One Man’s View of the Radiohead/Nissan Pavilion Fiasco
Time spent at the concert: 1 hour, 10 minutes.
Time spent in the car getting to and from the concert: 6 hours, 50 minutes.
Cost:
- 2 tickets - $66.50 each.
- 1 parking ticket for the only available (metered) space in my neighborhood when I got home at 1:30 am - $30.
- 1 ruined pair of shoes.
- 1 even more ruined pair of socks.
- Seeing Liars’ set.
- Any chance that I’ll ever go to Nissan Pavilion again.
- The credibility of Radiohead’s self-righteous prattling about the benefits of getting to the show via carpooling and/or public transit.
And apparently, I was one of the lucky ones.
24 Responses to “One Man’s View of the Radiohead/Nissan Pavilion Fiasco”
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May 12th, 2008 at 4:09 pm
Why is it that the two primary music venues for the DC area are in horrible suburban locations? I don’t care if the Beatles reincarnate Lennon and Harrison for one show at the Nissan Pavilion, I will not go halfway to West Virginia for a show.
May 12th, 2008 at 4:12 pm
I don’t think I’ve ever spent less than 5 hours in total travel time for a Nissan show. Even in the best of circumstances, it’s 90 minutes out and 3.5 hours back (2.5 of it spent waiting in the parking lot to get out, probably becoming illegally drunk for lack of anything else to do).
So that doesn’t even sound that bad to me. But I swore off Nissan Pavilion forever at least 7 years ago for exactly those reasons.
May 12th, 2008 at 4:16 pm
@kudzu: Do you mean Merriweather Post Pavilion for the other? Don’t even compare the two. MPP is barely 16 miles north of the DC border. Nissan I think is in a different time zone, though as I said in my last comment it’s dead to me so I’m not completely sure any more.
And Merriweather is a far better venue as far as traffic, sound and overall experience go. I have never had a really bad experience at Merriweather.
May 12th, 2008 at 4:46 pm
What a terrible waste of time. We left DC around 6pm and turned back around 10pm without ever reaching the venue. I plan to never go back there.
May 12th, 2008 at 4:49 pm
What “public transport” is the band talking about at that link? Their taste in venues is almost as awful as Yorke’s taste in opening acts.
May 12th, 2008 at 4:55 pm
I once thought nothing could take away the magic of radiohead, then i experienced last night.
May 12th, 2008 at 5:16 pm
You didn’t want to get in. That just meant hypothermia + 3 hours of literally not moving in the parking lot on the way out.
May 12th, 2008 at 5:20 pm
I dunno…I’ve had worse traffic luck going to Merriweather. Leaving a venue is always going to suck. The rain was crappy, but at least the show wasn’t canceled.
May 12th, 2008 at 6:22 pm
i went to the Radiohead show last night at Nissan Pavilion. We had to walk a mile in the rain from the parking lot and got DRENCHED. My shoes were squishy and was really uncomfortable during the show.
After the show was over (approx 11pm), we started to make our way back to the car but realized we had absolutely no idea where we had parked. Traffic in every lot wasn’t moving an inch which made it 10 times more difficult to locate the car. I had to pee after the first hour and couldn’t unbutton my jeans because my fingers were so numb. i was doing the pee-pee dance for a good 5 minutes trying to undo my jeans and almost pissed myself in the port-a-potty. We literally walked in mud for 2 hours in the pouring rain with one umbrella and a disposable poncho before we found the car at 1:05am.
Once we got in the car, we couldn’t even move until 2:15am because it was such a clusterf__k. I am never, repeat, NEVER going to see a show at Nissan ever again if it’s raining. Radiohead was amazing but the muddy search afterwards killed it.
May 12th, 2008 at 8:44 pm
nissan is a joke and i will never be going back as long as i live. merriweather is about 1000x better and i’ve never had trouble getting out of there in less than 30 minutes. it’s also the only dc-area location that radiohead has played a successful show at in the last decade.
and whoever said radiohead picks bad openers is an idiot. i was actually looking forward to seeing liars more than radiohead, but missed half their set due to nissan’s aforementioned terribleness
May 12th, 2008 at 9:34 pm
i had a great show. but nissan is the worst ever.
May 12th, 2008 at 9:45 pm
Nissan blows! There was nothing the venue could have done about the weather but there was something they could have done about traffic control (lack thereof). I will never, ever attend another show at this venue.
Radiohead was great BTW!
