South Bank Memory

I've just looked at this Flickr page after finding (in a pile of gallery leaflets, maps and tickets from this summer) the card I was given when this photo was taken. It was a little booth on the South Bank, part of the Walking In My Mind show at the Hayward (which I went to after this was taken). I'd just got back to London after the trip across Europe. I think I was still on a high from the 100th!
(and by the way I know I've spelt Hundredth wrong...)

was this my first set list? Dec 4 1993 Manchester GMex

NME 11 December 1993

Pop Is Dead

I've started the ridiculously time consumming job of scanning in my archive of Radiohead press and memorabilia... to what end I'm not really sure, only some of the older stuff is getting a bit discoloured (those inky NME pages don't age very well) and I live in fear of any harm ever coming to this collection. I've just reached the first edition of Pop Is Dead, the original and best Radiohead fanzine from the neolithic pre internet era (1993) Here's the back cover scattered with the best quotes the band had thus far generated in their introduction to the world. I like to think that they've stuck to their original mission...

Surf Boardie/ Reading Festival 15 years on

After Vienna I seemed to spend about 3 days on the move via Prague and Den Haag back to Brussels to catch the Eurostar back to London. Thanks to all the Boardies for the opportunity to coach surf my way through Europe (Surf Boarding?). At the last moment I got another sofa to kip on in London and then spent a nice day on the South Bank, looking at art at the Hayward Gallery and drinking tea with old friends (and spotted Robert Wyatt doing the same thing on the Royal Festival Hall balcony).

I clocked up a few more miles on buses to cross town for my next boardie-surf and then on Sunday morning we car-pooled up to Reading, where thanks to the generosity of yet another boardie I'd scored a Reading Festival ticket. It's been 15 years since Radiohead last played this festival and that was also the last time I was here.

It was a weird day, the weather was overcast, the vibes were very low key compared to a regular gig. I took the opportunity to catch up with some people and have a few beers. I saw Adam Buxton's Bug videos and didn't stress about trying to see any other bands. I went on a tea run and returned for Vampire Weekend and Yeah Yeah Yeahs.
During Bloc Party's set it became clear that getting out of the crowd and getting back in again was going to be a mission, but it had to be done (tea + beer = need of facilities) I think they should have had a spare portaloo in the sound desk compound for emergencies. I ended up behind a tall guy in a big comedy wig and killed all my karma having fantasies of stabbing him in the arse with my new Spork!

It was just about possible to get out and back, but it meant that I wasn't quite in the right headspace for the first half of the gig, and even though in comparison to a lot of people we were quite close (looking at the crowd shots on the TV coverage we were very far from having the worst view), our view of the action on stage was pretty minimal. The sound at least had improved by the time Radiohead came on.

As you can see on the BBC coverage the band are looking a bit wind blown and fatigued from playing Leeds the night before, but they have some last-night-of-the-tour spark too.

It was a bit of a weird one for me, always going to be a bit anticlimactic after Prague, I think I spent a large portion of the set feeling like I wanted to explode with frustration because I couldn't see, but there were moments when it properly kicked in: Feeling like I could tear all the flesh off my bones during Climbing Up The Walls; You And Whose Army with the "nose-cam" getting the close up of Thom's eyebrow waggle as the wind blew his fringe; standing on tip toes for Lucky and feeling the lazer beams shooting out of my fingers; feeling like my feet were floating off the floor as they got the "hit the bottom" bit of Arpeggi just right; a few spots of rain during Just...

It took an age to get off the site at the end and then we car-pooled back to London again and didn't stay behind to see if Thom's onstage invitation to "free drinks" backstage would hold any water...

This Means Nothing To Me....

Bloody Ultravox, that's all you get when you mention you're going to Vienna.
Having recovered from spending a few hours asleep in about 3 different rooms of our hotel, not as rock 'n' roll as it sounds honestly - In the end I was too tired and emotional for more than a minor assault on any of the mini bars and other people were having to get up early to leave so I just slept anywhere that wouldn't disturb them. I had breakfast with a rotation of boardies before they went to get the Poznan train and then rejoiced in the fact that the check out time was 12noon.

Mela and Silky turned up in their rental car to give me a lift to Vienna. We had a nice drive through the rather sparse Czech countryside, aided by the Navi-Bitch (a very German sat-nav) with a gas station stop for snacks and then a look at the Danube in the baking sun, plus some rather unseasonal Goulash to put the boot into my hangover. All plans were put on hold once I arrived, as I fell asleep for 3 hours and then was too groggy to do much.

