For a minute there, I lost myself

(By Chris)

Early June. We're sitting down to dinner and Emily says:
"Your birthday present is awesome. You're going to love it."

"It's not awesome."

"Yes, it is."

"Unless it's Radiohead tickets, it's not awesome."

"...."

We've been married for seven years, and I can read Emily pretty well. Her stunned silence told me all I needed to know - it was going to be awesome.

Radiohead is great. Phenomenal. Awesome. Look, just go here: http://thesaurus.reference.com/browse/great
I tried to expose Graton to Radiohead once. He said: "It sounds a lot like Coldplay." That's a lot like saying of The Beatles: "They sound a lot like the Monkees." It's completely accurate but terribly convoluted. Anyway, I've linked to videos of some of my favorites in the text below.

We had GA tickets on the lawn of the Cricket Amphitheater. The music was great (the second song they played was one of my favorites), but I couldn't be sure who was up there singing because all I could see was some guy jumping around. Sure, he danced like Thom Yorke (see here, for example), but he was only about an inch tall. Don't get me wrong, it was a lot of fun. Emily was beautiful and the crowd around us was really having a good time (except the girl who passed out, of course).

Then, about half way through, an usher came up and invited us down to the pit (the area right next to the stage). It was a birthday miracle.

We were about 20 yards from the band, close enough to see Thom's lazy eye. Right after we got there, they played Just, Paranoid Android, and Street Spirit in quick succession.

Emily is not a huge Radiohead fan, but she really enjoyed You and Whose Army? (during which the jumbo screens displayed an "extreme close-up" of Thom's good eye) and House of Cards (who wouldn't?).

We had to leave before the encore to relieve Graton from tending an upset Miles. I don't think that kid will ever appreciate how much I have given up for him.