Last night I was lucky enough to score tickets to the 2nd night of Radiohead's stop in L.A. They played at the outdoor Greek Theater, nestled in the hills & trees of Griffith Park - a perfect setting for a great show on a warm summer night. Myself and three friends arrived early, catching the last few songs from opening band Deerhoof. Yoko Ono goes indie/punk?
In between bands we couldn't help notice some familiar faces arriving. Catherine Keener grabbed an empty seat in front of us and asked for help locating her seat. She was by herself and looked amazing! Spidey aka Tobey Maguire walked by, looking for his seat. Followed by Woody Harrelson, Haley Joel "I see pale people" Osment, etc. Last but not least was newly mom'd Gwen Stefani with hubby and Bush supporter Gavin Rossdale. They grabbed the two aisle seats across from ours and my fascination with how they interacted began (in between songs, of course).
Radiohead opened with Airbag followed by The National Anthem. Sixteen songs later they exited the stage after playing Bones, and returned to play four more songs for the first of two encores.
Like Spinning Plates
Fake Plastic Trees
Down Is the New Up
Paranoid Android
It was now around 11pm and we were sure that the show was over due to strict sound curfews in this mostly residential hillside area. But no! Out they came for three more songs:
House of Cards
True Love Waits
Everything In It's Right Place.
25 songs total and it felt like they could have gone on for another 25. The crowd had been on it's feet for almost the entire show. I came to the show under the impression that Thom was pretty much an introvert and wouldn't be much of an entertainer. Wrong! He was funny, played to the crowd, ordered some noisy fools to "shut up" during Exit Music and generally enjoyed himself all night. An amazing, amazing show.
We shuffled through the crowd and mingled backstage, spotting Marilyn Manson in full costume & make-up chatting with friends & fans.
We closed backstage and went on to Fred 62 diner in Los Feliz for some post-show grub and concert reviewing. We spotted Bill Maher in a booth with a, er, lovely black woman whose heels may have been a tad too tall and skirt may have been a tad too short. They left and walked down the street, with most diners staring in mock-L.A. surprise. (Who'd you expect him to be with? Barbara Walters?).
After our various breakfasts and dinners, we slipped into the early morning L.A. traffic and found our respective ways home.
Bike content: It was a bitch to rise and shine today for the first day of Le Tour. Between seeing Radiohead live, and watching the Tour lineup implode I'm a bit overwhelmed :)
