On Radiohead OR How I Was Less Than Ten Feet From My Idols

I finally saw Radiohead live for the first time Friday night, at the All Points West Festival. First off, the festival. What a gorgeous location. A large open grassy field on the banks of the Hudson/Atlantic with views of the Statue of Liberty and the New York skyline so good I could not believe they existed. The festival itself seemed to be really well set up and run and they didn't seem to gouge you on the prices (well, $90 a day for tickets is pretty steep....). The only complaint I (and others) seemed to have was the long walk from the Light Rain to the actual grounds. It was probably close to a mile.

Second, Radiohead. Amazing. There is not a BETTER band over the course of the last 15 years. And I'm a weird person because I prefer In Rainbows to any other album of theirs.

Third, I managed to get into Radiohead's after party after the show. I was chilling there, drinking a beer, right next to Ed and Phil. I'm sure to some people who are more involved in the music industry this is a "so what" but for somebody who up until a couple of months ago was still going to crappy college frat parties, to be there at RADIOHEAD's party, the BEST band over the course of the past FIFTEEN years! Me? I, traditionally, am not a cool person. Or so past history tells me. And my friends. And that's okay, I don't really seek to be cool. But....I don't know, call me star-struck. And the funny thing is, as impressed as I am with their music, the true root of my respect for Radiohead comes from their handling of their business.

Like most college students I had no idea what I wanted to do for the longest time. I went to school for five years (in order to use all my track eligibility) and I did not even have a loose idea of what I wanted to do until I was half way through my 4th year of school. It was at that point I realized I wanted to work with music, the internet, and marketing. But while I had a concept of what I was interested in, I didn't even really know if such a place existed in the "real world". It was not until October of 2007 that I really began to construct and articulate what is was/is I want to do for my career and the genesis of this crystallization was the release of In Rainbows by Radiohead. When Radiohead came out with the "pay-what-you-wish" model for In Rainbows and then continued along those lines with numerous innovative and creative promotional events (free live webcasts, etc), I essentially saw my future. I spent the next 6 months or so deep in thought about what Radiohead and their followers (Saul Williams, Trent Reznor, etc) pioneered. I had found the thing I was truly passionate about (oh and if you work at all in the music industry or with social media or marketing then check out the site I just created http://www.hitsingularity.com )

So that is why going to a party with Radiohead has left me a giddy little boy; the chance to be next to my heros, but not in the way you'd think.