the weary travelers

This is a pretty accurate estimate of about what time Radiohead started playing at the Santa Barbara bowl. and yeah, I was there! It was a two day journey involving sammiches, lions, and red pants. Lets start at the beginning.

Carlos decided we should leave the day prior to the show in the evening and sleep in the car all night so we could enjoy the day in Santa Barbara. I quickly told him this was a stupid idea, I wasn't about to spend 12 plus hours in a car. After much debate, a hotel as booked and we left on our journey. The car-ride was full of bickering over music and me (with a headache) eventually resigned to the idea that... I had no say.

Anyway we made it to the hotel, which we were surprised to find was actually decent. We had a nice tree lamp.


So we ate, we bathed, we slept. Well, I did at least. Carlos kept waking me up in the middle of the night to poke fun at me for looking ridiculous, but whatever. We awoke hungry and set out in search of an In-N-Out. We ate heartily and left to find the venue, where along the way we ran into... THE SANTA BARBARA ZOO! So of course we went!

We giggled at the penguins names.



We stared down gorillas.


We awed at the elephants.


We were silly.


We wanted to lay next to the lions.


among other things.



I LOVE LEOPARDS! so so so much. favorite animal, i want to hug a snow leopard and he can be my pillow whilst i sleep... <3
wolves are second favorite ;)





We went to the beach for a bit where we friended a some seagull that Carlos chased around.


Afterwards we hung out at the venue for about four hours. When we were let in we were sad to find our sets were definitely nosebleed ones. We searched for merch, found it, and spent our measly savings on what we could. We each got two pins and a poster (along with pizza and a soda).

So we settled into our nosebleed seats and waited while the Liars played. I didn't like them much but Carlos said they were much better live than recorded, so I believe him. They were a bit too psychedelic for my tastes, and the frontman continued to make dedications through their set. There were these odd looking things set to the side, and I awed. They looked like lights! Vertical lights in different lengths. I told Carlos, but I didn't think they could really be lights. No pictures since we were far too much pansies to actually try to sneak the camera in. This was one show we would not be kicked out of.The Liars finished in about an hour and you could feel the anticipation mount. We waited. They set up.

Eventually, Thom Yorke came out in all his glory! Wearing red pants, a black tee and chucks, might I add. ;] I choked up as they broke into song. The light show was amazing. The odd bars WERE lights and there was a screen in the background feeding us a live feed of their faces, the entire thing was surreal. I cried during Videotape, just as I knew I would.

The lights were set up to make a frame around them. The most memorable for me was during Weird Fishes/Arpeggi where the blue lights would move like a wave to make it look as if they were underwater (as Thom danced and wove his neck and body like a fish). There was one where pink/green scribbles danced around the lights and another where the lyrics were displayed on the lights like a marquee. It was amazing!

I wish I could relive those few hours over and over and over. I want to memorize each tone of his voice, each light movement, each shimmy, each lyric, each drum beat... I want to live within those few hours and never leave. The high from that day still hasn't left me and I hope it never does.





"No matter what happens now
I shouldn't be afraid
Because I know today has been the most perfect day I've ever seen."