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Radiohead European comeback tour 2025: see every setlist so far
The air in European capitals this summer is thick with a particular brand of anxious anticipation, a feeling not felt in nearly a decade: Radiohead is back on the road. Their 2025 European comeback tour, their first live shows in over seven years, is less a victory lap and more a deep, resonant chord struck against the silence of their hiatus.For a band that has spent its career subverting expectations, they’ve tossed out the traditional, pre-rehearsed setlist entirely, opting instead for what they’re calling a 'busking approach,' drawing each night from a sprawling pool of about 70 songs from their entire, genre-defying catalogue. This isn't just a tour; it's a high-wire act of artistic memory, a live curation of a legacy that spans from the seismic, guitar-driven angst of 'The Bends' to the glitchy, fractured electronica of 'Kid A' and the delicate, orchestral despair of 'A Moon Shaped Pool.' Imagine the scene in Madrid, captured so vividly in Alex Lake’s photography: the five figures on stage, older now, the weight of their history palpable. Thom Yorke, his voice still capable of that otherworldly keening, introducing a song not played since the '90s, the opening notes sending a collective shiver through a crowd that spans generations.For every guaranteed classic like 'Paranoid Android' or 'Karma Police,' there's the potential for a deep cut like 'The Trickster' or 'Cuttooth' to surface, making each concert a unique artifact. This approach mirrors the band's entire ethos—a refusal to be a nostalgia act, a constant push into the unknown, even with their own past.It’s a gamble that pays immense artistic dividends, transforming passive spectators into active participants in a shared archaeological dig through one of modern music's most vital bodies of work. The setlists, now being dissected online with the fervor of ancient texts, tell a story not just of a band revisiting its hits, but of artists re-contextualizing their own narrative night after night.A song like 'How to Disappear Completely,' written in an era of pre-millennial tension, lands with a different, more profound weight in our current age of digital overload and climate anxiety. The return of Radiohead is a cultural event that transcends mere concert-going; it’s a reminder of the raw, unpredictable power of live music when wielded by masters who are still, defiantly, exploring.
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#Radiohead
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