My musical goals of my youth fulfilled

Part of Arther's seat
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Our cultural tour continued the next morning when we headed off to the Edinburgh festival. We caught the Megabus (our trusted travel coach – hey, at 1 pound Glasgow to Edinburgh, I’m not complaining). Upon arrival I soon realised what the fuss is about. It truly is a special city. Even though it was overrun by Aussies and Yanks, the festival still had a very cool vibe to it. The first thing Alison and I did was check into our backpackers and headed straight for Pizza Hut. How I could love Pizza Hut when I was younger I don’t know. It’s extremely unhealthy and not that good either. But we were on holiday so we didn’t care, although we did try to make up for it by walking up Arthur’s Seat (a hill close to the city centre, with some nice views). Afterwards we headed to Calton Hill (another one) for some more views (what’s the first thing Alison and I do after we get into a city – walk up every hill we can find). The evening we finally managed to do something festival like, by catching a performance called Fool. Rather odd, but funny in parts.

The view of Edinburgh from Arther's seat
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After chatting to the reception dude at the backpackers on Tuesday morning, we decided to head to the east of the city, where we found a beach. The weather was not too nice, but we managed to find a café to chill in and do some reading. At about 12 we headed back to the city to watch another show called falling from grace. Once again, entertaining, but strange in parts. It was then time for the big moment. The reason for our trip. The Radiohead concert. I could go on and on about the show, but I’ll try keep it brief. The 1^st support band was VERY strange. 2 guys and an eastern lady, singing about not feeding the ducks. Don’t ask. Beck came on soon after, complete with a puppet show at the back of the stage, mimicking all the members of the band. They even had a puppet cameraman, videoing the gig. Hilarious. Towards the end of the show, the entire band sat down for a meal on stage while Beck did some solos. The eating utensils then slowly turned into music instruments, and after a while entire songs were being played with only a guitar and some cutlery. We saw them do this at a gig in Hammersmith Apollo about a year before, so we were kinda expecting it, but it was still very funny. Radiohead came on (after what seemed like an eternity), and proceeded to blow us away. The lights and screens were absolutely amazing. The music was out of this world, and the crowd absolutely loved it. There’s not much I can say about it. If you’re a fan, you have to see them live. Seriously. I’ve included their setlist for the hardcore fans. Loads of their post Ok Computer stuff, which I wasn’t too fond of, but now I can’t get enough.

It truly is a special city. Even though it was overrun by Aussies and Yanks,

The underbelly - The venue of our first show. Very cool venue
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Setlist:

01 Airbag

02 2+2=5

03 The National Anthem

The venue for our second show
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04 My Iron Lung

05 Morning Bell [Thom stops mid way to tell fans to calm down and stop hurting others, picks up where they left off with ease]

06 Videotape

07 Nude

The stage where I would see the fulfillment of a lifelong dream
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08 Lucky

09 The Gloaming

10 Where I End And You Begin

11 Paranoid Android

If you look closely you can see Beck's band sittin down for a meal - on stage!!
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12 All I Need

13 Pyramid Song

14 Fake Plastic Trees

15 I Might Be Wrong

The man himself - Beck
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16 Idioteque

17 How To Disappear Completely

Encore 1:

18 You And Whose Army?

And his puppet model - as viewed from the puppet camera
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19 Bodysnatchers

20 Just

21 Karma Police

Encore 2:

And the rest of the band's puppets
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22 There There ["This one is for Jonny Marr" Thom]

23 True Love Waits/Everything In Its Right Place

24 Creep

I must mention that they made huge mistakes during the last two songs, which just goes to show, they’re only human. Still, we forgive them.

Count the guitars, and double that. I saw the same amount being pushed to the back of the stage for later use. Radiohead certainly spent money on equipment
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We headed back to Glasgow after the show utilizing (you guessed it) Megabus. There was a rather funny moment where the bus driver decided to blast some sad radio station playing Bryan Adams, even after the most verbal protest from the passengers. Eventually though the music became so bad that even he couldn’t take it, so we were spared any further torture. Luckily, because it was completely ruining the Radiohead experience.