{"id":6477,"date":"2025-11-05T10:18:49","date_gmt":"2025-11-05T10:18:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/musictechohio.online\/site\/radiohead-reviewed-stunning-return-for-rocks-radical-chiefs-152049\/"},"modified":"2025-11-05T10:18:49","modified_gmt":"2025-11-05T10:18:49","slug":"radiohead-reviewed-stunning-return-for-rocks-radical-chiefs-152049","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/musictechohio.online\/site\/radiohead-reviewed-stunning-return-for-rocks-radical-chiefs-152049\/","title":{"rendered":"Radiohead reviewed: stunning return for rock\u2019s radical chiefs"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Uncut attended the opening night of Radiohead’s first tour for seven years. A full report will appear in a future issue of the magazine – but in the meantime, here’s 10 things we learned from this <\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Click here and subscribe to Uncut<\/strong><\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Uncut attended the opening night of Radiohead\u2019s first tour for seven years. A full report will appear in a future issue of the magazine \u2013 but in the meantime, here\u2019s 10 things we learned from this <\/p>\n

1. What next for Radiohead..?<\/h2>\n

It has been 10 years since Radiohead\u2019s last studio album A Moon Shaped Pool and seven years since they last performed together in public. With no new material to promote, the purpose behind this tour remains, at best, opaque.<\/p>\n

What is clear is that in the intervening years since their last tour, the band members have each moved away from Radiohead \u2013 into different configurations, solo projects, film and theatre scores. Does this make it harder, then, for them to come together again? Might this be, God forbid, the opening night of a farewell tour? These ideas feed a faint sense of pathos into tonight\u2019s show \u2013 which, as it happens, is one of the very finest Radiohead shows I\u2019ve ever seen.<\/p>\n

2. The merch is a clue<\/h2>\n

The busy merchandise stands outside and inside the venue provide a big giveaway about the parameters of tour setlists. A much loved OK Computer song title embossed on a t-shirt? A reprint of the King Of Limbs newspaper? Cyptic t-shirt slogans bearing the In Rainbows font? Nearly all Radioheads are covered here. Much as they are in the setlist, so it transpires\u2026<\/p>\n

3. The stage set is stunning<\/h2>\n

The tour is taking place in the round, with the band performing in a circular box in the centre of the auditorium. Radiohead clearly want to be among us \u2013 but strictly on their own terms. The box is walled in by semi-transparent screens, onto which is projected footage of the band playing behind the screens. The screens rise and fall as the set progresses. It feels a little like set-up The Smile used at Magazine during their inaugural shows in 2022, but taken to the next level. For a band who have always excelled in the field of stage tech, it is a simple but significant step up.<\/p>\n

4. There is no support band<\/h2>\n

\u2026 but there is a light show! While the auditorium fills up, the speakers play a mix of glitchy electronica, doomy drum \u2018n\u2019 bass and distorted hip hop \u2013 you could imagine this is the kind of thing the band knocked out between them on a quiet Friday afternoon. But to warm up the crowd, we get a strange, Close Encounters-like communion between technologies. Lights shine on different blocks in the auditorium, prompting cheers which are met by squelchy bursts of analogue synth. It\u2019s fun and solves the problem of who exactly would want the thankless task of opening for Radiohead..?<\/p>\n

5. Radiohead are still not anyone\u2019s idea of a conventional rock band<\/h2>\n

For a band predicated on constant motion, the biggest surprise of the night is how closely the setlist resembles Radiohead\u2019s greatest hits. With a few exceptions, of course\u2026 wot, nothing off Pablo Honey?, you might ask. The twists and turns through the band\u2019s canon might seem less adventurous than some diehard fans might like, but tonight\u2019s 25 songs cover a lot of ground. Although songs from Hail To The Thief and OK Computer figure highly, nearly every iteration of Radiohead is accounted for. Satisfyingly, car park rave Radiohead (\u201cSit Down Stand Up\u201d, The Gloaming\u201d), Krautrock Radiohead (\u201cThe National Anthem\u201d), Pink Floyd Radiohead (\u201cLucky\u201d) all get a look in.<\/p>\n

6. Hail To The Thief gets foregrounded<\/h2>\n

After opening unexpectedly with the hazy, Byrdsian jangle of \u201cLet Down\u201d from OK Computer, the band pepper the show\u2019s first half with songs drawn from 2003\u2019s Hail To The Thief. Early on, \u201c2+2=5\u201d and \u201cSit Down Stand Up\u201d are nervy and explosive \u2013 a return of the paranoid Radiohead of old. They smother these anxieties in sub-bass for \u201cThe Gloaming\u201d, only for them to resurface in the raw noise of \u201cMyxomatosis\u201d. With six songs taken from the album \u2013 including, later, \u201cA Wolf At The Door\u201d and \u201cThere There\u201d \u2013 it\u2019s possible that Radiohead sense an opportunity to recontextualise Hail To The Thief.<\/p>\n

Originally recorded during the feverish peak of George W Bush\u2019s \u2018War on Terror\u2019, it is now given renewed urgency by Donald Trump\u2019s second term in office. \u201cDon\u2019t question my authority or put me in a box<\/em>\u201d. Yorke sings on \u201c2+2=5\u201d and \u201cHey, we can wipe you out anytime<\/em>\u201d on \u201cSit Down Stand Up\u201d, phrases that seem all too relevant, 20 years after he first sang them.<\/p>\n