The following day was full-on Vienna. I explored the entire city centre, inside the Ringstrasse, taking photos, discovering random buildings and generally deciding that Vienna needs about a week all to itself if one is going to get anywhere near finding out what it has to offer. I did get to see the tiled buildings at 40 Linke Wienzeile and have a look at the Secession (including the Klimt Beethoven Frieze - which I saw a recreation of in Liverpool last year). I also wanted to see the Leopold Museum but unfortunately it was closed on Tuesdays. I made do with meeting Mela in the bar and exploring the shops in the Museum Quarter. My legs ached by this point. M had to be somewhere so I wove my way back to her place via a bar called Phil where in honour of the gig in Poznan I had a Bison grass vodka and apple juice in the Polish fashion.

All this excitement and hot weather left me a unable to settle down so I ended up raiding M's impressive CD collection until 2am. The following day all hopes of getting to do touristy things were scrapped in favour of a leisurely brunch before heading for the train back to Prague at 1pm. It was very warm and I just read my book and tried to absorb the last couple of days.

Funnily enough, I was reading Barcelona Plates by Alexei Sayle (a really brilliant book of short stories that I'd been saving up) and there was a bit in one of the stories about how Austrian food is fabulous in Austria but it doesn't travel. I think that's about right. I had some amazing food while I was there, a very bizarre confection involving poppy seeds, nuts and sour jam that wouldn't have made sense anywhere else. I have to go back again some time as there are so many other things I didn't have time to try, but I'm glad I went for this weird, hot, come down day.

By all accounts the Poznan gig was huge and there's no way it would have been as stupendous as Prague. I can live with that.

Now after another long night on the train, I'm decompressing in Den Haag before heading back to London via Brussels tomorrow. I think I've managed to find a bed for each night and possibly even a lift to Reading... and so the next phase begins!

Prague Gig. 230809. EVERYTHING

So, the main event. The gig. As any regular readers will know, I find it difficult to be anything but impressionistic about the actual shows. If you want documentary evidence, I was standing inbetween Rhlat and Kenigmatic and they filmed a selection of songs that give a fair indication of the 2nd row experience. As for me, this was my 100th Radiohead show since 1993, so it was always going to be a bit of an emotional experience. From the off it was also one of the best gigs I've seen the band play in a very long time.

I know being near the front always makes a difference, those people who get up at 5am to queue up for the chance to run to the barrier will tell you that. These days I've not always got the stamina or the patience for that, but today I made it back in time for the doors opening and had loyal and steadfast friends to drag me along when the time came. (Thanks kids you know it meant a lot to me.)

The crowd were really up for it, so much so that they couldn't wait to get on their feet to welcome Moderat (the Mode Selektor/ Apparat collaboration playing the support slot) and it all nearly came unstuck when I got a bit exasperated at being pushed around, but if memory serves, there is always some kind of emotional crux at this point. Let's call it stage 1 gig angst.

Stage 2 involves trying to recover from this burst of angry energy to maintain calm until the band come on stage.

Stage 3 is that delicious anticipation as you watch the now familiar ritual of the roadies setting up the stage.

Stage 4, the golden moment when the stage is ready, the towels are down, the bottled water and set lists are on the floor and there's one or two more tunes left on the mix tape before the opening theme starts. After this, once the chaps are have come on and kicked in we reach stage 5.

Symptoms include facial spasm from continual grinning, involuntary jumping up and down, a weird head and shoulder movement we shall christen the "Yorke twitch" and myriad other bizarre physical ticks unexplainable to anyone who's not there, or who has never been there before. I had to apologise in advance to the lady behind me, who was enjoying her first ever gig, knowing that I would be all flailing elbows and whiplash hair.

This gig was unusual in that there was a stage 6 reaction - as evidenced by my previous post, the band were aware of my "gigaversary" and towards the end of the show gave me a mention before playing Airbag. Stage 6, I've discovered, involves screaming at the top of my voice, experiencing all the other symptoms simultaneously and then bursting into tears of pure joy. It also involved Thom having to shush us before starting the song... bet no one's put THAT on youtube. To be honest I'd been pretty close to this state before that moment (See the best ever performance of Nude, the unaccompanied Thom vocal at the end of There There, Jonny really going for it during Bangers & Mash... and several other highlights) but that bit really made the night extra special.
Afterwards, drained, stunned, exhausted and thirsty I rejoined the group at the back of section 1, and was crushed into some sort of mass pile-on bear hug. Apparently they'd been able to access the beer tent from this vantage point... We were fabulous and it was a bloody good laugh!


Set List and a word about the soundcheck (which in my excitement I'd forgotten about, a very long one it was too..).

