Beloved experimental rock icons Radiohead have announced their first string of live shows since 2012. The tour will come in support of their expected ninth studio album, which has yet to get a set release date or title.
So far, the list of shows only entails three specific dates: Spain’s Primavera Sound, Portugal’s Nos Alive, and Switzerland’s St. Gallen music fests. Radiohead have developed a flourishing global fanbase across multiple musical spectrums, and have self-released their past two albums to massive critical acclaim — and mostly financial success, as well.
Updated 1/21/2015 at 1:23 p.m. PST by Ryan Waniata: Billboard is now reporting that Radiohead will indeed be unveiling its new album at the Primavera Sound festival, with the festival press calling it simply “the presentation of the new album by the British band Radiohead.” Very little is known about the album, though the report claims one of the songs on the LP comes from the band’s OK Computer/The Bends era. More on this as details emerge.
Most recently, the band made headlines by registering a new company called Dawn Chorus LLP, a move that lead many fans to speculate that Dawn Chorus would be the name of their upcoming record. It’s a pretty safe bet; Before the releases of the band’s previous two efforts, The King of Limbs and In Rainbows, they registered similar album-titled companies.
The fact that Radiohead hasn’t toured since 2012 is no shock to most fans of the band, as their last record, King of Limbs, came out in 2011, and they have historically not been keen on touring outside of album promotion.
And so, while nobody was too worried that Radiohead wouldn’t bounce back from their four-year hiatus, it was reassuring when the quintet released an awesome, shockingly-rejected, theme song for the recent James Bond film Spectre, and painted themselves as so clearly active.
As far as when fans can expect the next installment of the band’s ever-evolving sound to hit record stores, that’s anyone’s guess. In October, guitarist Jonny Greenwood tweeted “lots has been recorded, and we’re about to go through it all… to see if it’s any good.”
The band has historically never had any trouble waiting on releases, but the announcements of the new shows are a good sign, pointing to the new material making it to record stores and online distribution by mid-summer.
