Radiohead Reunite In Madrid

Thom Yorke in December 2022 (photo: Steve Jennings / Getty Images).

Radiohead began their first tour in more than seven years last night (Nov. 4) in Madrid with a 25-song show drawing on eight of their nine studio albums (sorry, Pablo Honey fans). The performance was also the live debut of second drummer Chris Vatalaro, who has previously collaborated with Radiohead drummer Phil Selway, among many other musicians.

Beyond the first airing of “Sit Down. Stand Up.” since 2004, there were no true rarities amid a set featuring six songs each from 2003’s Hail to the Thief and 1997’s OK Computer. Radiohead will apparently be drawing from a deeper pool of material for the tour and even soundchecked several extra songs earlier this week, including “The Gloaming” from Hail to the Thief.

Ahead of the tour, which continues through Dec. 12 in Berlin, Radiohead assembled vintage in-concert versions for the digital collection Hail to the Thief Live Recordings 2003-2009. The project was also just released as a one-off vinyl pressing from the band’s store.

Why such a long break for Radiohead, which hadn’t been onstage since 2018? “I guess the wheels came off a bit, so we had to stop,” frontman Thom Yorke said in a recent interview with the Times. “There were a lot of elements. The shows felt great but it was, like, let’s halt now before we walk off this cliff.”