Ed O’Brien of Radiohead performs during the 2017 Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival at the Empire Polo Club on April 21, 2017 in Indio, California. (Rich Fury/Getty Images for Coachella)
Radiohead guitarist Ed O’Brien has spoken further about Radiohead’s future touring plans.
The “Karma Police” band returned to the live stage at the end of 2025 for a run of 20 shows in Europe, marking their first live performances in seven years. In an interview with Rolling Stone published in March, O’Brien said that Radiohead plans to continue playing 20 shows on a different continent each year starting in 2027.
When asked about that plan in a new interview with the Los Angeles Times, O’Brien replies, “Take that with a pinch of salt. I don’t think we’ll do any more than 20 shows.”
As for why the 20-shows-a-year model fits with Radiohead, O’Brien says, “Because you can’t do any more — these songs, they’re too powerful.”
“The shows last year were really emotional,” O’Brien recalls. “By the end of it, you were drained.”
“The audience has gotten very young — our biggest demographic, which you can see from streaming, is 16 to 24,” he continues. “There’s an outpouring of emotion from them and from us, so in order to do more shows, you’d have to somehow limit the amount you gave to each performance. And I think we’re unwilling to do that.”
Meanwhile, O’Brien has released a new solo song called “Abbeycwmhir.” It follows his Blue Morpho solo album, which dropped in May.