The preposterously named Wyndham Wallace give his two cents on the show in the Quietus.
And if indeed I had heard anything close to gossip about The Leak, then, darling, I couldn't possibly comment...

My TON.

The new song, and then listen right at the very end. They followed it with Airbag. THANKS BOYS.

Another day in Prague

I'm having a little break while everyone else is sightseeing or having a rest. I'm on terrace at the hotel (wi-fi all over) with a beer which is attracting wasps and a breeze. It was much cooler today and it even rained a little bit.
We had some really nice Apple Strudel this morning in a cafe called Milky (nice place, slightly too much Michael Jackson on the speakers). we met up with some of the others and hung out in the old town square where there was a display of Bohemian Folk Dancing...

After a bit of mooching about we regrouped in Montmarte AGAIN before splitting up to explore the city. I've been trying to conserve energy today so I didn't do anything much, just checked out somel cafes and had a little wander around the Josefov Quarter (the Jewish part of the city, therefore most of the "attractions" were closed.)
A few more photos on flickr.

Praha for tourists...

Day Two: Very sunny and warm. I walked the short distance from the Hotel to the venue site and had a recce... it looked like they were building a stage and the area was quite small.. good sign. I walked a bit further and went to the Veletrzni Palace gallery of modern art (well mostly modern). They have a huge collection of Czech art from the last century or so and a hefty selection of French paintings from the early 20th Century in a huge, airy building with loads of exhibition space. I filled three hours in there easily and then headed towards the centre of town again. Having seen an architect's model of the Dancing House, I went to look at the real thing (it's pretty impressive and really stands out from the other buildings around it.)
I found The Globe, the American book shop and had a much needed iced tea and then had a walk around the Narodoni and Southern Nove Mesto (new town), which was mostly shoe shops as far as I could work out!
N had arrived so I went to meet her back up in the old town and we went for a drink in the Cafe Montmarte (guide book says Kafka types used to hang out here, nice, dark, quaintly shabby sort of place).
We did slightly too much walking as she wanted to go back to the Dancing House but then we ended up back in the touristy area later to have something to eat...

Day Three:
G Arrived very late last night. We had breakfast in the hotel and then she followed her mission to see the secret sights (courtesy of a work colleague who lived here) and I go headed up to the Castle. I had a nice walk up there but on approaching the main part mid-morning I realised that it was the hub of all the guided tours and walking parties of tourists. Like a sort of Habsburg Disney Land. I went into the picture gallery, and in the end bought a full ticket which allowed access to most of the parts of the complex. The gallery was a bit small and I was a bit underwhelmed. Emperor Rudolf had a bit of a bent for cutting his Tintoretto's down to size to fit them on his walls and most of the work was a bit too baroque for my taste. They have a couple of pictures that stand out but the gallery was quite small. There was another part (The Czech National collection seems to be divided over loads of different galleries), with 19th century paintings, which was more interesting and better laid out. I went up there after realising that if I wanted to see St Vitus Cathedral I was going to have to queue up with a lot of people who look like they were bad tempered and who looked a bit awkward wearing their shorts. Perhaps this is the Medieval Epcot Centre?
I had a look down the Golden Lane (basically some small shops in a pretty, colourfully painted cul de sac) but competing with hoards of German, Spanish and Italians all intent on having their photographs taken in front of every door and sign was getting too much, and I retreated to the front gates of the castle for a sit down. I was getting comfortable in the sun when two policemen moved me on, I think I was sitting on the base of the National Flag Pole of the people or something. Probably some sort of federal offence. I relocated into the shade after that.

N came to meet me and we went for lunch in the Hradcany area (lots of imposing buildings and embassies) then we walked slowly back down towards the Charles Bridge. They're renovating it at the moment, so it's only half it's usual width and it was mobbed.


We rendezvous with G and go back to the Montmarte (nice and quiet as it's down a side street). We enjoyed some beers and caught up. We went looking for the Architecture Centre, and discovered it had a very nice restaurant (lamb and prunes!) and then later back across town on a second wind, we met up with the gang for a few more beers.
Further photos on Flickr: Day Two, Day Three.


There was much scrabbling for mobile internet last night when we realised that the Vienna gig would be over and that someone would have put the set list up.... in the end we had to wait for this morning... They played the new one and NICE DREAM!!


Oh yeah.. that's what we're here for, I NEARLY forgot!

Today I'm planning to take it easy. Too many art galleries and you can't see the wood for the trees. The weather is a bit overcast and muggy this morning. I think tea and cakes might be the order of the day, maybe the Kafka museum...