Radiohead

On Tuesday we went to see Radiohead at the O2. There was the usual trepidation about the event; organising late carers, the journey and the parking. The disabled parking arrangements are a complete joke with only designatd spaces in the standard car parks. Granted, they are positioned at the end of the car park nearest the arena but still about 300 yards away. So the combination of the bumpy pavements, steep slopes at a pedestrian crossing and cold and wet weather with the computer, make it virtually impossible. Having used VIP parking previously courtesy of Tracy's brother, we had contacted customer services a couple of months ago to get permission to drop off at the VIP walkway. Unfortunately we discovered that the person who agreed to help had left, so Monday was spent trying to speak to someone who could authorise it and we finally got a call at 7pm from someone who could, and did! We are very grateful for effectively being given  VIP access but the O2's standard disabled parking arrangements are disgraceful. It was the first time I have been to the O2 in the new car and it is a big improvement over the VW.


There is always a massive sense of relief when we finally take our seats, and at the O2 the front wheelchair platform is very close to the stage and easy to access. Radiohead came on at 8-45 for the start of a two hour set. To be honest, I had doubts about how much I would enjoy the gig as I only really like the first three albums before they embarked on the 'up their own arse' era and they don't usually play much of the older stuff. But they were excellent and although they indeed played mostly newer tracks they sounded great (although the massive cheer at the beginning of the 4 or 5 older songs, suggests I am not alone). The 3 encores were somewhat contrived; I think I prefer the Manic Street Preachers' "20 songs, now piss off home" approach to planned encores.
We are back in a couple of weeks for Muse which will be awesome, the boys are coming too. Then we have Maximo Park, Skunk Anansie and Band of Skulls over the next few weeks, phew. .