Radiohead Madrid has chosen the location of their first concert since 2018, and kicks off a 20-date European tour that does not include a setlist from all of their nine studio albums.
If it wasn’t for Oasis, it could have been the most anticipated rock tour of the year. Radioad has not recorded a Studio Album since 2016, and each of the band members is involved in other successful and creative projects, so fans are invited if they are no longer surprised by them.
But there was excitement last year with the news that the band had reconvened for casual rehearsals, which was announced in September tickets for this concert.
With a little chat with the crowd beyond the occasional “gracias”, the British quintet played 21 songs, opening with Let Down from 1997’s OK Computer and adding other songs from the highly lauded first half of their career including Paranoid Android, Karma Police, Fake Plastic Trees, Idioteque and No Surprises.
But while they didn’t shy away from the well-known songs, it wasn’t a greatest hits set, which led to many tracks on the album and dropping the thief’s rain.
An hour or so before the sun rose in Madrid, Francesco Puddu tore down a prime spot in front of the City’s hulking Movistar Arena. He was one of the first Radiohead fans to arrive at the venue, buzzing with anticipation.
“I’m so happy. Like, I didn’t think it was real,” said the 27-year-old, who traveled from Italy. “It’s been so long that even if they play the same song 20 times in a row, I’ll be happy.”
The hours passed by quickly fans planning where to place themselves in front of the circular stage, and reconciled that they were among the privileged ones who scored tickets sold in a tour.
The war in Gaza was another topic that took place throughout the day, given the Palestinian campaign for an academic boycott of the 2024 show in Tel Aviv.
The topic that seems to remain sensitive for the band: After the Guardian reported on the BoyCott Call in September, its journalists were blocked from receiving tickets in Madrid. The band did not comment on the decision.
In Spain, where hundreds of thousands took to the streets in solidarity with Palestine, the band’s actions left some fans conflicted.
“It would be good if they talked about it first,” said Lola, 22, who asked that her last name not be published. “As a radio fan, I’m a little disappointed. But at least I think they learned their lesson.”
He pointed to the incident last year in Melbourne, when the frontman of the band, Thom Yorke, who was going on stage in a stage was shouted at in a solo stage during the judgment of you to judge the genocide of Geaza? “
This is not the right way to answer, said Lola. “I don’t like that reaction.” In the end, though, the music won him over. “Obviously I can’t control my feelings when I listen to music … I want to come and listen to the sounds and listen to what I’ve been listening to since I was 12 years old.”
Yorkke later released a statement saying that the incident in Melbourne left him “in what I think is silence, and his administration that is considered as a dispute”, which defines a dispute that is considered as a dispute “, that defines those” administrations “his administration as” Benjamin Netanyahu, and his administration that is considered as “Benjamin Netanyahu, and his administration that is considered as a dispute”, which defines a dispute “, which defined the “administration” as “extremists” who “must be stopped”.
Before the European Tour, Yorke told the time on Sunday that he would “never” continue in Israel. “I don’t want to be 5,000 miles anywhere near the Netanyahu regime,” he added.
Others defended the band, citing their long history of activism. “They have always stood for peace, they will not change now,” said Alessandra Fossati. “I think people who know them, know they’re on the right side.”
Tuesday’s concert will be the 50th time he’s seen the band perform on radio, after being cheed when he first saw them live in 1995.
This time he has tickets for five of the shows: opening night in Madrid and every single show in his home country of Italy.
“They always change from one record to another, they don’t do the same thing,” he said as he showed off his two tattoos on the radio. “I mean, I used to be a U2 fan but they kept doing the same stuff. And after a while you went crazy.”
For some, the fact that the band has gone seven years without a break has fueled a sense of urgency in the new tour.
“There may not be another opportunity, the radio radish is beautiful at this point,” said Luka Arreaza, 20, prompting laughter from those waiting in line next to him. “So it’s worth it to come here and share this moment.”
The band, formed when they were at school in Oxfordshire in 1985, became a byword for cerebral, atmospheric – and non-fans would say murose – music. They can easily fill Arenas thanks to a run of nine studio albums from solid classics.
Their debut, Peblo in 1994, contained an explosion of breakthrough-hit, which spent most of four months to reach a new generation of fans. Away, from the third album ok computer, also entering the charts this year.
Ok Computer is considered by many critics as the greatest rock album of the 1990s, although anything higher is for the follow-up Baby A, where the band expanded into electronic music.
Their sixth, 2007’s of rainbows (which is available through a download that fans can set their own price, but the feeling of the band is clearly felt in the albums since, King of Lims (2011) and a Moon of Lims (2011).
Yorke has put out a series of solo and group albums, mostly in his smile trio, with Jonny Greenwood (main guitar / keyboards).
Greenwood has found great success as a film composer, earning two Oscar nominations for The Phantom Menace, and could take on Director Paul Thomas Anderson in a one-on-one fight.
Guitarist ED O’Brien released his debut solo album in 2020, and Drummer Phil Selway released his part in Nicks, a radiohead book, a radiohead book recorded between 2003 and 2016.
Another waiting fan is Sergio Zapater, who arrived with luggage in hand after a morning trip from Valencia.
The last time the 53-year-old saw Radiohead was 22 years ago. This time, he arrived at the venue more than nine hours before the concert due to start, he was sure to be the first in line.
Instead he found himself facing a new generation – one that didn’t mind the early hours or queues – falling for the tunes of the radio.
“I was surprised to find all the young people here,” he said with a laugh. “How scary, I thought I was first in line because these old people don’t do it. But now I’m 25th.”
After four nights in Madrid, Radiohead’s Tour will travel to Bologna, London, Copenhagen and Berlin, ending on 12 December.