I was in disbelief when in September Radiohead announced their first tour in 7 years. Even though it was a European tour, I had already booked a vacation to Spain and Portugal with my mom and mother-in-law, so there was a slight chance that I might be able to see one of the shows. I had to do a triple-take when I saw that their last show in Madrid lined up with the day that the tour group would be arriving in Madrid. Even crazier, I later found out that the venue was less than a 5 minute walk from the hotel where we would be staying. Needless to say, I jumped at this opportunity, signed up for the ticket lottery, and got up at 5am to join the virtual queue the morning that the tickets went on sale. With a little payment help from Fran, I was able to score a "fast track" ticket for the show.
The fast track ticket didn't really give any special perks (I knew this going in), though purchasers received "exclusive items" designed by the band (this turned out to be a swag bag, with the most notable items being the bag itself and an umbrella). For me, the most important aspect about the ticket was getting a really good seat close to the floor. I also bought a long sleeve t-shirt from the merch stand, though it turned out to be a little too small.
There was no opening act - the band started promptly at 8:30p as advertised. They played until 10:35, with a single encore (as expected). About ten minutes before the band came onstage they started doing a kind of crowd warm-up where they would play some tones and light up different sections of the arena (at which point that section would scream).
This tour was the first time they played "in the round". The circular stage (including screens and lighting) was cool, and the band (particularly Thom and Ed) made decent use of it by moving around to different sections from time to time. During the early part of the performance the audio didn't sound quite right to my ear, but that improved as the show went on. One regression was that during "Optimistic" (which was played later in the main set) I could barely hear any of the drums.
The setlist spanned their catalog, with representation from every meaningful album (Pablo Honey doesn't count 😅). Standouts included "Reckoner", "Pyramid Song", "You and Whose Army?", and "Let Down". They also ended with my favorite closer, "Everything in Its Right Place".
All in all, the show was a good reminder (not that I needed one) why Radiohead is by far my favorite music artist. I don't know how much longer they'll be around (I didn't really expect them to ever tour or make new music before this tour was announced), but I very much appreciate them while they are.
--
Rating: 4.8/5
Posts
