Radiohead at Nissan Pavilion: Apocalypse Now
I’ve been to many shows in my time. I’ve sat in 108 degree heat in the desert to see a sub-par wanna-be joy division band. I’ve been to coachella for 5 years, enduring pain in my feet and back after 12 hours of standing that is indescribable. But nothing. NOTHING, could have prepared me for last night’s Radiohead show at Nissan Pavilion.
The magnitude of misery (despite an otherwise great show) can not be fully described in this post, but i will try my best. We got into the car at 4pm to start our treck to middle of nowhere Bristow, VA. 3 hours (!) later we arrived to an already soaked venue. Streams of umbrellas, florescent ponchos and muddy pseudo-rivers already flowed across the parking lot.
I put on my hat and rain coat (why i didn’t bring my rain pants and decided to wear shorts i will never know, and will forever curse myself for) and my girlfriend tried her best to waterproof herself, but once we stepped out of that door, there was no denying the monsoon that was upon us; just ask my now non-functioning phone. And i am not saying monsoon to heighten the story, it was literally a monsoon. You know when there us a huge storm with lightening and thunder and it pours down like you read about in the bible for about 10 minutes then it’s done? Well take out the thunder and lightening, and prolong the biblical pouring for 3+ hours and you might be in the ballpark.
I tried to remain positive: “hey well this is actually pretty appropriate weather to hear radiohead music in…right?”. Ignorance is bliss…but not that bliss. We trekked up to the venue and by the time we were inside the “doors” my shoes and socks were already soaked through and my shorts were about half way. The look on my girlfriends face was about 90% unhappy (impressive considering the circumstances).
We trotted up the stairs to our lovely field seats and found a spot in the fronts left that had a pretty good view and was relatively dry (read: didn’t have 6 inches of sitting water). The Liars were on stage playing an ok, although uninspiring, opening set and we sat and bided our time and dryness hoping the roadies would somehow be able to miraculously snap their fingers and have radiohead on stage directly after The Liars. No such luck.
30 minutes later – shoes 120% soaked, shorts 100% soaked, boxers 20% soaked, girlfriends’ look 110% unhappy – Radiohead finally took the stage. The band, under the circumstances, played a great set, stopping every other song to apologize to the crowd, those in the field in particular, about the “horrible conditions” and tried to keep the crowd into it, but with every gust of wind and every inch of water that fell the crowd became more and more numb (literally and figuratively…did i mention it was about 45 degrees and i couldn’t feel my feet?)
The lyrics to “Paranoid Android” literally came to life as Thom, and the entire water logged crowd, sang ” Rain down, rain down, come on rain down on me. From a great height, from a great height height height”; some even with their hands up in the air almost taunting the clouds “bring it on you bastard”.
Bring it on they did. As we reached the first encore the rain had somehow unfathomably gotten harder and my statistical analysis had pretty much everything – shorts, boxers, shoes, socks, girlfriend, soul – at 300% soaked and miserable. Somehow i thwarted off requests of my girlfriend to leave with “we’re already soaked, we might as well stay till the end”, and while both encores were amazing, I am still questioning that logic.
Once the show ended it was mad dash to the car. We joined a mass of wet, muddy, disgustingly bitter people as they navigated around what was now full on rivers in the venue to get to our cars only to be forced to wait over an hour sitting in our own festering clothes. Lovely sounding, isn’t it? I literally stripped down to my bare feet and boxers to drive home. By this point, my girlfriend was just short of a mental breakdown, and i can’t say i blame her. Never before have i come so close to just sitting down and losing it. Call me over dramatic, but if you were there you probably know exactly what i’m talking about.
As we finally pulled into baltimore at 3AM, somewhat more dry but no less emotionally eroded, I had to ask myself…was it worth it? And even now, thinking about it, I can’t even answer that question. I am still trying to dry out the cobwebs in my brain before I can think straight. I ‘ll get back to you on that. But I can tell you one thing, despite what the lights and setlist will have you believe, there were no rainbows to be had last night. By a long shot.
