Let's see...I'm *gasp* almost 30 years old, and have been a Radiohead fan for 13 years...I can even pin-point the exact moment I went from someone familiar with them (you really would've had to work hard in 1993 America if you had MTV or a radio to not hear Creep. I lived in West Virginia of all places at the time and often heard it on the radio, in an area with no so-called "modern rock" stations...It was practically on a loop on MTV back then. Those were the days when they actually played videos...but I digress.)I remember distinctly when the Bends was popular (I was living in Houston, TX by then). The first time I drove by myself after getting my license in spring 1995, Fake Plastic Trees came on the radio. I still associate that song with the freedom of being 16 and driving for the first time. It is forever a "driving song" for me. Windows down (no A/C), radio blasting (my car at the time didn't even have a cassette player--I was all radio!), the feeling of flying/"Oh Shit!" when I'd hit the train tracks going 50 mph (don't try that at home, kids!), singing along at the top of my lungs to the radio. The ridiculous things that make 16 yr old girls have fits of giggles, like when I accidentally referred to it as "Flake Pastic Trees" and my best friend and I laughed about it for literally an hour. (It was one of those things where we'd both giggle, then just as we'd start to calm down, one of us would say it again starting another round.)Hearing that REM was coming to Houston in Sept 1995 and that Radiohead was opening was exciting. I didn't even ask my parents if I could go...I just went to the grocery store (they had a Ticketmaster outlet inside back then) and bought a ticket for myself and my friend to go to my first concert without a parent/sibling with me. To be honest, I was totally going for REM (who I've loved since my best friend back in WV, Abi, gave me a tape with Reckoning on one side and Life's Rich Pageant on the other)--I was familiar with Radiohead, and I liked Creep, Fake Plastic Trees and Just (the 3 songs with the most tv/radio play up to that point) but I didn't have anything of theirs. I'd heard Pablo Honey (on a 10 hour road trip to Myrtle Beach, SC from WV with my church youth group--the minister was driving, and those of us in the back would strategically cough over the "fucking specials" in Creep--like he couldn't hear the song through the speakers..)Finally, the day of the show arrived...I got home from school, my parents agreed to drive my friend and I up to the Woodlands (it was a 90 min drive across Houston from where I lived at the time and since I was still a fairly new driver, they didn't quite want me on the highway that late at night.) They dropped us off and said they'd be back to pick us up after the show. My friend and I walked in, scoped a spot on the lawn and waited. We hopped up as soon as Radiohead took the stage and I heard the opening notes of their first song. I was completely in Awe. Honestly, I can still remember that feeling, and thinking "I have no idea what this is...but it is my new favorite thing!" (I was 16, after all.) What it was, turned out to be My Iron Lung, which for me is forever "the song that made me a Radiohead fan." Who would've guessed that those 9 songs they played that night would change my life so completely?I saw then the second time in 1998 at the Aerial Theater (it's now the Verizon Wireless in Houston). That was the show that sold out in 5 minutes...I only got a ticket because my friend Jason worked for Ticketmaster at the time, and he hit print the second they went on sale. The show was 2 weeks after my 19th birthday, and I took a bus home to Houston from college to attend. The most vivid memory from that show (besides the annoying biker dude standing beside me who kept yelling out "Creeeeeeep" when ever it got quiet, that is) was when they started to play No Surprises. They got through the intro part, and Thom was just joining in...he strummed his guitar, frowned down at it then over at Johnny, then said "stop, stop". He then looked over at someone standing off stage, and proceeded to re-tune his guitar to the correct key. They started the song over, and this time, Thom grinned right before he started to sing, and all of us in the crowd cheered (even the Creep guy)...I heard Pearly* and Banana co. live for the first time at that show...When Kid A came out, I was in the store at midnight to buy one of the first copies (same with Amnesiac). Then, rushed home to listen to the cd over and over, even though I had classes the next day and really should've been sleeping or studying. I sat on the floor with my head between the speakers of my stereo listening to Kid A on repeat until 3 a.m. with amazement about how well the sounds from the 2 sides blended in the middle. Somehow, the way the 2 halves combined created something indescribably cool. I remember driving from Austin to Houston with Eric and Erik, breaking my cardinal concert rule ("don't listen to the band's album before the show") by blaring Amnesiac b/c Erik hadn't heard it yet, as we rushed to get to the concert (that was the 3rd time I saw them). And, the amazing feeling of finally getting to the Woodlands (damn Houston traffic!) finding a spot on the lawn, the lights going down seconds later, and instead of the opening band taking the stage, hearing Colin's bass and cheering like mad as Radiohead opened the show with the National Anthem. (the Beta Band's vehicle broke down on the road to Houston, we later learned.)...and Thom's intro for Packt Like Sardines, when he declared how lucky we were in Houston b/c we couldn't possibly have traffic as bad as the UK, and when we all yelled "No!" (in a you're crazy/must be joking way) he was stunned and said "Really?!? You've got so much space, I'd think you'd all just off-road it, or something." ...then, seeing them again at the Woodlands 2 years later, again with Eric along with Marisol and Rachel for the opening date of the U.S. leg of the Hail to the Thief tour...They played lurgee ("this is a very old song") which was incredible! My friends and I danced like crazy most of the show--especially during the Gloaming and Idioteque...I can hear it all just like it was yesterday...I've seen them several times this year as well, making them the band I've seen the most times by far. (followed by REM with 4 shows) The last time I saw REM was when I "camped" all day at the front of the stage at ACL fest when they headlined it, so that I could be in the very front...which is also my game plan for Radiohead at this year's Lolla...and, thus the journey continues.
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