Radiohead review – bards of the apocalypse return for a brutal bacchanal

Movistar Arena, Madrid

Powered by a pounding rhythm section, the crowd dance to even the tricksiest drum patterns at Radiohead’s first gig in seven years – one that demonstrates the pure joy this band can bring

Almost 10 years have passed since Radiohead released a new record, and more than seven since they were last seen on stage. Living through that period has felt like moving further and faster into the future that their songs often sounded so worried about. Animal-borne diseases and invading armies, bomb shelters and endless rainstorms, falling skies and collapsing infrastructure – ’twas all foretold in the lyric sheets of the ever-fretful Thom Yorke.

His reputation as a soothsayer has probably been overstated as the band’s myth has grown in their absence, but if the frontman is a genius (the jury is still out and may never come back in, their verdict deferred more by politics than musicianship) then he’s hardly the only monumental talent in the lineup. For all the brilliant records Yorke has made lately, including several with bandmate Jonny Greenwood in their looser-limbed trio the Smile, the faithful have been holding out a geological age to see the full five back together.