UPDATE:
Colin Greenwood just posted this on the bands blog:
To everyone who made it, and put up with the torrents on the lawn, and came early to catch the Liars and our show, thank you so much for braving the deluge. I hope you heard what you came for, the music and lights diverting you from the wet. We got out of there around three am, and the pic shows Jonny waiting in the loading bay whilst the water streams across the tarmac. We’ve had floods at Bull Creek, lightning at the RFK stadium, so there must be some kind of Biblical fix between us and DC. Frogs next time?
Nice kicks Jonny.UPDATE 2:
Seems there is an online petition that is requesting radiohead to come back and play adifferent DC venue such as Verizon Center to make it up to the fans who suffered through the set, or got turned away at the door. Sign it here.
Tags: , radiohead
Is it twisted that despite all that, as one of the people who got turned away at the entrance, I’m still jealous of you?
on May 12th, 2008 at 5:43 pm
After I dropped off my friend in DC, I almost stopped somewhere along 95 and got a hotel room. It was a test, the whole night.
on May 12th, 2008 at 6:51 pm
I had tickets for the 2001(?) show that was cancelled at Bull Run…still pissed about missing them and Beta Band together.
on May 12th, 2008 at 8:35 pm
I made it, and I know what you are talking about…I really, really wanted to just throw a tantrum at some point. We were stuck in one of the back parking lots and sat there at a standstill for 3 hours before being directed out. It was a nightmare. I might have lost it mentally if I wasn’t so damn tired at that point.
on May 12th, 2008 at 8:46 pm
yeah, i am finding it hard to describe just how bad it was to other people. i found myself literally hating the people i saw leaving the pavilion somewhat dry.
I also wanted to mention, as it might not be clear in all my bitching above…that radiohead, despite the weather were great. Many points i just said fuck it (and also in an attempt to stay warm) and started giving my best Thom-spaz dance fest. This obviously didn’t help the state of my shoes.
on May 12th, 2008 at 8:54 pm
We had seats but still got rained on by the wind blowing the rain in – I was already soaked from the waist down anyway. It took us 2hrs, 15min to get out of the parking lot. I got 4 hours sleep at my friends’ house in DC before I had to grab a cab for the airport back to Sunny 70F Atlanta. Bristow, never again.
on May 12th, 2008 at 8:54 pm
What a miserable event! We left DC around 6pm and never made it to Nissan Pavilion. We thought we’d get there in an hour. At 10pm we weren’t even close to reaching the venue so we turned around. I can’t believe that a major venue could be so clueless about crowd and traffic management.
on May 12th, 2008 at 9:16 pm
I am reading that if you weren’t able to make it to the show nissan might be able to refund you or something. call them at 703-754-6400
on May 12th, 2008 at 9:19 pm
I’m with @natalya. We spent 7 hours in a car round trip and didn’t get to see the show. I seriously thought I was in the Twilight Zone for a while.
on May 12th, 2008 at 9:26 pm
I’ve always hated Virginia. Last night was just another experience to back that up. Why oh why couldn’t they have played Merriwether like last time?
Left Silver Spring at 6pm. What should have been 45 mins took 2 hours just to even get to the EXIT off the 66. Another 1 and 1/4 hour to drive 1 mile to the venue and to get routed around it. My buddy and I hopped out of the car to run to the venue while my fiance parked. We were frozen mud pops by the time we made it in. I couldn’t even bring myself to buy a beer because it would have frozen to my hand. You’d think leaving Silver Spring at 6 would at least get us there BEFORE Radiohead started.. but nope. We walked into the middle of the first part and stayed for about half an hour and just couldn’t take it anymore. My fiance forgot where we left the car so my small group split up and spent an hour trecking through near freezing mud rivers to find our car.
I never thought waiting over an hour in a car to get out of a parking lot would ever be such heaven. Three of us stripped down and blasted the heat.
I’ve seen radiohead a couple times before. What really upset me is that it was my buddy’s first time seeing them. Normally their concerts were just brilliant (i.e. 2003 @ Merriwether)… but this was just a complete spoil for him.
Nissan and Live Nation should be ashamed, ABSOLUTELY ASHAMED of themselves. Rain or shine is one thing. Proceeding with a concert with half the roads getting there are ALREADY flooded and getting worse, and NOT cancelling it is just plain irresponsible.
