Radiohead at Glasgow Green

On Friday I travelled two-hours east to Glasgow, stood in line for 12 hours and endured pouring, relentless rain for the love of my life, Radiohead.

I went to the concert with Brock, one of the students studying here this summer. The outdoor concert was held at Glasgow Green, a large park in Glasgow, the biggest city in Scotland.  As both Brock and I are huge Radiohead fans, we decided the best (and least sane) thing for us to do would be to camp out all day so we could be first in line when the doors opened, therefore securing the best spot in the front row. We left Dalkeith around 6:30 a.m., caught a bus from St. Andrews Square, and got into Glasgow around 9 a.m. When we walked down to the Green, we discovered we were only second in line!

We waited and waited all morning and all afternoon for the gates to open at 4 p.m. Fortunately Brock and I made two friends from Stockholm while waiting in line and it helped to pass the time! We played cards, talked about pop music and politics, and learned how to (sort of) count in Swedish.  We absolutely adored them and we exchanged contact information so our international friendship shall live on and prosper.

By the time the gates were meant to open at 4 p.m., the line was wrapped around the park. We were then informed (much to our chagrin) that everyone would be let in at the same time, regardless of what time you queued up. However, after that was announced the event manager came over and said “No no no – these guys have been waiting here in the rain since early this morning – we’re going to let them in first.” I couldn’t believe our luck!  We got at least a 30 second much-needed head start on the rest of the crowd.
As soon as they opened the gates for us, we did a Highland charge down the field towards the stage, sprinting on wet slippery grass, as hordes of fans were in hot pursuit behind us. Fortunately, the four of us (Brock, myself, and the Swedes Kim and Hanna) got to the rail just in time to secure ourselves front row center spots! I am sure this does not seem like an impressive feat to most, but Radiohead fans are rabid creatures and there were 40,000 of them that day, all vying for the coveted front row. I felt victorious.

These pictures should give you an idea of how close we were to the stage:

The show was absolutely brilliant; otherworldly, really. The band was all in really good spirits and the Glasgow crowd really lived up to its reputation. I belong to the unpopular opinion that the rain made the whole affair better. It just seemed to bring the crowd closer because were all in this wet, muddy mess together and I think Radiohead tried to give an even greater show to reward our loyalty.

Radiohead played 25 songs with two encores [You can find the setlist here]. I had a short wishlist of songs I hoped Radiohead would play, and most of my demands were met, though I’d be proper happy with more Kid A presence. The highlights for me was definitely “Videotape,” the Thom-instigated audience singalong to “Paranoid Android” in a downpour (“Rain down on me from a great height…”) and “Idioteque,” which they closed with. And who could forget at the start of the concert when Brock and I gave Thom a quiet polite wave and he waved back and smiled at us ! There was no mistaking it was just for us, too.

The set design was fantastic – Radiohead projected live video feeds of themselves playing from different angles onto a screen in the back and used low-energy LED lights hanging from the ceiling to give the appearance of a lasershow.  In fact, you should be proud of my Oxford boys for their efforts to reduce the carbon footprint of their worldwide tour.  Their tour manager’s blog has some pretty fascinating stuff about how Radiohead & Co. have organized this eco-friendly tour.  For example, they choose venues that are easily accessible by public transporation to discourage fans from driving, limit their use of planes by opting to travel and transport their equipment by rail and road, rely on green and renewable source power, and use only recycled paper for tickets and promotional materials.  I’d like to see other bands follow in their low-carbon footsteps.

After the concert, Brock and I said were temporarily stranded in Glasgow, but we made it home around 5 a.m. still in a dreamy daze from the performance.  I wish I had the budget to follow them down to Manchester and Amsterdam this weekend, but alas, money does not grow on trees in the UK, either.