Radiohead kicked off their first tour in seven years on November 4 in Spain, performing heavily from landmark albums Hail To The Thief and OK Computer, as well as digging out some deep cuts. But at their recent run of sold-out shows at London’s O2 Arena, the band broke Metallica’s long-held attendance record.
In 2017, Metallica filled the O2 Arena with 22,211 fans over two nights, breaking Muse’s 2016 record of 21,000. Metallica held the attendance record for eight years, until Radiohead destroyed it in four consecutive nights.
On November 21, 22, 24, and 25, Radiohead performed at the 20,000-capacity O2 to sold-out crowds, with each night breaking the previous attendance record, according to a news release from the O2.
The current attendance record for a single night at the venue is 22,355. This was set on the final night, November 25. Each previous show brought in more than 22,200 fans. Like Metallica in the past, Radiohead performed in the round, which allowed for increased capacity at the venue. This way, fans surrounded the stage on all sides, which, according to the O2’s Senior Director of Programming Christian D’Acuna, adds an additional 6,000-capacity standing floor.
Radiohead Creates Setlists Just Hours Before Showtime On New Tour
Radiohead has an abundance of tracks to choose from for their setlists, and on this tour, they’ve narrowed the selection down to 65 songs. The “setlist committee” of Thom Yorke, Ed O’Brien, and Phillip Selway then builds the setlist from those 65 songs, but they do it just hours before the show starts.
“We have too many songs,” said Yorke, speaking with The Times. This is somewhat of a boon for fans, though, as the setlists change with every tour date. There’s a different selection of songs at each stop, making this a truly unique experience.
Colin and Jonny Greenwood, however, aren’t on the setlist committee. According to Colin, that’s because “we’re too indecisive.”
He continued, “So we’ll play anything in any order, at any time. We sort of take a busking attitude to the Radiohead setlist. It’s going to be the first time I think we’ve done shows where we haven’t got new material to play as work in progress. But you never know, some stuff might come up or not or whatever, so.”
Recently, Radiohead announced on their website that the shows scheduled for December 1 and 2 in Copenhagen have been postponed. The shows were rescheduled for December 15 and 16. According to the post, Yorke is suffering from a throat infection that has him unable to sing, but he is hopeful he’ll recover in time to perform on December 4 and 5 in Copenhagen.
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