It would be nice if Radiohead swung back arounD later this year and reserved tickets for us suckered by Nissan (especially us on the lawn) to purchase before selling to the general public.
Any place would have been nicer than Nissan. Merriwether is way better than Nissan. RFK has descent sound and metro access.
I’m suprised no one died.
on May 13th, 2008 at 12:20 am
“I’m surprised no one died.”
Yeah, that pretty much sums it up. Right when we finally were getting close to the pavilion, a car just ahead of us caught on fire (presumably from unexpectedly being forced to sit for hours on the way in).
We weren’t sure exactly what happened, but the cleanup process involved a Bulldozer and a Fire Truck. Fortunately, the cops were very quick and smart about it, and just put up a wall of flares between the open lane and the car that had been on fire.
The main reason I’ll remember this show forever was the part when one of my friends found an umbrella on the ground, soaking in mud, beer, and God knows what else, and grabbed it to shield he and his wife. He pointed to a trash can and said “look, a tarp, get it!”, and next thing you know, I was pulling a huge, 10′ X 10′ blue camping tarp out of a trash can full of beer cans. I put it over my head like a child’s ghost costume (with no eye holes), and listened to the rest of the show with no visuals.
Anyway, it was totally insane, as the main post explains. What pisses me off is that I think the weather only played a small role in the overall frustration we had, which was with the slow line to get into the parking lot, and with the bizarrely long drive from 66 to Nissan Pavilion. And several people I work with today had horror stories that didn’t even involve rain. In contrast, the similar big amphitheater down in Raleigh, NC takes almost no time to get in or out of (for similarly packed shows).
on May 13th, 2008 at 12:53 am
I still can’t believe the insanity of last night, for those that actually made it inside and those that didn’t (I am in the latter group). I’ve read before that the Roman Coliseum could get all spectators in and out in under 10 minutes. It was a marvel of functional architecture. After last night, about 2100 years after the Roman Colisem’s glory days, I wish the Nissan Pavilion was a fraction as efficient. I salute all who had tickets and were able to see (or not see) the show.
on May 13th, 2008 at 1:42 am
Left Baltimore @ 6pm. Never even got into the show. Nissan Pavilion..you are dead to me. I am stunned a person, whose profession it is to design such venues, actually designed that POS. WTF. I was so psyched to go to my first Radiohead concert, been a fan for decades, and this is what I get. Shoot me in the face next time.
on May 13th, 2008 at 1:57 am
Yea, my wife and I have endured some pretty nasty conditions before… but last nights conditions were HORRIBLE!
We had lawn seats… or mush seats… whatever they were. 2nd time at Nissan and have no intention on ever going back… She’s 7 mo pregnant and could barely get though the first set. She was a trooper though!
Great show! Radiohead almost made me forget the ankle deep water we stood the whole time! Shitty venue, shitty to hear about everyone not making it in. Traffic situation is/has always been the worst in the DC/NOVA area.
Nissan = Never again
on May 13th, 2008 at 2:11 am
Never made it in. A completely frustrating, ridiculous experience. I was mad at myself for being dumb enough to put me & my friends at risk on those roads to see a dumb show (of course, who knew how bad the roads were going to be). The weather was like hell on earth and it was the worst driving experience I’ve been through. Not happening again!
on May 13th, 2008 at 2:19 am
We left Baltimore at 5pm and made it there to see Optimistic during the first encore. Absolutely the worst concert experience of my life. Nissan needs to refund to damn near everyone. The show should have been canceled.
While sitting in stop and stop traffic in the “detour from hell” we actually thought we might be in real trouble because the water was rising so much.
