Radiohead: Press reviews

Radiohead come home to Oxford

Press reviews of Radiohead's South Park gig.

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The Independent

This is Radiohead doing what they do best - building an intense atmosphere out of great layers of sound, darkly introspective lyrics, and Yorke's tragically brittle wail. With the encore arrives Karma Police, during which thousands of onlookers shout along with Yorke "for a minute there I lost myself". Then the heavens open and soak us all to the skin.

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The Guardian

True, the band's empathy with the audience wobbles occasionally. The combination of the drab How To Disappear Completely and sudden onset of a downpour is not an uplifting one, and their persistent attachment to old b-side Talk Show Host is not universally shared. However, such indulgences are easily forgiven, because Radiohead understand how to move a crowd. Just as rain seems to have stopped play, the return of an inspired third encore with a rare airing of debut hit Creep. It seals two hours in which they are experimental entertainers, avant-garde showmen - a remarkable balancing act.

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The Daily Telegraph

While 1994's My Iron Lung was greeted with a huge cheer, the new song I Might Be Wrong had just as much raw energy, and How to Disappear Completely was as pretty as anything Radiohead have done. They alternated between older and more recent tracks, and it never seemed as though they were two separate bands. They may have moved on from guitar-based rock on record, but they are emphatically not embarrassed about their past.