7. The band are at the peak of their powers<\/h2>\n

Last time I saw Radiohead, at London\u2019s Roundhouse on the A Moon Shaped Pool tour, they operated in close proximity to one another. When the walls of the box finally begin to rise, revealing the band themselves, we see Yorke, Ed O\u2019Brien and the Greenwood brothers evenly spaced around the perimeter of the stage, with Selway and touring drummer Chris Vatalaro in the centre. Their individual stations are demarcated by banks of gear \u2013 amps, instruments, pedalboards. Yorke is the most active, shifting from one side of the box to the other, playing to different sections of the audience. The rave dancing is replaced elsewhere by an over-emphasised Chaplinesque shuffle or a moment where he appears to be dancing with his Melodica.<\/p>\n

Colin, as usual, sticks close to Selway. Jonny, meanwhile, for the most part is hunched over one instrument or another \u2013 guitar, mostly \u2013 occasionally looking around to see where Yorke has got to. As the set progresses, they begin to move around a little \u2013 you might see Ed O\u2019Brien meeting up with Colin for a short guitar-bass showdown during \u201cThe National Anthem\u201d, say. Later, O\u2019Brien gets to shred a little \u201cParanoid Android\u201d. But really, this is about six men performing music with an intelligence, dignity and personal discretion at odds with corny rock traditions.<\/p>\n

8. The hits keep coming\u2026<\/h2>\n

A section in the middle of the show finds unexpected space for some of the band\u2019s biggest moments. Kicking off with \u201cNo Surprises\u201d \u2013 a song so great that no amount of waving phone lights can cheapen it \u2013 they run through the minor chord melancholia of \u201cVideotape\u201d, inspire a spontaneous outbreak of dancing for \u201cArpeggi\u201d and even (good heavens) a clapalong for \u201cEverything In Its Right Place\u201d.<\/p>\n

Incidentally, \u201cArpeggi\u201d provides a rare moment for O\u2019Brien to take the lead. With his guitars mixed way too low at every Radiohead concert I\u2019ve been to, his chiming lead lines here are wonderfully atmospheric. As usual, it reminds me that I\u2019d like to hear more from Ed than just textural backup for Jonny\u2019s more defined playing. But if anything, this section underscores Radiohead\u2019s rich gifts for melody. Before anyone gets too comfortable, they promptly swerve into the dystopian dubstep of \u201c15 Step\u201d and the fruity, Krautrock meltdown of \u201cThe National Anthem\u201d.<\/p>\n

9. The encore telescopes Radiohead\u2019s evolutionary progress<\/h2>\n

After the main set closes with a dervish take on \u201cIdioteque\u201d, Radiohead return for an expanded encore drawn mostly from their late \u201890s\/early \u201800s run. The exception is The Bends\u2019 \u201cFake Plastic Trees\u201d \u2013 the oldest song they play tonight. Despite provoking a mass singalong and more phone waving, this is still a peculiar, awkward, endearingly off-kilter piece of music \u2013 very much the kind of subversive writing that characterises a lot of Radiohead\u2019s early work.<\/p>\n

They follow it with two OK Computer cuts, \u201cSubterranean Homesick Alien\u201d and a marvellously splenetic \u201cParanoid Android\u201d, before moving briskly on to Kid A and Amnesiac with \u201cHow To Disappear Completely\u201d and \u201cYou And Whose Army\u201d. It feels like a telescoped trip through Radiohead\u2019s evolutionary steps from rock outsiders to radical experimentalists, becoming more mysterious as they get older.<\/p>\n

They finish with a rousing \u201cThere There\u201d \u2013 with Jonny and Ed O\u2019Brien on drums \u2013 and an ineffable \u201cKarma Police\u201d.<\/p>\n

10. This tour feels like an event<\/h2>\n

While Radiohead\u2019s future is currently uncertain beyond December 12, when this tour finishes, these shows feel like a genuine event. Perhaps by not being tethered to a specific release, these shows allow Radiohead the opportunity to give back to the fans who\u2019ve waited patiently for signs of new activity. As the final chords of \u201cKarma Police\u201d fade away, the band clap the audience, with O\u2019Brien and Colin Greenwood making \u2018hand heart\u2019 gestures. Whether this is the end remains to be seen. But if it is Radiohead\u2019s exit music, I can\u2019t think of a better way than this to say goodbye.<\/p>\n

Radiohead\u2019s setlist at Moviestar Arena, Madrid, November 4, 2025<\/strong><\/p>\n

Let Down
2+2=5
Sit Down Stand Up
Bloom
Luck
Ful Stop
The Gloaming
Myxamatosis
No Surprises
Videotape
Arpeggi
Everything In Its Right Place
15 Step
The National Anthem
Daydreaming
Wolf At The Door
Bodysnatchers
Idioteque<\/strong><\/p>\n

Encore
Fake Plastic Trees
Subterranean Homesick Alien
Paranoid Android
How To Disappear
You And Whose Army
There There
Karma Police<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

The post Radiohead reviewed: stunning return for rock\u2019s radical chiefs<\/a> appeared first on UNCUT<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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