Fans Rip Radiohead After Rain-Drenched Concert

British rock band Radiohead's rain-drenched show near Washington D.C. last weekend has triggered an Internet-driven firestorm, with message boards and the blogosphere lighting up amid fan frustration.

The area around the Nissan Pavilion in Bristow, Va., was hammered by monsoon-like conditions last Sunday, with an estimated four inches of rain and flooding forcing road closures and paralyzing traffic. Hundreds or thousands of fans -- depending on who is estimating -- were extremely late or unable to get into the show.

As such, many fans have taken to the Internet to vent their dissatisfaction, with neither the venue, the promoter nor the band being spared. One area blogger offers this headline: "Radiohead (at) Nissan: You Both Suck."

Radiohead's Web site offers the following comment: "Due to Sunday night's torrential rain storm and consequential multiple road closures, many fans were unable to reach the Nissan Pavilion. While acknowledging a lack of control over the ensuing flooding and detours, the members of Radiohead are nevertheless disappointed regarding this turn of events. For further inquiries, ticket holders who didn't get in are urged to contact: customerservice(at)nissanpavilion.com."

Nissan Pavilion owner/operator Live Nation has offered fans that were turned away tickets to an August 12 show at the Susquehanna Bank Center in Camden, N.J. (near Philadelphia), or tickets to a show of their choice at Nissan Pavilion (subject to availability).

But that may not be enough to pacify some fans. One online petition signed by more than 350 people calls for another Radiohead show in the market, with such comments as, "I would absolutely want to attend another DC/Baltimore show -- as long as its not at Nissan!! The offer that Nissan provided me of free lawn tickets to the Camden, N.J., show is insulting! For one, I had pavilion seats. Two -- its Camden, NJ!!"

Adding fuel to the fire is Radiohead's self-stated intention of making its summer tour as environmentally friendly as possible. According to one fan post, "One-third of the concert-goers that night were driving around in circles, burning fossil fuels all the while. This is your save the Earth tour ... and yet you play in the middle of nowhere with no public transportation leading there. You owe us!"

And from another, "If you gave even one tiny llama turd about environmental impact, you would never have scheduled a show at a venue 40 miles away from downtown D.C., nowhere near public transportation of any kind."

Spokespersons for Nissan Pavilion and Live Nation had no comment.

Thanks for the info to Yahoo! News.

Comments

[Nightwatchman10]

oh well who gives a **** its not Radiohead's fault it rained

[Mr_Whatsisname]

"But Mr Yorke I thought you were God, why can't you control the weather?"

nagging low-lifes

although giving away lawn tickets for pavilion ones does suck

[LotusRevolution]

Thank god I went to West Palm hahaha

[Comeback Kiddd]

If only they asked Chuck Norris to roundhouse kick every raindrop that fell.

[MuseF'nRocks]

Oh well, it rained in atlanta, there were tornado watches. Everybody still had fun. Radiohead is godlike musicaly but they cant control the weather. Have they ever heard of a poncho!!

[AestheticGuitar]

yeah, seriously, "lotus". west palm was one of the best shows of my entire life.

[Midnight Barber]

'You owe us' lol.
Yeah Radiohead clearly owe them. Think of all they've done for Radiohead, while the band only create album after album and put on a show for them. ?

[GuitarSymphony]

oh brother.

[C1osur3]

Lol...define ignorance?

How could someone be so stupid as to blame them? Leave it to idiots like this to come up with the most illogical conclusions...

[Ace5gt]

Rain or shine, concerts go on. Everybody knows that.

And where were they supposed to play...the small club near the subway that probably only holds 2,000 people? Come on now.

[kalamari]

It makes you wish the fans had all drowned in the process.

"One-third of the concert-goers that night were driving around in circles, burning fossil fuels all the while. This is your save the Earth tour ... and yet you play in the middle of nowhere with no public transportation leading there. You owe us!"

Idiots. It's THEIR transportation system, not Radiohead's. Don't forget Thom Yorke's involvement in the Big Ask campain lobbying for reduction in carbon emissions - and Yorke is not the kind of person to do anything like that for his own benefit

[j-e-f-f-e-r-s]

How long before the idiots file a lawsuit against the band?

[gallagher2006]

Mr_Whatsisname wrote:

"But Mr Yorke I thought you were God, why can't you control the weather?"

nagging low-lifes

Why, your really do suck.

Imagine waiting on your favorite bands show eagerly for 6 months, then something beyond your control stops you from going there? Wouldn't you feel the need to vent?

[The_String_Man]

Comeback Kiddd wrote:

If only they asked Chuck Norris to roundhouse kick every raindrop that fell.

lol

[adslam3]

despite the popular belief that thom yorke essentially has the super powers of "storm" from x-men, he and radiohead cannot tell the weather what to do. it really isnt their fault, so you cant be mad at them.

