Radiohead

Much has been made of the fact Radiohead have no new material for their current tour.

More noteworthy is how refreshingly cross-generational their audience now is; Let Down recently entering the Billboard Hot 100 some 28 years after its release. In Berlin’s largest indoor arena, the sight of parents and their offspring rocking the same tour t-shirts is one to behold.

Similar scenarios have played out at this year’s Oasis reunion, with bucket-hatted pre-teens accompanying their parents to stadium shows.

For older Radiohead fans, this show may well be a trip down memory lane. But this set, drawn from a circa 65-strong shortlist, is a masterclass in juxtaposition and keeping an audience guessing, with the likes of Reckoner and Weird Fishes/Arpeggi, from 2007’s In Rainbows, tandemising with early works, such as Fake Plastic Trees, Street Spirit (Fade Out) and Just.

OK Computer’s Airbag and Exit Music (for a Film) get huge cheers. As does the intricately epic Paranoid Android, a song that encapsulates this band’s identity. Or one of their identities, at least.

From KID A (2000), Idioteque’s pulsating beat remains as urgent as its pertinent lyrics. Ful Stop and Present Tense, from 2016’s A Moon Shaped Pool (already a decade old), are the set’s youngest pieces.

With a cylindrical cage stage set up in the round, some fans may worry about spending the evening looking at the back, or side profile, of their idols. It’s a concern that’s soon allayed as Yorke jitters and writhes around, alternating between two mic stands as well as keys.

The Greenwood fratelli and Ed O’Brien also make sure their stage positions are fluid. The impeccable Philip Selway may have the best seat in the house, with talented multi-instrumentalist Chris Vatalaro alongside. It’s a tight stage, akin to a public rehearsal space and reminiscent of their filmed From The Basement performance back in 2008.

Tonight’s show would have brought to an end Radiohead’s batch of four-night residencies in five European countries. But with Thom Yorke suffering from a throat infection, two of their Copenhagen shows were postponed. Apart from a restart for No Surprises, there’s no sign of Yorke’s malaise.

An impressive two hour set is brought to a close with Karma Police. No Creep, of course. That’s best left to the handful of mittgloved buskers on the pavement outside, including one in a Santa cape.

Setlist:
2 + 2 = 5
Airbag
The Bends
All I Need
Ful Stop
Nude
Reckoner
Separator
Fake Plastic Trees
Pyramid Song
You And Whose Army?
Sit Down. Stand Up.
The Gloaming
No Surprises
Just
Bodysnatchers
Exit Music (For A Film)
Street Spirit (Fade Out)

Encore:
Let Down
Weird Fishes/Arpeggi
Idioteque
Present Tense
Jigsaw Falling Into Place
Paranoid Android
Karma Police