On a crisp Friday evening, over 20,000 devoted fans packed London's O2 Arena for a momentous event: Radiohead's first UK performance in eight years. The atmosphere crackled with anticipation as the legendary band took to their circular stage for a sold-out reunion tour that had seen tickets disappear within minutes.
The Triumphant Return
Four decades after five schoolboys formed a band in Abingdon, Oxfordshire, Radiohead demonstrated exactly why they remain one of Britain's most influential acts. The configuration was striking - Phil Selway centred at his drum kit, Ed O'Brien stage left, Thom Yorke wandering the circular platform, Jonny Greenwood surrounded by his arsenal of instruments on the right, and his brother Colin Greenwood holding down the bass further back. They were joined by second drummer Chris Vatalaro for this monumental show.
The concert erupted to life with the distorted glitches of "Planet Telex", immediately transporting the audience into what long-time fan Lucy Jones described as "interstellar harmonic space". Vast screens projected mesmerising visuals of oozing fluorescent slime and glitched octopi, while close-ups of each band member emphasised their intense focus.
Technical Mastery and Emotional Resonance
From her vantage point, Jones watched in awe as Jonny Greenwood flitted between instruments including the ondes Martenot, transistor radio, multiple synthesizers, various guitars, and percussion instruments. His iconic guitar solo during "Paranoid Android" - which Jones considers "probably the greatest song of the 20th century" - demonstrated the technical brilliance that has defined Radiohead's career.
The setlist journeyed through their remarkable discography, from "2+2=5" and "Sit Down. Stand Up (Snakes & Ladders)" from 2003's Hail to the Thief to the glorious "Lucky". Throughout, the arena filled with their complex harmonies, each element perfectly balanced in what Jones described as the band's "equilibrium".
Contrary to claims that Radiohead's music is depressing, the experience proved profoundly uplifting. Their lyrics about existential alienation, governmental disillusionment, and personal confusion somehow transformed individual isolation into collective understanding. As Jones noted, "Music about alienation makes feeling alienated feel less alienating."
A Personal Reconnection Through Music
For Jones, this concert marked a significant personal milestone. After the birth of her first child nine years earlier, she had experienced a curious disconnection from the obsessive love of music that had defined much of her life. She wondered if she would ever recapture that visceral thrill of live performance.
Watching the band perform "Everything In Its Right Place", she felt a profound relief as her "neural pathways fired just as they did" in her youth. The encore became a feast of musical brilliance - the otherworldly "You and Whose Army?" showcasing Thom Yorke's liquid vocals, the bonkers time signatures of "Paranoid Android" moving bodies instinctively, and the final "Karma Police" transporting her back to first hearing it as a teenager in her friend's older sister's bedroom.
The aleatoric nature of Radiohead's live performances - never knowing which instruments Jonny might pick up or how songs might be reinterpreted - mirrored the band's own journey through life's transitions. Their use of pivot tones, meandering experimentation, and eventual return to core harmonic shapes reflected how favourite bands become existential pivot points throughout our lives.
As the final notes faded, one truth remained undeniable: after 40 years, five school friends turned rock legends still possessed the unique ability to transform alienation into connection, confusion into understanding, and individual experience into collective catharsis.
