My Radiohead staycation is over; it’s back to real life now.  But what a week it was.

I can’t believe it was only a week ago that I headed north for the two shows at the Hollywood Bowl last Sunday and Monday.  It seems like a LOT more time has passed – but that is good, right?  You always want to make a vacation last.

The word the street is that the second Hollywood Bowl show was the best of the entire tour, and it WAS great but that show was hindered by the L-Assholes that I wrote about in my last post.  Thankfully, both the San Diego show and the Santa Barbara show were asshole-free, at least where I was standing.  Going backwards:

Elizabeth and I drove back here on Tuesday and it is a good thing I had a day off from Radiohead because I was EXHAUSTED.  Just totally burnt out.  She went out with a friend, and I rested, ate, and watched videos from the Hollywood Bowl shows on youtube.  OK, so I didn’t take the day COMPLETELY off. 

The next day, we met up with Joan, who I sold my extra tickets to and who took me on a wild ride from Pasadena to the Hollywood Bowl on Monday, and another Radiohead freak named Brian.  We went out for a taco lunch and headed to Cricket Ampitheater at around 2:30 – Elizabeth and Joan both wanted to get in line early, to get a place on the rail.  So we went out there and while they waited in line, I hung out with my friends Sean and Cindy in the parking lot.  When the doors were about to open I went up and met Elizabeth in line.  It was sort of chaotic up there because when they opened the entrance door to the pit, you had to get a wristband and the people who were working didn’t have it together – there was a lot of freaking out and grumbling because there were two lines, and the people taking the tickets (slowly) and then putting the wristband on (molasses like movement) could cost you a space on the rail.  So once I had mine I RAN and it is a good thing I am a good sprinter because I got a place on the rail!  At a Radiohead show!

Of course this meant we had to suffer through openers the Liars again, but I actually kind of liked them.  There was one security guard in front of us that hated it so bad… he kept making these faces, to the amusement of pretty much everyone on the rail.

So, of course the show was fantastic.  Being so close with no one in front of me?  Priceless.  Ed looked at us a bunch of times and Elizabeth scored his guitar pick.  It was so awesome.  The whole band seemed so happy and energized and I will never, ever forget that night.  

On to Santa Barbara.  Elizabeth and I had pit tickets, but a few months ago my friend Krista offered me a ticket for a seat in the front row of the Santa Barbara Bowl, overlooking the pit.  So, basically, no one in front of me, which I love.  So I took it and that is why Joan got my hard-to-come-by extra pit ticket.  Krista also invited her cousin Tiffany who lives down here (and I might add, is hella cool) so Elizabeth and I picked her up and we all headed up to Santa Barbara.  We stopped at the In and Out Burger in Thousand Oaks, where I showed Tiffany how In and Out tastes better with a little wine.  Once in Santa Barbara, we dropped Elizabeth off at the Bowl because she wanted to get in line, and then we headed to Krista’s house.

I have to say right now that I am really, really jealous of Krista and her husband Steve – they have the COOLEST house.  It’s one of those places with interesting nooks and crannies, and they have a beautiful secluded garden.  They made Tiffany and I feel very at home there.  And they had never seen Radiohead. 

We had some wine and headed to the Bowl which was packed but who cares, since we had front row seats!  Next to us were a family who came all the way from Louisiana.  The mom was so funny, she was probably in her fifties but she told me “I hope they play CREEP!”  I told her I didn’t think that would happen (and it didn’t) but they were a lot of fun to sit next to.

It was a great show.  There was nothing remarkably different about it, to be honest, than the previous shows I had seen.  Everyone – well, at least the die-hards – was expecting some surprises since it was the last show of the U.S. tour, and there weren’t any.  But it was thrilling anyway.  I was SO happy to be there and it was so fun to see Steve and Krista experience Radiohead for the first time – the lights, the sound, the tightness of the band.  The songs.  Sometimes I have to let everything go and just have fun without any hopes of what might or might not be, which is part of the reason I went to four shows – four different experiences, all different, all great in their own way.  But San Diego and Santa Barbara?  The absolute best.

Friday Krista and Steve took us 1) for bloody marys then 2) winetasting at Whitcraft.  We then 3) bought some fish and 4) went home and basically ate and drank for a few hours.  Krista and I made the ice cream for this weeks Sunday Slow Scoopers together – a trippy honey lavender ice cream that tasted like yorkshire pudding.  It was a perfect day.

I’m off to the Del Mar racetrack today for one last chance to bet the ponies before the season ends.  It feels like summer is over, but that is OK.  To end summer like this – well, it just doesn’t get any better.  Well, unless it involves travel to Europe.  Then it’s a dead heat.

This entry was posted on Sunday, August 31st, 2008 at 12:46 pm and is filed under Adventures in Rock and Roll. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.