May 12th, 2008 at 11:14 pm
it took me 3 and half hours to get the gig from dc….luckily got in at 830ish (had to pay the 30 dollar vip parking to not have another hour of bumper to bumper in the parking lot and miss radiohead)…that being said…they played an incredible set. best show i’ve ever been to (and i’ve seen radiohead before).
May 12th, 2008 at 11:56 pm
[...] favorite post: Time spent at the concert: 1 hour, 10 [...]
May 13th, 2008 at 1:01 am
although i couldnt feel my feet, i was more wet then i had ever been (or will ever be) in my life, i saw radiohead and it was amazing. i dont know why people are complaing…yes it rained…yes nissan sucks for traffic…. BUT COMMON EVERYONE seriously, this is obsurd. eveyrone knows it sucks, why the hell would you leave at 6 pm for a show thats should start around 8 full well knowing nissan blows ass.
i left early to get there early and had an absolute blast both nights (went to kanye too)
May 13th, 2008 at 9:04 am
thank you for continuing to bring this disaster of a show into the spotlight. nissan pavilion and ticketmaster need to be held accountable for their irresponsible decision to stage the concert when the venue was clearly not capable of accommodating all patrons and the necessary parking/traffic.
my experience is similar to yours, minus the ruined socks and shoes, seeing either band, and having 4 unused tickets to show for it. PLEASE CALL Ticketmaster and Nissan Pavilion to DEMAND REFUNDS!
TM customer service: 301-808-2405
Nissan Pavilion: 703-754-6400
May 13th, 2008 at 10:14 am
Nissan Pavilion is also asking you to email them: customerservice@nissanpavilion.com.
May 13th, 2008 at 2:05 pm
I must see after seeing Radiohead play several shows, I have always been blown away and after what everyone endured to make it to this show, I would have expected the same. Unfortunately, I was not overly impressed. I guess I have been spoiled seeing them in small indoor venues to wonderful outdoor pavilions, but I did their set just did not impress me. And it had nothing to do with the rain. The rain was horrible and the lack of communication after the show was horrible. I guess that is why i needed Radiohead to really blow me away. And they didn’t :( Maybe next time.
May 14th, 2008 at 12:57 am
jackie i saw them in the small venue on their last tour and this set blew me away. i thought it was better than the small show. to each their own though.
May 14th, 2008 at 5:07 pm
Live Nation is apparently offering lawn seats to Radiohead’s show in Camden to folks who missed all or part of the show. This is what is called “adding insult to injury.”
May 15th, 2008 at 4:03 pm
Hi Mike!
This show should absolutely, 100% have been cancelled. The tickets said “rain or shine” so fans bundled up and drove to the venue. The venue, however, was in no way prepared to receive us. Hazardous weather conditions were compounded by having our safety in the hands of surly teenagers and the drunken monkeys who run Nissan.
May 18th, 2008 at 2:08 am
I bailed out early on Mother’s Day in NYC with my mom, took a train back to Baltimore in the afternoon, then left by car at 5:30 thinking I’d get there a little early before the opener.
Instead, two and a half hours in travel time, then more than an hour just to get in, Radiohead is already on stage. The girl next to me took 6 or 7 hours from Philly. Her boyfriend never even made it.
The other indignity no one mentioned: The $12 beer. Really.
My only bright idea of the day was seeing the snaking traffic to get out and passing out in my car for 2 hours, waking up to police honking at me to move. At least by that point I could drive out of the parking lot like a normal human being at 25 mph.
The whole fiasco was horrible. $80 for tickets and they can’t even operate a parking lot much less the venue. Never patronizing Nissan again.
And the Virginia Attorney General or Consumer Fraud division ought to be taking a long look at this, especially since it sounds like this venue has had its other moments even in the best of weather conditions.
May 19th, 2008 at 2:01 pm
“one ruined pair of shoes”? i mean, that’s kind of the price of doing business when you go to an outdoor show, no? and socks…well….i think there have been a million billion kids over the years who have ruined socks at outdoor concerts and not, you know, cried about it.
and really, after all their great music over the last 15 years, you’re going to let a bad show in a bad venue ruin Radiohead’s credibility? i think you need a) one good joint or b) a frisbee and some sunkist soda. or maybe paxil, who knows.
June 12th, 2008 at 10:26 am
[...] deluge of comments on my Radiohead fiasco post last month included a debate on whether Merriweather Post Pavilion was [...]