{"id":807425,"date":"2026-07-17T08:02:11","date_gmt":"2026-07-17T08:02:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/807425\/"},"modified":"2026-07-17T08:02:11","modified_gmt":"2026-07-17T08:02:11","slug":"ed-obrien-on-radiohead-attracting-younger-fans-and-why-they-cant-play-more-than-20-shows-per-year","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/807425\/","title":{"rendered":"Ed O’Brien on Radiohead attracting younger fans and why they can’t play more than 20 shows per year"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ed O\u2019Brien<\/a> has discussed Radiohead<\/a> attracting younger fans, and explained why the band can\u2019t play more than 20 shows per year.<\/p>\n

The Oxford group returned to the stage in the UK and Europe last year<\/a>, marking their first live dates together since 2018. They played a run of 20 arena concerts across five cities, including four nights at London\u2019s O2.<\/p>\n

In March, guitarist O\u2019Brien confirmed that Radiohead plan to hit the road again in 2027 and beyond<\/a>. \u201cWhat we\u2019re going to do is, every year we\u2019re going to do a different continent, and we\u2019re going to do 20 shows each year. No more, no less,\u201d he said at the time.<\/p>\n

Elaborating on the reasoning behind limiting the tour to 20 concerts across one continent, O\u2019Brien explained: \u201cWe want to give absolutely everything each night.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe do not ever want it to be like we\u2019re going through the motions or we\u2019re having to run on empty. We\u2019ve got to be able to do it. And you know what? We\u2019re not spring chickens anymore.\u201d<\/p>\n

Now, in a new interview with the Los Angeles Times<\/a>, the musician has spoken further on the topic. However, in terms of the 20-concert limit, he told fans to \u201ctake that with a pinch of salt\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think we\u2019ll do any\u00a0more\u00a0than 20 shows,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

\"Radiohead,Radiohead, live in Madrid, 2025. Credit: Alex Lake<\/p>\n

\u201cBecause you can\u2019t do any more \u2013 these songs, they\u2019re too powerful. The shows last year were really emotional. By the end of it, you were drained.\u201d<\/p>\n

O\u2019Brien also talked about Radiohead\u2019s young audience, saying their \u201cbiggest demographic, which you can see from streaming, is 16 to 24\u201d.<\/p>\n

He went on: \u201cThere\u2019s an outpouring of emotion from them and from us, so in order to do more shows, you\u2019d have to somehow limit the amount you gave to each performance.\u201d<\/p>\n

O\u2019Brien concluded: \u201cAnd I think we\u2019re unwilling to do that.\u201d<\/p>\n

While he has shared Radiohead\u2019s future touring plans, the guitarist told NME this spring<\/a> that the band had \u201cnot even talked about another record\u201d yet<\/a>. \u201cWhere did you get this idea that there\u2019s another Radiohead record?\u201d he asked us.<\/p>\n

He reflected on the \u201camazing\u201d tour, too, saying Radiohead were \u201cso blessed that people want to see what we do, but at the heart of it, it\u2019s five people\u201d.<\/p>\n

\"Radiohead'sRadiohead\u2019s Ed O\u2019Brien, 2026. Credit: Steve Gullick<\/p>\n

\u201cThe songs can kind of play themselves in a way, but if there\u2019s the love and that feeling between the five of us, and there was, and it was glorious,\u201d he told us.<\/p>\n

O\u2019Brien was talking to NME about his latest solo album \u2018Blue Morpho\u2019<\/a>. In a four-star review of that record<\/a>, NME described it as a \u201cbeautiful path to healing\u201d.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, the musician recently released a new one-off single, \u2018Abbeycwmhir\u2019<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Ed O\u2019Brien\u2019s UK and European solo tour<\/a> kicks off in October. Find any remaining tickets here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In\u00a0a glowing, five-star review<\/a>\u00a0of one of Radiohead\u2019s gigs in London last November,\u00a0NME\u00a0wrote: \u201cWhat 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.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor a band once embarrassed by the notion of \u2018arena rock\u2019, nobody does it better. A new album and another night like this can\u2019t come soon enough.\u201d<\/p>\n

The reunion saw Radiohead\u00a0break the attendance record for London\u2019s O2<\/a>,\u00a0surpassing\u00a0Metallica<\/a>, who had held the title since 2017.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Ed O\u2019Brien has discussed Radiohead attracting younger fans, and explained why the band can\u2019t play more than 20…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":807426,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[49,48,75,1645,341,1352],"class_list":["post-807425","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-music","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-entertainment","tag-indie","tag-music","tag-rock"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/807425","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=807425"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/807425\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/807426"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=807425"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=807425"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=807425"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}