[3holepunch]

Bunch of whiney bitches. Things happen.

[jtdc]

I can't believe that every single one of you people missed the point. Nobody's blaming Radiohead for the rain.

At issue here is the fact that they have been spouting off about how eco-friendly this tour is, yet chose the most remote venue in the Washington, DC metro area for the show. If Bristow, VA can even be considered in the metro area.

And yes, there are many other places in the metro area they could have played. It's a goddamn city.

Apparently when they said "we're only playing at venues that are on public transit", they just forgot to add "unless there's a live nation venue in the area, in which case we will play there regardless of how crappy and remote it may be"

[JRowe3388]

They couldnt make it to the show? Tough.

Radiohead got there just fine and played. They could have too.

And it's not like it's anyone's fault. It's the weather.

[JRowe3388]

Also, you shouldnt bitch about how far away the venue is. You bought the damn tickets.

[Lost_Rose]

We do forget that Radiohead control the weather silly us.

Sheesh Radiohead should just stick to playing here in Britain where we are not afraid of the rain.

Some ponces in America. What would their dad say if he was at woodstock that brilliant year with the true festival weather.

[jahyarain]

jtdc wrote:

I can't believe that every single one of you people missed the point. Nobody's blaming Radiohead for the rain.

At issue here is the fact that they have been spouting off about how eco-friendly this tour is, yet chose the most remote venue in the Washington, DC metro area for the show. If Bristow, VA can even be considered in the metro area.

And yes, there are many other places in the metro area they could have played. It's a goddamn city.

Apparently when they said "we're only playing at venues that are on public transit", they just forgot to add "unless there's a live nation venue in the area, in which case we will play there regardless of how crappy and remote it may be"

your argument bears no merit unless u r assuming that every person who bought tickets 2 the show never knew where the venue is located. that was just naive illogicality u attempted there.

[burndttoast]

I'm not gonna lie: I would be pretty effing pissed if this ends up happening at the Hollywood Bowl concert. But I'd be mad at the weather, and possibly the venue if they try and jipp me on my tickets, but not the band.

[Grungy2425]

hahahaha why are these morons blaming RH. They didn't make it rain ,stop whining...

[antareus]

I was there.

The venue is notoriously incompetent in matters of traffic. It took me three hours to leave. There are two narrow roads to get to the venue and it is about a ten minute drive from the highway. It becomes congested very easily. One road became flooded because of the excess rain, so a detour was made to the first road.

Nissan Pavilion is quite aware of the parking problem: they sell VIP Parking spots at $30/spot. They should be hung out to dry over this somehow, but I don't know how we would be able to punish them. They just don't care.

[antareus]

Also, the heavy rain, beautiful music, and cold weather (45 degrees with a breeze and a mist) made it one of the most surreal experiences in my life.

I am still recovering from the cold I got from it.

[barangatang]

Sorry Radiohead fans, but Thom Yorke doesn't have the power to control rain, harsh, I know, but we're going to have to face that fact sometime.

[therescue06]

wow

i understand about the tickets, but to blame radiohead for ****ing rain?

checked

[viento]

ahhhhh Chuck Norris, I wish he had a band!!

[llama_guitarist]

wah wah. I live in Utah where it snows all winter, which lasts from November to April or so. I also live about 40 miles away from most popular concert venues. So what do I do if the weather is gonna be bad? I leave with plenty of time to spare. (Example: Mars Volta show on Monday, about 55 miles or so away.)

[minichibi]

I live in DC and I've been to the Post Pavillion place... the thought of flooding there really SUCKS... It's on a really steep hill leading into the pavillion, when I went to a concert there there were thousands of people on the lawn.

Also, it's true that it's REALLY hard to get there, and even worse to get out.

Even though it's not Radiohead's fault that it rained, they could have given it a bit more thought (but then again, they're not a local band so how would they know?)

Blame it on Radiohead's tour booker!!

[David_Bowie=GOD]

I have a cousin who couldnt make it to the show that bought tickets... its not like hes blaming radiohead, but seeing we live in VIRGINIA and got PAVILLION tickets he thought it was bull that he got offered LAWN tickets in friggin NEW JERSEY!!! I mean seriously! Crappy Venue

[BrokenBricks]

I've been to Nissan many many times, and with clear skies traffic is a bitch and it's very congested. I can only imagine what you guys had to go through that day. I live up near Towson Maryland, it was raining REAL hard

[doubleG]

rain just makes concerts better and more memorable...

[nathantayloryes]

its not bloody radioheads fault, they still played the show, surely fans of the mighty Radiohead are able to see that