Radiohead to Play 20 Concerts on Different Continents Per Year

Mar 17, 2026 7:00am PT Radiohead to Play 20 Concerts on Different Continents Per Year, Guitarist Says By Jem Aswad Plus Icon Jem Aswad Executive Editor, Music jemaswad Latest After ‘Weak’ Live Nation-DOJ Settlement, Senator Amy Klobuchar Introduces Antitrust Accountability and Transparency Act 4 hours ago Judy Collins Announces Farewell Tour 19 hours ago Music Industry Moves: Brad Paisley Joins New Firm Domain Artist Management, Rico Nasty Signs With UTA, Concord Acquires Ninja Tune Label and Publishing 4 days ago See All Radiohead are gearing up to play 20 shows per year on different continents in the coming years, guitarist Ed O’Brien told Rolling Stone in an interview published late Monday, with the group’s 20 European shows last year apparently being the first in the plan. “It’s definitely happening,” O’Brien said, at the end of an interview about his new solo album, “Blue Morpho.” “What we’re going to do is, every year we’re going to do a different continent, and we’re going to do 20 shows each year. No more, no less.” Popular on Variety Related Stories Gap Debuts Limited-Edition Coachella Hoodie as Festival's Exclusive Apparel and Merch Sponsor While no dates or routing have been announced yet, the plan is to start in 2027 and eventually cover North and South America continents as well as Asia and Australia and New Zealand. Reps for the band did not immediately respond to Variety‘s request for further details. According to O’Brien (pictured above left, with singer Thom Yorke), the 20-show plan worked well on the European dates, which wrapped last December. “That tour was very, very emotional, very profound. We all felt that,” he said of the tour. “We’d look at one another on that stage, like, ‘This is amazing.’ I feel like I’m the luckiest person on the planet, and I’m not just saying that.  “We want to give absolutely everything each night,” he continued. “We do not ever want it to be like we’re going through the motions or we’re having to run on empty. We’ve got to be able to do it. And you know what? We’re not spring chickens anymore.” Radiohead are all in their late or mid-50s, and like nearly all musicians of that age and older, feel the strain of nonstop touring. Artists in their 70s and 80s, from Paul McCartney and the Rolling Stones to Bruce Springsteen, are generally taking shorter tours with more days in between dates — a more-expensive proposition, considering the cost of keeping a touring band and entourage on the road, but a necessary one in terms of performance. Radiohead toured relentlessly in their early years — evidence of their exhaustion can be seen in the 1998 documentary “Meeting People Is Easy” — and while the tours have been fewer and more far between, the band’s touring in support of its “Moon Shaped Pool” album sprawled across two years and included a four-month jaunt across North America in 2018.  “It was pretty much nonstop. It’s all-encompassing and it demands your full attention, and it’s addictive in that way. But it’s not necessarily healthy, because you just keep going, keep going, keep going. And then when you stop, suddenly the ghosts catch up.” Recording “A Moon Shaped Pool” nearly burned him out, he said. “I was done with Radiohead,” he recalled. “It had got to a place where I just wasn’t enjoying it. I just didn’t resonate with it anymore, and I wanted to do my own thing. We’d run out of inspiration.” He was even reluctant to tour behind it. “I didn’t really want to tour, and they knew that. But I did it and I’m glad I did. I saw it through to the end,” he said. The band’s five members took several years off — O’Brien said they hadn’t performed together in six years when they reunited for rehearsals in 2024 — and worked on solo projects, including frontman Thom Yorke and guitarist Jonny Greenwood’s band the Smile and solo albums from the others. Yet they returned refreshed. “We’re like, ‘How do we know if we’re going to be any good?’ And the chemistry was there from the very beginning,” he said. “I think we always knew that if we got the love between us right, then it all flows from there.” Jump to Comments Broadway Across America’s 2026 Conference Finds Elton John Championing ‘Devil Wears Prada’ as John Legend, TLC and More Make Their Pitch Adrian Grenier Says ‘It’s a Disappointment’ Not to Be Cast in ‘The Devil Wears Prada 2’: ‘I Also Understand There’s Some Backlash With Nate’ Anne Hathaway, Elizabeth Hurley, Tom Ford Among Film and Fashion Celebrities Paying Last Respects at Valentino Funeral in Rome Anne Hathaway Was ‘Fully in Character’ on ‘The Odyssey Set,’ Even When the Camera ‘Wouldn’t See Her for Three Days’: ‘You Never Stop Working’ Oscars 2026 Presenters: Anne Hathaway, Paul Mescal, Robert Downey Jr. and More Join Star-Studded Lineup ‘The Devil Wears Prada 2’ Trailer: Anne Hathaway, Meryl Streep and Emily Blunt Return in High-Fashion Sequel JavaScript is required to load the comments. Loading comments...