Radiohead are in a strange spot. This is the first time, since their debut album over 30 years ago, that the group is touring with no new or recent material behind them. A band that has been synonymous with invention, innovation, and a once seemingly ceaseless charge of forward momentum is now standing still, a little directionless, and forced to look back. It’s easy to forget just how much the band has slowed down in recent years—it’s been almost a decade since their last record, and they have made just two studio albums since 2007’s In Rainbows.
A recent interview with The Sunday Times also revealed a band a little unsure of their place in the world. They confirmed there are no new songs and no immediate plans for any more, while remaining uncertain of the future beyond this tour. Ed O’Brien said he wanted to quit the band and almost did. Some of them have not spoken to one another in years, and they will be touring with separate dressing rooms for the first time.
Also, the band remain under constant criticism for their stance on Israel, to the point that the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement called for a boycott of these shows due the group’s “complicit silence” and Jonny Greenwood’s ongoing collaborations with Dudu Tassa, whom BDS say has previously performed for members of the “genocidal” Israel Defence Forces (IDF). On Tuesday, The Guardian published an article stating that, after the reporting on the call to boycott in September, “its journalists were blocked from receiving tickets to review the Madrid concert.” If one indeed follows the other, it is an obscene and hugely ironic move given the band’s public stance on the rights to free speech and around silencing and censorship issues.
The combination of these factors does not paint a picture of a band at its peak, both creatively and in terms of interpersonal dynamics (O’Brien has also been publicly vocal about his support for a free Palestine). Radiohead’s decision to play this tour in the round, on a small circular center stage, feels like a symbolic decision rooted in bringing one another close together to try and regain some sense of grounding and connection.
To that end, the mood outside the concert in Madrid for the opening night of the tour was jubilant. No protests took place, that I witnessed, and once inside, the mood felt the same. In terms of what to expect from the evening, it felt genuinely impossible to get a sense of where it could go. When they got back together to rehearse for the first time in years, they played their albums from The Bends onwards, back-to-back, and then pulled out a long list of 65 songs that would make up an ever-changing setlist. Perhaps this is the first time the group stared into the rearview mirror to think about something akin to a greatest hits set. Or perhaps this is the perfect opportunity to become obdurate, go weird and dive into the B-sides and deep cuts. In true Radiohead fashion, the result was something completely different.
