I’ve liked Radiohead ever since I listened to the first 7 or so songs from Pablo Honey on a homemade cassette that one of my brother’s once made me sometime around 1994.
I’ve loved Radiohead ever since I binged on The Bends and OK Computer after realising that Oasis were no longer my favourite band.
I’ve been obsessed with Radiohead ever since I started buying a load of their old CD singles and EP’s in the years that passed between OK Computer and the release of Kid A.
And I’ve been devoted to Radiohead ever since I first saw them live about a week or so before that feted album finally came into the world.
Kid A
One of my formative memories as a kid was being at a neighbours house party and my friends’ Dad telling me about the time he passed on seeing The Beatles. “I’ll see them next time” he told himself, but of course a next time never came. It was something he had always regretted and he told me if I ever get the chance to go to a show like that, then I’ve got to take it.
That conversation instilled feelings of FOMO in me before I even knew that FOMO was a thing. And I’ve never forgotten the lesson I was taught that day.
That said, being only 14/15 in ‘97 & ‘98 I was just a touch too young and naive to see Radiohead on the OK Computer tour. I went to a couple of local festivals with my brother when the likes of Pulp and Blur came to our neck of the woods, but they pretty much came to us. The thought of going into London to see a gig in my early teens just wasn’t even a consideration.
I sure as shit was ready for the Kid A tour though.
That first Radiohead show was a defining moment for me. A justification of my latest obsession. I was finally seeing my favourite band in a live setting and they didn’t disappoint. The new songs were scary and intriguing. The old songs were vital and exhilarating. And after that night I knew I had to see them again.
I used to laugh at my Mum’s friend because she used to go and see Cliff Richard every time he toured. I never understood why she’d go to see him again and again when she’d already seen him before. But after I saw Radiohead I finally got it. She was chasing the first time, and craving something even better.
In all, I’ve seen Radiohead 14 times since I first saw them back in September 2000. Over the years they’ve had me awestruck, spellbound, and even uncontrollably shaking in reaction to their live performances. They’ve also (at times) had me feeling pretty underwhelmed, but I like to put that down to having too much of a good thing. I probably over did it.
But absence makes the heart grow fonder.
I haven’t seen Radiohead since 2017 when they toured their last record A Moon Shaped Pool. And during the eight long years that have passed since then I had all but given up hope of ever seeing them live again. I genuinely believed that they’d called it a day. But here we are, 2025, Radiohead are back on tour, they’re back in the UK, and I’ve got a golden ticket.
Lucky
It feels absolutely insane to realise this but I don’t think I have ever secured my own Radiohead ticket.
Aside from maybe 1 or 2 festival appearances, I’m pretty certain that every single Radiohead show that I have ever been to has been down to someone getting a ticket for me. And of the 14 times I’ve seen them, I reckon more than half of those tickets have been bagged for me by my mate’s mum, Gill.
I need to stress I would not be going to see Radiohead on this tour (and I would not have been able to see them anywhere near as much as I have) without the kindness of my mates and their families. So special mention to Gill for being an absolute legend, and to her offspring Kev and Mitch for always having my back. Without them (and their shared love for Radiohead) I would have missed so many of my most favourite memories, at least half a dozen of the best nights of my life.
I was hoping to tell you all about them now but I’ve simply ran out of time to share all that before tonight.
What I wanted to do was give a little account of the best Radiohead shows that I’ve been to. To tell you about the time we thought we were staying in the same hotel as the band, about the time I uncontrollably wept at the sound of a bass and a drum, and the time I finally ran into one of my heroes and put him on the phone to my friend.
That’s gonna have to wait for another time though.
For now I’m just proper giddy they’re back.
That said, I would like to refer to some stats before I leave you.
The Numbers
The thing with Radiohead is that they love to mix it up.
I think Oasis are great, and their recent reunion setlist was absolutely epic, but it grinds my gears a little that they play the exact same set every single night. I kind of get it for band like Oasis with a solid/specific set of songs that everyone wants to hear, but I much prefer the Radiohead approach whereby no two sets are exactly the same.
Playing surprise sets each night adds some excitement, it adds hope, but it also adds a little jeopardy.
I know I’m a nerd, but I know every single song that I’ve ever seen Radiohead play live. And thanks to Setlist.fm I can even check how many times I’ve seen them play each song.
I’ve seen Radiohead play Idioteque and Everything in it’s Right Place 14 times each. The only songs that Radiohead have played at every single show of theirs I’ve been to.
I’ve seen them play Paranoid Android 12 times, Karma Police 10 times and How to Disappear 8 times. It beggars belief that they can leave those kinds of songs out of a set and still put on an amazing show.
I’ve seen Talk Show Host 6 times, Creep twice and Let Down only once.
But just as freakishly as I know every song I’ve seen Radiohead play live, I also know every single song of theirs that I haven’t. And that’s the kicker.
There are 6 songs from The Bends that I’ve never seen live – that’s half the album!
There are 3 from OK Computer (not including Fitter Happier), and surely I should have seen all of them by now?!
I’ve been keeping any eye on what they’ve been playing on this tour and I don’t think there’s a great deal that’s gonna surprise me.
But if Radiohead play Bones or Subterranean Homesick Alien tonight I’ll be absolutely buzzing.
If Radiohead play Bulletproof, Nice Dream or The Tourist I will crumble into a ball of goo.
But I wont get any big ideas.
It’s not going to happen.
But that’s why I always keep coming back
Cheers
Chris
Sitting Up Straight 
I’m up to 29, with two more possible tickets in a fortnight. No two gigs are the same. It’s not just the songs they decide to sing that night, it’s the acoustics, your vantage point, the mood of the crowd, your journey to get there and whether you get a gaffer-taped setlist at the end.
The best gigs can be unexpected: Toronto 2018, 7 from the front, Spectre; Nîmes, on several occasions, listening to the haunting vocals for Exit Music soar into the sky from the Roman Amphitheatre; Blackpool 2006 on the first night of the British leg of their tour, they each came out and talked afterwards at the stage door and they signed the crumpled setlist; Copenhagen 2006 seeing the first night of their world tour in a basketball hall in the suburbs of the Danish capital.
And so do the worst ones: Old Trafford Cricket Ground 2008 had too many casual punters there for a beer and a smoke; Meadowbank Stadium in 2006 didn’t really have the necessary acoustics.
Saturday’s O2 event was magnificent. We had a good seat, back row of the first tier. The bandstand had been prototyped at Magazine in 2022 for The Smile and they have since enlarged it and shone a magic lantern on it. The setlist was great, if lacking There There.
If they were all the same, you wouldn’t bother going so often. But the recent release of Hail To The Thief live album (and seeing the RSC Hamlet version in Stratford) reminded us how powerful live music is.
Keep going.
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