Radiohead Kicks Off North American Tour With Surprises For Fans

This past weekend, alternative/indie rockers Radiohead kicked off their 16-date North American tour in support of their album, A Moon Shaped Pool. The band has already treated fans to some surprises this weekend.

The tour, which kicked off at Chicago’s United Center on July 6, saw the band break out rarities from their extensive catalog. The band kicked off their second encore of the first night with the Pablo Honey closer, “Blow Out,” a song which was last performed live almost a decade ago.

Watch footage of “Blow Out” below

According to Pitchfork, the band had their second night at the United Center last night when singer Thom Yorke and bassist Colin Greenwood broke out into the song “Spectre,” their scrapped James Bond theme song from the film of the same name. Yorke originally performed the song live during a solo acoustic tour earlier this year, but this was the first time that fans were treated to the song with a full band.

Watch footage of “Spectre” below

“Spectre” was originally recorded in 2015 for the latest James Bond installment. The orchestral ballad features Thom Yorke’s unmistakable falsetto vocals, jerky piano chords, and jazzy drums. The band originally suspended work on their on ninth studio album in order to record it. The song ended up being scraped by director Sam Mendes for the song being too melancholy. Mendes ended up using Sam Smith’s “Writing On the Wall” for the film.

The song ended up being released a year later on the band’s 2016 single “Burn the Witch” and also was included as a bonus track on deluxe editions of the band’s A Moon Shaped Pool album.

Its been a busy few years for Radiohead. In addition to dropping a new album, the band has toured extensively with legs in 2016, 2017, and 2018. The band also headlined festivals across the globe, including Glastonbury and Coachella.

Last year, the band released a remastered deluxe edition of their iconic album OK Computer. The deluxe edition, titled OK Computer OKNOTOK 1997 – 2017, features a remaster of the original album along with b-sides and three unreleased tracks from the OK Computer era including “I Promise,” “Lift,” and “Man of War.”

Throughout their 2016 tour, the band began incorporating songs from their back catalog that hadn’t seen the stage in almost 10 years. Songs such as “Let Down,” “No Surprises,” and the band’s smash hit, “Creep,” all saw the light of day and pleased the most die hard Radiohead fans.

Radiohead will continue their A Moon Shaped Pool tour this week on July 10, which see them play an incredible sold out four-night run at New York’s Madison Square Garden. For a full list of dates visit the band’s official website here.