LOL! Seeing RH members standing waiting for luggage was a
strange sight. We approach them and all 3 are ultra-nice all signing stuff for us.... Ed did refuse
a photo with a girl though if I heard him right. Had very brief conversations with all of them -
nothing worth mentioning really.
So all I need is Thom to complete my 'set'! I ask this guy "wheres thom?" and he was able to tell
me! hooray! He already had his bags somehow so was more willing to talk than the others. I ask him
if he'd play motion pic soundtrack at the end tonight, and he said he'd try if his voice held
out..... cool, a possibility! I love that song! I thank him for the autograph and leave! We all go
outside to watch them drive off..... I still cant believe the poster I was given that morning on the
other side of the country now had all 5 members signatures on it!
So, now finally on to the actual show! I arrive at the venue about 3:30, meet up with Ditch from the
internet who travelled ages to be there (some of you may know him from the old elmail list). A
little list-meet here in NZ - awesome! There was a huge rush for the door at 7pm exactly like last
night, except much more intense - yip, this was gonna be a rough crowd. Still me and ditch are
nearly at the front! :) Eventually at 7:30 they let us in (we keep our tickets this time!).... race
to the stage! FRONT ROW! The equi-distant spot again, just a row closer! Too damn cool for
words......
10 minutes after arriving, the first person just behind to me needs rescuing. Radiohead would not be
on stage for another 50 minutes you understand! She looked exactly like a mannequin - she was
completely motionless, stiff and so pale..... a little scary really. Finally Fitter Happier starts
to great cheers and shoving. :) Again Airbag is the opener (starting to really appreciate this song
finally), followed by talk show host again.... the bends is next! The moshing is starting to become
a serious problem it seems.... Thom even changes a lyric during the bends (ala ACPG at 11/10/95 for
the tape collectors out there!!) The Bends rocked seriously.... better than the last night. At the
end of the song Thom said something cool about moshing "...... and I'm not going to let you ruin *my
gig*". Loved this - I knew they had a great time at Auckland and this confirmed it to me...... :)
Karma Police followed..... very singy song just like Auckland. Loved it.... i dont remember much of
the set order from here at all to tell the truth. Ditch wrote it on his arm, so when he gets back
I'll ask him. MUCH shorter than Auckland..... they skipped Pearly (damn), and Lurgee..... everything
else from Auckland was played plus nice dream I think. Not much talk on stage - everything said was
about the moshers "you dickheads at the front need to get in touch with your feminine side, thats
all"... LOL! the moshing really mostly took place directly in front of Thom - it wasn't *that* bad
over where I was...... I think the real radiohead fans (not moshers) would stand in front of Jonny,
rather than Thom, but thats just what I think....
The highlights I can remember were: Thom laughing before creep. Also, Jonny skipped the mini-crunch
(quieter) things at the end of creep to go behind the keyboards ASAP - i think they're getting tired
of that song (again) too.... bones again was great..... :) basically every song was a highlight!
hehe. Had the camera snapping away from the very start this night, and was front row the whole time!
Should rate! The moshing was really annoying thom but i think they still had a great time in
Wellington.... definately not as good as the previous night though... still, let down as the first
song of the encore was worth the admission price alone! :) I think the other band members were
having fun the whole time... Ed came over to talk to/play with Jonny at one point, which i dont
think happened the first night. Got a photo of that moment - two great guitarists in one shot! :)
Oh yeah, Ditch had a huge sign which was requesting true love waits..... we're sure Thom looked at
it, but they didn't play it.... thought it was too much to hope for. For the second song of the
encore Thom said "heres one to piss off the moshers out there"..... and played nice dream. hehe, we
still were going wild to it. It was just one of those nights! The final song once again was Street
Spirit. Would have been better to hear the tourist really "hey man, slow down"..... cant complain!
no second encore = no mps. Damn, still I wasn;t expecting it, once I saw thoms reaction to the
crowd.
The set (i think). Everything off the bends except H&D, Black Star and Sulk. Everything off OKC
except Electioneering and the tourist. Plus Creep and TSH..... thats it, nothing rare at all. Oh
well, it was still an amazing time to be front row at an excellent RH show :))))) Oh yeah, i got a
Jonny guitar pick as well (thanks to ditch who somehow scored 3!).
And thats all. Theres a front page article about the show in the newspaper tonight, which was very
interesting (they want to record songs here in NZ!!!). I may type it out. 2 pictures on the front
page too!!! Radiohead are just huge right now.....
Well, those 2 days were some of the most amazing experiences of my life. Every single Radiohead fan
I met was really nice as well... I hope all the Australians enjoy the shows coming up soon, and can
write more interesting reviews than me! Especially to 'drowning' who gets to see them 6 times! Lucky
you huh?..... :) Twice just doesn't seem enough somehow, and now its all over its hard to know how
to feel. Cant wait till the next radiohead tour! :)
Alan
MaverickIX
Wow, I just wish people over in the USA would get their act together and
recognize Radiohead is worth listening too, then we all could have exper. like
that! :-)
~/\/\averick -------------------------------------------->0-I--<
"The moon is out, the stars invite,
I think I'll leave...tonight!"
ditch...@gmail.com
DiTcH