The way I see it $60 is a good deal for free album, a trip up the turnpike and lawn seats.

Since I dislike Radiohead AND Nissan Pavilion, didn’t go to the show on Sunday night, spent the weekend mostly dry and not in traffic and am $60 richer because of it, I feel I am entitled to weigh in on this whole incident.

A few years back, a friend bought me ticket to see [Band X] at Nissan. I had a late start that evening and drove like a madman in the hope I would catch them before they played that one hit off their first album that bands are required to open with when they play giant amphitheaters. I knew I was going to be late to the sold out show and made sure to wear good shoes since I’d have to hustle through Nissan’s 500 acres of evidently easily floodable parking lots.

But when I got there, I was able to drive right up and park near the front gate. And there were a lot less people there than I’d suspected. Also, they were old. I tried to play it cool but I knew something was wrong. I called my friend and when he picked up there was music in the background. There was no music at Nissan Pavilion.

It turns out I had driven to the wrong DC area impersonal outdoor concert venue. [Band X] was playing at Merriweather Post Pavilion. Barry Manilow was playing at Nissan.

You see what God did to me? He made me drive to the wrong arena and miss my show. But if I hadn’t been a dumbass, I could have outsmarted God.

In the same way, God made it RAIN 7 FUCKING INCHES IN 24 HOURS! God made the roads floods. The hardworking police officers from Prince William County then decided they didn’t want you to drown, so they stopped letting people in. Then they arrested some Hispanic people for the hell of it, because that’s what they do.

If you hadn’t been a dumbass, like me, you would have seen the show. You would have known that Nissan is a terrible venue, there are only two was in and out and, even when Barry Manilow is playing, it takes forever to get there. And because it was raining and this whole region shuts down when a single drop falls, you should have known driving was going to be a disaster. The folks who planned accordingly saw the show.


I have zero sympathy for anyone complaining about free lawn seats in New Jersey. You can’t expect Nissan to give you your money back for a show that wasn’t canceled and several thousand people managed to get to. You can’t expect Radiohead to come back and play a special show just for you. You can’t ask the people in Jersey who’ve already paid for their seats to give them up. And you can’t blame the police for closing the parking lot when the surrounding rivers were flooding the area.

The entire situation sucked and I understand that a lot of people are upset. But there is no obligation by any of the actors to do anything for you except to acknowledge it was an unfortunate state of affairs and next time they get one of those record breaking, once-a-century rainfalls they will try to do better.

And it was fucking Radionhead, anyway. You didn’t even pay for In Rainbows.