A few months ago, my friend Lauren called to say she had bought a ticket for me to see Radiohead with her and her fiance, Kevin, in Chicago.

It was like being told I just won the lottery. You see, I’ve been wanting to see Radiohead since, oh, 1996 or so. They’re my all-time favorite band, and I just never had the opportunity to see them. Needless too say I was ecstatic, and super excited that I could get out of town for a few days.

Our little road trip started on the morning of June 9th and we headed to Chicago. First, we stopped in Milwaukee to visit Lauren’s friend Katurah and had lunch and beers at Mo’s Irish Pub.

We drove a little while longer and ended up at our hotel, which was actually by the airport. We took naps and then headed to the Lincoln Park area of Chicago. We had dinner at Opart Thai House, and holy lord, that was a tasty meal. And inexpensive, too! Then, we did a little wandering.

Kevin and I were really excited about the meat in this window. Don’t ask.

We stopped at Huttenbar for some delicious beers. I had a Kostritzer, and it was dark and delicious.

And Lauren enjoyed her beer as well.

After our beers, we wandered around a little more.

Oh, how I wished Variety Comics was open! Instead I took a photo of my comic book boyfriend, Batman.

We got in the car and drove to the Wicker Park area of Chicago, which is my favorite area. Of course, by the time we got there all of the shops were closed, but that didn’t mean we couldn’t window shop.

I wanted to buy this Pegasus art for my friend Amber from Rudy’s Roundup.

Creepy squirrel stuff.

Scary unicorn head. Seriously, this shop had the best window display I had ever seen.

We stopped for drinks at Lillie’s Q after doing some wandering, and if I wasn’t still full from dinner, I definitely would have had something barbecued. It smelled delicious.

After that, we headed back to our hotel where I snuggled in my king-sized bed with six pillows and watched cable TV (which is a novelty, since I don’t have cable at home).

On Sunday, I started off the morning with a trip to Dunkin’ Donuts (which was right across the street from our hotel). We don’t have them in Minneapolis, for whatever ridiculous reason, and I was excited to have delicious coffee and tasty donuts to start off my day. We walked around the area near Shedd Aquarium and took in the beauty that is lake Michigan.

Lake Michigan.

Shedd Aquarium.

We went to Adler Planetarium and saw a show (Deep Space Adventure) and looked throughout the museum. The museum was pretty cool, but the show wasn’t quite what I expected. I was hoping for something kind of sci-fi, but it wasn’t like that at all. Visually, it was awesome, and I think I would have enjoyed another one of the shows a little better.

There was an observation deck, so I took the opportunity to take some photos of the skyline.

And then we poked around in the gift shop.

And Kevin prepared to go into space.

After visiting the Planetarium, we headed to Tinley Park to see Radiohead!!!

OMG!!!

The three of us are obviously a bit drained and droopy from the hot weather that day.

RADIOHEAD!!!

Yes, I cried. I cried when they first came onstage. I cried when they played “Street Spirit.” I cried and smiled and cried. It was emotional overload from wanting to see them for so long. Magical. Purely magical. And Thom’s dancing is worth the price of admission alone. I smiled so much when he was doing his little dances all over the place.

They played two new songs! And they played “The Amazing Sounds of Orgy” which surprised me. Awesome!!

This is what they played:

Bloom
There There
15 Step
Kid A
Staircase
Morning Mr Magpie
The Gloaming
Codex
The Amazing Sounds Of Orgy
Karma Police
Reckoner
Lotus Flower
Myxomatosis
Feral
Little By Little
Idioteque
——
Separator
Ful Stop
Bodysnatchers
The One I Love/Everything In Its Right Place
——
Give Up The Ghost
Identikit
Weird Fishes/Arpeggi
Street Spirit (Fade Out)

Holy crap. Just…wow.

It seemed like it took forever to get back to the hotel after the show. I slept really hard once I crawled into bed, that’s for sure.

We left on Monday morning (and stopped at Dunkin’ Donuts again) and got back home in the afternoon. I was exhausted, but so ecstatic.

I have awesome friends who take me on road trips to see my favorite band of all time, and I’m the luckiest gal in the world because of it.