Radiohead bassist Colin Greenwood has done a number of interviews for his ace recent photography book How To Disappear: A Photographic Portrait Of Radiohead and recently embarked on a book tour in which a group of fans managed to shock him with a request - more on that below. They also kept asking the same question wherever he went: when will Radiohead tour again? In an interview with today’s edition of The New Cue, Greenwood said he’d love for 2025 to be the year that the Oxford art-rockers finally broke a hiatus that stretches back to 2018. The bassist elaborated on something he’d said in a previous interview where he’d revealed that Radiohead had got together in the summer for a rehearsal.
“That was really just to check in,” he says. “It was a bit like taking the old car out for a run before putting it back in the garage… it meant that the next time you took it out, the wheels wouldn’t fall off. It was really nice to see everyone and it was all very amiable and cordial.”
Turning his thoughts to the possibility of shows next year, Greenwood continued, “I’d love to, but I’m not driving, it’s something that we’d all have to decide and agree upon, but I would like nothing more than the opportunity to play to fans, especially because I’ve just been doing these book signings around the UK and Europe and so many people come up and say, ‘When are you gonna play again?’, and so many kids as well, so many younger people.”
On one occasion, Greenwood said he was taken aback by a request from a group of diehards in France. “These young girls in Paris, I signed the book for them, and then they said, ‘Oh, can you do a drawing and then we’ll scan it and we’ll get tattoos’. I said, ‘I can’t do that, because I can’t draw!’, I’m terrible at drawing, so I managed to beat a tactful retreat. But such devotion is humbling. I really would love to play some shows at some point but I have to wait for everybody to be free to do them.”
The omens for Radiohead activity are looking promising. There are no more dates from Thom Yorke and Jonny Greenwood’s other band The Smile in the schedule, Colin Greenwood has now completed his stint playing bass with Nick Cave And The Bad Seeds, and Ed O’Brien and Philip Selway don’t appear to have any solo plans in action. Yorke recently embarked on a solo tour throughout the Antipodes and Asia in which the set leant heavily on Radiohead material. Maybe it’s time to reignite the real thing. Read the full interview over at The New Cue.