What a shit show.
on May 13th, 2008 at 2:28 am
VIRGINIA SUCKS.
on May 13th, 2008 at 2:47 am
Man, it was awful. We actually did make it to see the show, but as everyone said, sat in the car for over 2 hours to leave the parking lot!! I heard they were turning people at the door during the encores – that is truly awful.
on May 13th, 2008 at 3:17 am
I was there last night and also at Bull Creek in 2001. In ’01 we arrived very early in the day to hang out and wait to get in early. We did get to hear a nice sound check in the mid-afternoon, on a day when the heat index must have been 112. Well before the show, I saw a huge dark cloud rolling in and I told my friend “let’s get back to your car”. We made it just as a huge t-storm hit. It was relentless, with torrents of unending rain and frequent lightning, so the show was cancelled (as last night should have been). We actually saw a car almost go under water that day, but some folks pushed it up a hill in the parking lot to save it. So then I was there last night with the same friend! We just laughed! It seems the only way to see biblical weather is when R’Head is in town! It was dreadful! I left at 10 p.m and got out okay. But my friend got home to Richmond at 3:30a.m. I love Radiohead and always will, but Nissan – never again. It was the worst thing I have ever paid money for, unless you count my tax dollars and the war in Iraq.
on May 13th, 2008 at 3:30 am
ya, I luckily? did make it into the venue, I left annapolis around 430 and made it into the nissan pavilion parking lot somewhere around 630 or so. The only bright point of the whole evening was the Radiohead show itself, they actually got me to forget how soaking wet and cold I was . The exit from the parking lot was hell, there was a car stuck on the right lane which held up traffic for everyone trying to get by, not to mention the drive home was hellish and I feared for my safety and went like 10 mph under the speed limit the whole time.
All in all, I am extremely glad I got to see Radiohead, as they’re one of my favorite bands and I had yet as to see them play live. But, it was pure hell, the wind and rain just made it so crappy. Another bright point of the evening was that there was this strange camradarie between us lawn people, there was this one guy standing to my left and we’d like glance at each other every other ten minutes or so and give a nod and a friendly we’re all in this together smile.
on May 13th, 2008 at 6:33 am
I never even made it in. Bought 3 tickets, waited in traffic for 4 1/2 hours to drive 25 miles. Finally made it to the entrance to be turned away. I believe the show was ending at that time. What a mess!! Already wrote to Radiohead, Nissan Pavilion, and Ticketmaster but I’m sure it will do nothing!! Watching the videos on YouTube of the show I missed makes me want to cry…..or kill someone!!
on May 13th, 2008 at 8:47 am
We made it for the last four songs. As we made a mad dash up to our seats, I DROPPED my keys while trying to avoid the rivers. You can imagine that I did “lose it” at that point. After backtracking my way down to the front (all while they’re still playing), I stopped by guest services and someone had turned in my keys. It was the real highlight of my night. I watched they play Karma Police from the lawn…I have never been so happy and so miserable at the same time.
on May 13th, 2008 at 12:42 pm
It sounds like you and I were on pretty much the exact same schedule for leaving / getting back to Baltimore. It was a completely insane night, but at least we got in. The more I read the more horror stories I see about driving for 5 hours and having to circle the venue several times before being turned away. Nissan has some of the worst architectural coping with water I’ve ever seen, and I can’t believe the road back to 66 was down to a single lane.
Sorry to hear about the phone, I kept mine on me as well and immediately regretted it.
on May 13th, 2008 at 1:19 pm
I had tickets to that Bull Run show too, was the first time I was going to see Radiohead and had been waiting for the show for a long time. I was with 4 other people and I don’t think any of us talked to each other for a week after that, everyone was really bitter.
But I have to agree that Nissan Pavillion has got to be one of the worst live venues in the area. Not necessarily the actual stage and sound, but all the logistics of getting there and getting home are just exhausting in themselves. I wish Radiohead would just play the MCI center or the Black Cat (riiight).
on May 13th, 2008 at 2:11 pm
yeah. it sucked royal balls. but anyone that has ever been to nissan, or knows anyone that has ever been to nissan, and is even remotely familiar with d.c.-area traffic should have known to give yourself AT LEAST 4 HOURS to get to that show. and you should know the alternate, non-66 routes as well…at least for getting into the place.
i left the annapolis area by 4:30 and used knowledge of local roads to get to university road (an 80-mile trip) in 2 hours. but i didn’t get into the parking lot until 8:15.
the show was truly awesome. but i could hardly enjoy it knowing the debacle that awaited us at the end of the show. we bolted, full sprint, after planet telex (missing FPT *groan*). got to our car around 10:50 and waited 1:15 to get out of the lot.
