Fig & Mint

First, an introduction.  I bought tickets for the show the minute they went on sale, called Miller, set the date, we're going to see Radiohead.  Awesome.  As the concert date is approaching, we start talking about starting our own website.  Gary's on board, Gary's coming to the show.  It seems as if everything is coming to its right place, as it were.  I even made a commemorative t-shirt to mark the occasion: The Birth of Fig & Mint.

Sunday morning, after a beautiful Saturday night at Nationals Park (in spite of the fact that the Nats got waxed 11-0; we had Diamond Club seats so we didn't care), we wake up to a torrential downpour.  This is DC, I assure my friends, it will break.  For those of you who have heard about the show so already, you know it didn't.  The fact that the Nissan Pavilion in Bristow, VA is the most poorly organized and operated venue I have ever been to didn't make matters any better. I've read in another review of this concert that expectation is the seed of disappointment, and the fear of being terrifically disappointed started mounting substantially as we waited inside the car, hoping the monsoon would lift.

After waiting as long as we could (and missing Liars, unfortunately), we made the long rainsoaked walk to the venue.  Fortunately our seats were covered, but I have read that the lawn was full almost to capacity, an amazing testament to the devotion of Radiohead's fanbase.  I thought I was being pretty hardcore, sitting in the cold, shaking like a newborn bunny, totally sober and unable to even smoke a cigarette without getting accosted by adorably petite 16 year-old Future Nazis of America dressed in EVENT STAFF rain slickers.  But I must say...IT WAS TOTALLY WORTH IT. 

Sure I could have enjoyed the show alot more had the weather been nice, but the fact remains that Radiohead does not disappoint.  The setlist was, expectedly, dominated by In Rainbows (which is fine with me), but Kid A, Amnesiac and grandaddy OK Computer were all quite well represented, with "Myxomatosis" and "Planet Telex" each making appearances from Hail to the Thief and The Bends, respectively.  But I don't think it would have mattered what they played.  True, this was the sickest setlist of the whole first leg, and I am thrilled to have been there, but the energy that the boys brought to the stage was breathtaking.  Hurricanes, inept staff and muffing up "Faust Arp" twice couldn't dampen Thom's spirits, who laughed it off and even took a few obligatory stabs at the Bush Administration before wowing us with "Karma Police." They were clearly well practiced for the tour, bringing the fire with every tune perfectly executed, Thom wailing and flying around the stage like a tiny little British banshee, nailing the falsetto every time, Greenwood having a blast in the corner with all of his weird electronic toys.

The stage setup was different than any I've ever seen, with rows of hanging bars used for reflection or to generate their own beams, forming a grotto around the band that bended the light all around them as the music progressed.  Behind this cave of sorts were a row of video screens projecting high contrast images of the band onstage, though no cameras were readily visible.  Unlike traditional videos, however, the images presented were done in such a way as to create relationships between the different parts of the songs and thus the musicians creating them, in effect bringing the minds of each member closer with that of the audience.  The highlights for me were "Paranoid Android" and "Everything in Its Right Place," though every tune was spot on and impossible to frown upon. 

In sum,  I certainly had the experience built up in my mind to be something larger than life, which I can't say any concert (even Bonaroo) really is, but the musical experience of Radiohead live was something I won't easily forget.  And I was incredibly relieved when we made it home and I was able to put on dry clothes, but even stormclouds won't prevent me from seeing them in the future (two nights in Jersey, baby!).  For those of you still interested, here's two videos circulating the web from the show, the first featuring "Weird Fishes/Arpeggi," the latter "Karma Police."  Enjoy.