djfrosty

While the in the round, amphitheater-style staging is nothing new (the ancient Greeks got there first) it still feels like an underutilized production for modern touring acts. Then again, few acts have five equally engrossing members who each contribute equally and deserve their moment in the spotlight. The 20,000-strong audience at London’s O2 Arena were grateful for the opportunity to see the band up close and in a way they’ve never played before. A dynamism to each song was added, particularly as Yorke stomped around stage during the ravier moments like “Idioteque” and “15 Step.”

The band utilised The O2’s huge atrium entrance by hanging a banner featuring lyrics from 1997’s “Fitter Happier,” a dour shrug at the banality and shallowness of modern living. It set the tone for the performance that followed with five tracks from OK Computer making up the setlist. The LP’s big three (“Paranoid Android”, “Karma Police” and “No Surprises”) all received airings, and their messages of processing reality amidst political tyranny and technological advances still resonates deeply with their deeply cynical Gen X and Millennial crowd.

One of Radiohead’s greatest qualities is that they do not boast a signature tune. Sure, “Karma Police” and “Paranoid Android” might have recognition, and “Creep” is technically their most successful song (though they have all but disavowed it), but it changes from fan to fan. “Weird Fishes/Arpeggi” from 2007’s In Rainbows could make a stirring case for being the band’s complete song: gorgeously crafted, deeply emotional and beloved by the whole fanbase. So much so that fans trip over themselves to join in with guitarist Ed O’Brien’s yelping backing vocals over the song’s spindly chorus. A truly sensational moment.

25 years on, KID A still confounds and enthrals in equal measure. The heel-turn after OK Computer’s massive success to chase ambient electronica (“Treefingers”) and oblique lyrics (“Idioteque”) was daring, and created a schism in the fanbase and general public. Tonight’s mid-section with three back-to-back songs from the album – “Idioteque,” “Everything in Its Right Place”, and “The National Anthem” – showcased how risky it was for the band to turn its back on rock stardom, but a path well worth taking. Leftover confetti from previous shows at the venue fluttered down from the rafters during “The National Anthem”, a jazzy, prog-rock beast of a song with no chorus. Go figure…

Hail to the Thief, the band’s sixth LP from 2003, has gone under somewhat of a reappraisal in recent years. Most notably from the band themselves who have revisited and retooled the songs, which fused both rock and electronica, and given them a chance to shine in fresh contexts. A recently-issued live album from the era and the aforementioned Hamlet production suggests the band felt there was something to revisit. Five tracks from the LP made appearances, with the freakier moments (“Sit Down. Stand Up.” and “The Gloaming”) and straight-forward anthems (“There There”) both connecting with a patient and knowing crowd.

The band’s tour setlists in 2025 have struck the balance between fan appeasement and internal satisfaction. For every “Bloom” from 2012’s The Kings of Limbs – dark, knotty, impenetrable – they know how to give the crowd what they want, namely in the shape of the alt-rock bangers that made the crowd fall in love with them in the first place. “Fake Plastic Trees” and “Just” from 1995’s The Bends gave the encore a fittingly glorious finale on this special night.