Few bands have made such a dramatic musical turn as Radiohead between the release of their second album ‘The Bends’ and third album ‘OK Computer’. With ‘OK Computer’ Radiohead continued on a path of musical adventurousness and in looking to move forwards, they looked backwards in terms of influences. Instead of drawing from other indie and alternative sources, the album drew heavily from prog rock experimentation and made the band heroes to many fans of 70s experimental sounds.
This sense of experimentation became more avant-garde on the next couple of albums and reached commercial peak by the turn of the decade and while some fans of the song-based material of ‘The Bends’ era felt left behind, Radiohead continued a streak of huge selling albums and continued to be a huge live draw.
In 2016, Radiohead found themselves on the bill of the US Lollapalooza tour. A full show from Chicago was captured for posterity. While the two hour set is very light on early material, it’s intense nature and experimental slant shows why Radiohead continue to be a popular live draw.
Watch the whole gig in full below.