yes, the departure was the usually craptacular f@ckfest that it always is, multiplied by the biblical deluge ram-it-up-your-arse factor.
nissan is 100% responsible for the problems in getting out. although, having 29 flooded certainly contributed since everyone had to be routed onto 66.
however, to those bitching about not making it, sorry to be blunt: you are 100% responsible for not making the show.
on May 13th, 2008 at 2:48 pm
I do realize that I have no legal recourse in which to demand reimbursement for the ticket cost of the Radiohead Concert on May 11, 2008, but I would hope that some form of consideration would be made. After allowing more than ample time to arrive at the venue, the deplorable weather conditions caused numerous traffic detours, to the point where after being stuck in Bristow traffic for over 5 hours my party upon finally reaching the parking lot were met by numerous people walking through the rain announcing the end of the show. At this point an additional 2 hours were spent trying to get out of the area.
I strongly recommend that some concession be made in order to ensure future business from myself as well as what must have been thousands of people remaining stationary in their cars; and, at the very least, I think it would behoove Nissan to take some action to work more efficiently with the local Bristow government (i.e. police, emergency rescue, etc) to ensure that under similar situations, patrons can avoid similar pitfalls. Until some kind of consideration is made to rectify this, myself (as well as numerous others I am sure) will no longer patronize Nissan (Led Zep reunion tour being the only exception).
And Radiohead, 1/3 of the concert goers were driving around in circles BURNING FOSSIL FUELS ALL THE WHILE this is your save the earth tour–your WASTE site requested people to carpool (which we did–5 people in a Prius) and yet you play in the middle of nowhere with no public transportation leading there
on May 13th, 2008 at 3:35 pm
I am one of the many who never even made it in after being in a car for hours and hours. I’ve been calling and writing emails in hopes that there will be some kind of refund. I would rather Radiohead just play another show in the area and honor our tickets, but I know how likely that is… fuck nissan.
on May 13th, 2008 at 4:12 pm
Also maybe if enough of us beg WASTE enough they’ll help get us a refund.. or better yet get Radiohead to honor our tickets somewhere else!
correspondence@waste.uk.com
on May 13th, 2008 at 4:31 pm
I was there. Somehow, miraculously, we left the Mt Pleasant area in DC around 4:30, got to nissan (via 66) and parked by 7. We said ‘fuck the liars’ and stayed in my car until 8. I was a complete and total moron and had absolutely no rain gear. Two of the five of us did have rain gear and they left on a mission of retrieving more – HOW there weren’t vendors selling ponchos is BEYOND me, I would have paid $20 for a functioning poncho. However, my friends were able to find a roll of giant, unused trash bags and brought them back to us. I double bagged myself and off we went – five steps out of the car my socks/shoes were destroyed. Luckily our seats were under cover and not in the lawn, but we were still sopping wet 3 hours later when we had to trek back to the cars. And somehow we made it out of the parking lot in an hour.. I guess we were lucky all around, all things considered. The music was great but the weather was just miserable.
on May 13th, 2008 at 4:43 pm
6 hours in a car only to be told that they closed the show. Now Nissan is dicking around about the refund. 6$ per ticket to park and you a-holes can’t build a descent roadway? REFUND NEEDED!!
Class Action Lawsuit?
on May 13th, 2008 at 4:48 pm
Someone started a petition to get Radiohead to make up for this fiasco!
http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/DC_Radiohead/index.html
Everyone should sign it! I think you should add it to your main post, too!
on May 13th, 2008 at 4:58 pm
and another thing. anyone who says “thousands of people” didn’t get to see the show are full of f@ucking sh!t. the venue was packed! including the lawn.
a couple hundred? maybe.
“thousands?” no effing way.
don’t get me wrong. nissan absolutely blows ass. but everyone knows this. if you left d.c. after 6:00, in that storm, and expected to make that show, then you were hittin’ the kind a wee bit early.
on May 13th, 2008 at 5:19 pm
I think other than seeing Radio Head, my favorite part was the mile walk back to our hotel room after the show in a monsoon. I was on cloud nine after the show and nothing could bring me down, not even a little wind and rain. Great Show, i mean, if it wasn’t for the rain, this show may have been lost in the mix with so many other shows that reside in my brian, but now, there is no way I’ll ever forget this evening of adventure, music, and row K debauchery.
on May 13th, 2008 at 5:58 pm
doug -
i definitely agree with you there. but then again, what radiohead show does anyone forget?
on May 13th, 2008 at 6:01 pm
true that ryan, true that.
