Radiohead in 100 gigs
We get down to the site on the bus and wait in the drizzle. I can’t find any stage times and get a bit stressed. They have new Radiohead T shirts on the merch stall. I buy an orange one with “Leisure Is Pain” and a rather situationist list on the back and a Prozac… Continue reading 29. Strathclyde Park, T In The Park, 13 July 1996
January. I spend a lot of time swapping emails and tapes with Roger, a guy who has made a Radiohead website in Canada. Rumours abound that the new album is finished, but it might not be out until June. More rumours that the band have been holed up in a big old house belonging to… Continue reading Paranoid Postcards from 1997. January-June.
K and I head to Dublin on June 17th, having booked a B&B close to the venue. We spend three days dodging the rain doing touristy stuff. The night before the band are already sound checking at the venue. I see Tim but bottle out of shouting to get his attention. We've bought tickets. It… Continue reading 30. Dublin, RDS, 21 June 1997.
Looking back on it, this was the moment when Radiohead went supernova. The moment after which nothing would ever be quite the same again. The Bends had grown slowly, picking up good sales and critical momentum, but OK Computer had been anticipated, it had gained a lot of ground even before it had been released. Paranoid… Continue reading BBC TV: Glastonbury Festival, 28 June 1997
Having contacted Caffy and found out I'm on the list, I get my brother to drive me up to Doncaster, from our parents’ place it takes about an hour to get there on straight roads. The Dome is a leisure complex in an out of town site with a McBurger, an Asda and a sports… Continue reading 31. Doncaster, Dome, 2 September 1997
Trains and tiredness and it's raining. When I reach The Astoria, the only people there are a group of girls who’ve come straight from school to queue up. I hang around with them for a while until I remember that the guest list will have a separate queue. I duck out and around the other… Continue reading 32. London, Astoria, 3 September 1997
I go back to my parents' for a couple of days of nothingness and surrealism. And Princess Diana’s funeral on television. I phoned Caffy at the last minute on the Friday, I need another gig. Blackpool or Stoke she says – I opt for Blackpool as I can split my journey back to Scotland and… Continue reading 33. Blackpool, Empress Ballroom, 7 September 1997
My full English breakfast is floating in a pool of grease and tinned tomato juice but I’m so hungry I eat all of it. I walk through Blackpool. There are drifts of flowers at every available public monument following the death of Princess Di. The pavement near a war memorial is almost impassable. Before I… Continue reading 34. Stoke-on-Trent, Trentham Gardens, 8 September 1997
The OK Computer arena gigs in November 1997 are the ones I have found myself talking about as the shows I enjoyed the least. But I was surprised, reading back through my diary, to find that I actually enjoyed the gigs and the band’s performance as much as I ever did. Retrospectively I’ve attached knowledge… Continue reading 35. Manchester, NYNEX Arena, 17 November 1997
It’s my birthday today. I’m 23. After buying myself some shoes in Nottingham, I get on the Birmingham train with one minute to spare. When I get there I call Caffy. She offers me a plus one for tonight, but sadly today I don’t have a friend in tow. I go to the tourist information to… Continue reading 36. Birmingham, NEC, 19 November 1997