I get down a lot earlier today to meet my contact to get my ticket. The weather was pretty much perfect by the time I got to Victoria Park and there were some fairly relaxed queues at about 3pm. I casually joined the one that was due to open last and by the time the gates opened at 4pm it was relatively easy to find a good spot. I joined a couple of boardies just on the barrier at the front, far Jonny-side (as opposed to Ed-wards).
It would seem to be the rule that the second night in a venue is always better. The weather held. The crowd behaved. The band stormed it with a slightly more crowd friendly set than last night. From my point of view it couldn’t have been better, decent view, excellent sound, human security personnel and minimal pushing from behind. Even a light breeze to keep us cool. I go on about how I don’t like to queue and I can’t stand the tension, that I’m not that bothered about being at the front, but it all gets shown up as hubris when you get your ribs near the rail. It was just 100 times better than the night before.
Radiohead rip straight into Idioteque out of Everything In Its Right Place and encored with Karma Police, The Bends and 2+2=5. The crowd carried on singing Karma Police after the band had left the stage (after Thom had done an extra chorus on his own).
The band were FEELING it tonight. Thom even invited EVERYONE to the aftershow party (and judging by the amount of people trying to get in, some took him literally at his word).
Liggers included Jude Law and his kids, a skinny red haired model, various people with “I’m in a Band” haircuts (I stopped reading NME so I couldn’t identify them) and a few more likely celebs (blah blah blah).
We were too busy tearing a hole in the space-time continuum…(Clara’s b’f has more than a passing resemblance to Ed and having them in the same tent at the same time could cause a rift!)
That orange cider should have a health warning on it though, nothing that colour should be fit for human consumption. Apparently more than 90 shows is too many… I think that means I’ve been around so long I make certain people feel old!
We pile into a mini cab in the early hours and attempt to reach Hammersmith, getting pulled over by the police on a flyover (the cab driver’s fault not ours) turning the journey into a continuation of the unreality of the previous few hours.