There were actual small rivers that we had to cross to get back to the hotel. I was laughing my ass off. Thank god my friend had a swiss army pocket knife. He was able to fashion small wooden bridges for us to cross. always be prepared when concert going….
on May 13th, 2008 at 6:10 pm
it made it memorable I don’t debate, but that sucked. Standing in 50 degree downpours for 3-4 hours is not my idea of a fun time. I loved the show, and am super glad I saw it but really, that shit sucked.
on May 13th, 2008 at 7:16 pm
This is Nissan Pavilion’s Customer Service response:
Hi [name],
Thank you for contacting Nissan Pavilion regarding your experience on Sunday night. Due to the torrential rain storm, multiple road closures and a late-arriving crowd led to delays for some music fans entering the parking lot at Nissan Pavilion. While we have no control over Mother Nature, we certainly are disappointed that some fans did not make it to the venue.
As a consolation, we would like to offer you complementary lawn tickets to Radiohead?s performance at the Susquehanna Bank Center in Camden, NJ on August 12th. We apologize for any inconvenience you experienced Sunday night and hope that this free ticket offer helps to make up for it.
on May 13th, 2008 at 7:49 pm
is that free ticket offer only to people who didn’t make it into the venue?
on May 13th, 2008 at 8:47 pm
This might be the most commented blog post I’ve ever seen. I wrote an email to Live Nation which you can check out here: http://www.senbaltimore.com/blogs/agt/my-email-to-live-nation-regarding-the-radiohead-de.shtml. I encourage others to email Live Nation, as well.
on May 14th, 2008 at 2:22 am
I have NEVER had a positive experience at Nissan, but, until last night, I keep going back. That is the last time. It is the most unorganized, poorly run venue I have ever had the displeasure of attending. To those who did actually make it into the show, I’m glad the set was amazing. Never in my life have I wanted to be cold and wet more than I did that night. Everyone should call Nissan to complain and demand a refund, not because of the money, but because of principle. They put thousands of people in danger by deciding not to cancel the show to benefit their own, as well as Live Nation’s wallets.
on May 14th, 2008 at 4:14 am
I think it’s a bit misguided to petition the band to “make up” for Nissan’s failings. The band didn’t create the weather (ask their guitar techs about keeping guitars in tune in that mess) nor were they responsible for the fact that Nissan Pavilion has _NEVER_ had adequate traffic or parking management, and you have to realize the problem is not Radiohead. I’m sure they’d love to be able to just pop over to DC for another show but the costs would be huge. I think the best bet for those denied entrance is to push Nissan Pavilion to do something, or use a class action lawsuit. We left DC at 6:45 , stopped on the way for beers and dinner, and still made it for the last couple of Liars songs. We were lucky, until we tried to leave.
on May 14th, 2008 at 1:49 pm
It sounds like most people who had problems were coming in from 66. I think we got really lucky coming in on 29 to University Blvd. We were in the lot by 6:45 I think it was. Sounds like others on the same schedule were SOL. Leaving was a nightmare of course.
I also tried to go to the Bull Run show in ’01. I was thinking, here we go again. Turned out to be a fantastic show. It’s just too bad more couldn’t experience it.
I swore off Nissan after the last show I saw there. Radiohead was an exception…like many people. Getting in and out of that place is dreadful, especially leaving. But, I guess as long as people keep packing in, little will change.
