The year is 1995, October.....wife at the time was about seven months pregnant. At the time, I was working about 25 miles away from home, so en route I would listen to the almost-barely-tolerable, try-hard-to portray themselves as "hip""alternative rock station" (and I'll mention them by name because they suck so badly: Dayton's 103.9 "The Edge"....HORRIBLE. narrower playlists than any Top-40 station, and a phony "request" line that only plays stuff that is in heavy rotation ANYWAY (note: at that time I was out of range of the great 97.7X discussed earlier!)......so anyway, I'm on my way to work, and the phony "hilarious" morning DJ announces that the 10th caller would win REM's new (at the time) "Monster" CD, and a pizza. I was like "A PIZZA? Cool!", so I called in, and I am the lucky winner of the CD, the pizza (from local pizza-legend Vic Cassano's, mmmmmmmmm), AND entered into a drawing to see REM in Indianapolis, plus dinner and hotel accomodations for overnight.......didn't give it much thought, later in the day they call me and tell me I won THAT package as well, still the only thing I've ever won in my life. The show was like the next day or the day after, so we scramble to make arranements to go......it was at a place called "Deer Creek", an outdoor ampitheater where about 20% of the seats are near the stage and the other 80% of the audience has to sit on a hill, on the ground.....anyway, we are in about the 5th row of seats, EASILLY the best seats I've ever had for a show.......so, we're wondering who is the opening act.....and it's RADIOHEAD!, Now, this was WAY before they "became" what they would become.....they were known for "Creep" and nothing else, but I was instantly blown away by their live chops and stage presence, these guys REALLY had a chance, I thought.......REM was just OK, but I will always remember that "semi-unknown band" from England on that night, Radiohead. FOR ONCE, I was right about something.........
So, this has been a little time-consuming (trying to get ready for Christmas, etc), I have a BIG Yo La Tengo post I'll do sometime this week, other than that, hope you don't mind if I concentrate on some one- or two-disc posts for a little while? I promise to try to make them, well, good.
UNPLUGGED-01 Street Spirit/02 Killer Cars/03 Wonderwall/04 Blow Out/05 Creep/06 Lucky/07 High and Dry/08 Fake Plastic Trees/09 Black Stab/10 Subterranean Homesick Alien/11 Bulletproof/12 Banana Co./13 Yes I Am/14 Airbag/15 You/16 Exit Music (For a Film)/17 Talk Show Host/18 No Surprises/19 Paranoid Android
BLACK SESSION-01 The Bends/02 Anyone Can Play Guitar/03 Bones/04 High and Dry/05 Fake Plastic Trees/06 Street Spirit (Fade Out)/07 You/08 Planet Telex/09 Creep/10 My Iron Lung
BERLIN 7/4/00 DISC 1-01 Optomistic/02 Morning Bell/03 Karma Police/04 The National Anthem/05 In Limbo/06 No Surprises/07 My Iron Lung/08 Dollars and Cents/09 Bishops Robes/10 Talkshow Host/11 Kid A
BERLIN 7/4/00 DISC 2-01 You and Whose Army/02 Airbag/03 Lucky/04 How To Disappear Completely/05 Paranoid Android/06 Everything In Its Right Place/07 Egyptian Song/08 Exit Music (For a Film)/09 Knives Out/10 Big Ideas/Nice Dreams
ATLANTA 2001 DISC 1-01 The National Anthem/02 Morning Bell/03 Airbag/04 Lucky/05 Packt Like Sardines In a Crushed Tin Box/06 Knives Out/07 Exit Music (For a Film)/08 Climbing Up the Walls/09 No Surprises/10 Dollars & Cents/11 Street Spirit (Fade Out)/12 I Might Be Wrong
ATLANTA 2001 DISC 2-01 Intro/02 Pyramid Song/03 Paranoid Android/04 Idioteque/05 Everything Its Right Place/06 Karma Police/07 Pearly/08 You and Whose Army/09 How To Disappear Completly/10 Talk Show Host/11 The Bends
PINKPOP 2001 DISC 2-01 Pyramid Song/02 Paranoid Android/03 Idioteque/04 Everything In Its Right Place/05 Street Spirit (Fade Out)/06 Climbing Up the Walls/07 The Bends/08 How To Disappear Completely
GLASTONBURY 2003-01 There There/02 2+2=5/03 Lucky/04 The National Anthem/05 Talk Show Host/06 Where I End and You Begin/07 Climbing Up the Walls/08 The Gloaming/09 No Surprises/10 Fake Plastic Trees/11 Sit Down Stand Up/12 Go To Sleep/13 Sail To The Moon/14 Paranoid Android/15 Idioteque/16 Everything In It's Right Place
MONTREAUX 7/5/03 DISC 2-01 Go To Sleep/02 You and Whose Army/03 Where I End and You Begin/04 Paranoid Android/05 Idioteque/06 Everything In It's Right Place/07 The Gloaming/08 Myxomatosis/09 Just/10 How To Disappear Completely
CHICAGO 8/1/08 DISC 2-01 Lucy/02 The Bends/03 Everything In It's Right Place/04 Fake Plastic Trees/05 Bodysnatchers/06 Videotape/07 Paranoid Android/08 Dollars and Cents/09 House of Cards/10 Optomistic /11 2+2=5/12 Idioteque/13 Outro
SANTA BARBARA CALIFORNIA 9/5/08 DISC 2-01 Faust Arp/02 No Surprises/03 Jigsaw Falling Into Place/04 The Bends/05 Karma Police/06 Bodysnatchers/07 Cymbal Rush/08 House of Cards/09 Paranoid Android/10 Go Slowly/11 Everything In It's Right Place/12 Videotape/13 Lucky/14 Idioteque.
Wow. Lotta work.