It seems that Radiohead might be heading to Tokyo in 2027. Find all the details below.
- READ MORE: Ed O’Brien talks conquering his “dark night of the soul” and Radiohead’s future
The Oxford group returned to the stage in the UK and Europe last year, marking their first live dates together since 2018. They played a run of 20 arena concerts across five cities, including four nights at London’s O2.
Then, in March, guitarist Ed O’Brien confirmed that the band had plans to hit the road again in 2027 and beyond. “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,” he said at the time.
Now, it seems that at least one of their planned future shows may take place in Tokyo – specifically at the city’s Summer Sonic music festival, which takes place over two weekends in both Tokyo and Osaka.
Radiohead have a history with the festival, having headlined in 2003 and 2016, while Thom Yorke has also played a Summer Sonic-sponsored club show with his Tomorrow’s Modern Boxes setup in 2015.
Fans are speculating about their return to the festival after the Tokyo edition of this year’s Summer Sonic kicked off yesterday (August 14), and video screens showed a teaser for next year which featured live concert footage of Radiohead, concluding with an all-caps “TOKYO 2027.” Watch below.
@jdngoesgigs Massive news #radiohead #tour #viral jdngoesgigs #blowup
♬ Weird Fishes / Arpeggi – Radiohead
Expanding on his “20 shows” comments, O’Brien told fans to “take that with a pinch of salt” earlier this year, adding: “I don’t think we’ll do any more than 20 shows.”
“Because you can’t do any more – these songs, they’re too powerful. The shows last year were really emotional. By the end of it, you were drained.”
O’Brien also told NME this spring that the band had “not even talked about another record” yet. “Where did you get this idea that there’s another Radiohead record?” he asked us.
He reflected on the “amazing” tour, too, saying Radiohead were “so blessed that people want to see what we do, but at the heart of it, it’s five people”.
“The songs can kind of play themselves in a way, but if there’s the love and that feeling between the five of us, and there was, and it was glorious,” he told us.
O’Brien was talking to NME about his latest solo album ‘Blue Morpho’. In a four-star review of that record, NME described it as a “beautiful path to healing”.
Meanwhile, the musician recently released a new one-off single, ‘Abbeycwmhir’, and his UK and European solo tour kicks off in October – you can find any remaining tickets here.
In a glowing, five-star review of one of Radiohead’s gigs in London last November, NME wrote: “What a show: a visceral energy, a tasteful spectacle, all delivered with a generosity of spirit, Yorke in full rockstar mode as the band trade places to tend to each corner of the venue.
“For a band once embarrassed by the notion of ‘arena rock’, nobody does it better. A new album and another night like this can’t come soon enough.”
The reunion saw Radiohead break the attendance record for London’s O2, surpassing Metallica, who had held the title since 2017.
