Some things are worth waiting a lifetime for… the right love to spend your life with, your dream house, meeting your favorite activist/ celebrity… and watching one of your favorite musical artists perform for the first time. Well, I don’t have the dream house yet, though ideas for it have certainly arisen in K and I’s conversations, but last night, I finally saw Thom Yorke play live! If you’re wondering, the favorite activist/ celebrity I met was Amy Ray of Indigo Girls fame. That was a couple years ago. It was awesome though brief.
To set the proverbial stage, yesterday I was in the midst of day two of a migraine. Yes, I’m afflicted with this debilitating neurological condition and it pretty severely impacts my life. However, I’d been waiting around six months for this show and I wasn’t going to allow all the symptoms and pain of this migraine to deny me this chance. Radiohead has never come close to anywhere I’ve lived when they’ve toured the US, so when I heard Atoms for Peace was coming to Nashville and to the intimate space of the War Memorial Auditorium, I knew I had to go!
I wasn’t disappointed in the least!
I skipped the opening act so I could grab a nap. Sleep is often the best help for the symptoms of a migraine. I anticipated the band would go on around 9, so I was in my seat 15 minutes before. However, they didn’t go on till 9:15, at which time I was getting antsy. Loud music and bright lights were my enemy. Then Thom came out, along with Flea and the rest of the band, and it was on!
I was surprised at a particular coincidence. I had woken up that morning singing, “Before Your Very Eyes,” and lo and behold! It was the opening song! I was a bit shocked and pleased. The show progressed in pure awesomeness. “The Clock,” by far my favorite song off Erasure, was the third song played and it was high energy.
Speaking of high energy: Flea lives up to his name and reputation. I had seen him play with Red Hot Chili Peppers around 2001 or so but Foo Fighters opened that show and pretty much stole it. Last night, with just him and Thom at the forefront, he was bouncing and dancing with enough energy that I was exhausted just watching him. I did love watching Thom dance with abandon. He has good moves.
The percussion was pretty amazing as well. They had one drummer and this guy (I know, the picture isn’t great) playing a number of other instruments, including stainless steel kitchen mixing bowls, and that nifty looking tall thing: 8 miniature snares that he could play simultaneously through a control at the bottom. Ingenious!
I didn’t take loads of pictures because I’ve grown into the state of mind that often we (people in general) are getting lost behind our phones and cameras- we are missing out on the experience of being where we are in an attempt to capture that moment for posterity… and let’s be honest, these aren’t amazing photos and when am I really going to look at them again? Video attempts would have been worse. A blown out phone camera microphone with barely audible music does not make a viewing experience anyone wants to relive over and over. I chose to be in the moment last night instead of snapping a bunch of pictures. In that way, I could sway and dance and really dive into what Thom and Atoms for Peace were laying down.
All in all, totally worth waiting 20 years for. Yes, I’ve been a fan of his for 20 years. I can check that off my Bucket List. Now, onto that dream house…