on May 14th, 2008 at 7:39 pm
What an awful night…though I feel guilty because I was in the Pavillion. But 4 hours to get home when you live 20 minutes away is pretty bad…
aaron
http://www.thecityveins.com
on May 15th, 2008 at 2:31 pm
Here’s a copy of the leter I wrote to Nissan’s management:
Dear Sir or Ma’am,
My name is Brad Gillenwater and I had for many, many weeks been looking forward to this past Sunday’s Radiohead concert in the suburbs of Washington , DC . My friend, Jay Yoke, purchased our group’s four tickets this past March. The four of us left Crystal City , Virginia , in route to the concert, shortly after 6:30 PM, one hour before the listed 7:30 opening act was to have commenced. However, due in part to mother nature but to a greater degree awful traffic and parking control management operations, we did not arrive to the Nissan Post venue—less than twenty-five miles from Crystal City —until the middle of the main act, Radiohead. Indeed, by the time we rushed from our cars, presented our tickets and rushed further to our “stage pit” ticket location, we arrived in time to hear only eight—eight!—songs, this included each of the band’s encore performances. To make matters worse, as disappointed as the four of us were, we were not able to exit the Nissan Pavilion parking lot until 12:30 AM, Monday morning. I did not access Interstate 66 until 1:00.
Four days later, I remain furious. Not only have I caught an awful cold as a result of the fiasco, but I feel completely cheated out of an evening for which myself and three good friends had planned for over two months. We planned carefully and adequately for the event (it should not have taken over three hours to have driven from Crystal City to Bristow); we each paid good money for the “stage pit” tickets, placing us only yards from the main stage; and, while granting that Nissan Post is not responsible for the terrible weather, the venue’s management—as well as the local government managers—have demonstrated an utter and complete inability to have accommodated the concert in the first place.
I am tremendously disappointed in the performance of Nissan Post’s management, and unless some form of redress is made to address the legitimate concerns which I raised, above, I will certainly never patronize the venue again—and I will make it an effort to persuade others to also forgo future engagements at the venue.
Sincerely,
Brad Gillenwater
on May 15th, 2008 at 5:32 pm
What up, Ryan!
I’ve gone to Nissan Pavilion -albeit reluctantly – an average of once a year since 1993. With that said, this is in no way intended to be a criticism of anyone’s show-planning skills. Instead, please take it as advice for the future (not that I expect many will ever go back to Nissan after experiencing what was the worst concert mess I’ve ever attended).
The ONLY way to be sure you’ll get to Nissan, get parked and get to your seats in time for a show at that venue is to allow 3 hours of travel time prior to the start of the show, and I mean the real start time…opening act(s), not headliner. Of course this only applies to departures from the local DC, MD, VA areas.
I have sat in traffic for 3 hours to get into that parking lot more than once on a beautiful sunny day. With the rains of biblical proportions and road closures, I am appalled – but not at all surprised – that some poor souls never made it into the venue.
Fortunately we got from Arlington to the parking lot in 1 hour on this particular night, but that’s because we left at 4:30 before the roads flooded and were closed. Anyone who says that Nissan bears none of the blame has clearly never been to the pavilion in Camden or the Verizon Amphitheatre in VA Beach. There are PLENTY of ways that traffic flow and parking organization can be made much, much better.
Yes, the weather isn’t their fault, but 3 hours getting into a parking lot from 40 miles away on a sunny day is unforgivable. Rain and other circumstances only make it worse and, if anything, should highlight the already glaring need for improvements.
Fantastic show…horrible concert-going experience. F_ck Nissan Pavilion, now and forever. I hope everyone has recovered mentally and physically. Next time Radiohead play, I’m making the road trip to see them at a venue that gives a damn and takes the logistics more seriously.
on May 16th, 2008 at 7:22 pm
I would never pay to see anyone at Nazi Pavilion, not even my favorite band. I F-ing hate that place. Every show I’ve been to at Nazi Pavilion has been a bad experience. The racist cops there are like pitbulls, looking for any chance to harass you or ruin your experience. If you’re trying to see an outdoor show, go to Merriweather, or don’t see it at all. Enough with the police state at Nazi Pavilion.
on June 3rd, 2008 at 5:43 pm
[...] What we said: NOTHING, could have prepared me for last night’s Radiohead show at Nissan Pavilion … You know when there us a huge storm with lightening and thunder and it pours down like you read about in the bible for about 10 minutes then it’s done? Well take out the thunder and lightening, and prolong the biblical pouring for 3+ hours and you might be in the ballpark. [...]
on January 23rd, 2009 at 6:39 pm