Ed O'Brien

Ed O'Brien talks to Mexico City's Reactor 105 for a special on Radiohead's third visit, about three weeks after the 2012 tour opened in Miami. He answers in English, and a Spanish version of each answer follows.

The band were in a tunnel from OK Computer to Hail to the Thief, he says, and got out with In Rainbows. The dark place can be creative, but “it kills you as a person”. These shows are full of love, the best they have played. He no longer reads the news, and will not walk round Mexico City scared, any more than he would in Rio.

Which old songs work depends on where the band are. “Lucky” feels right, and so does “Paranoid Android” with Clive Deamer drumming beside Phil Selway. “The National Anthem” does not, yet. “No Surprises” sounded terrible at soundcheck: it worked when a dark band played a sweet song, and now that the band are happy it is like eating something far too sweet. They will not force “Creep”. Thom Yorke, Selway and O'Brien write the set after lunch, “Bloom” makes a good opener, and they rehearsed about 55 songs in four days of pre-production in London. Their manager Chris calls it a rave with guitars. The King of Limbs ran 38 minutes against the 55-minute From the Basement show, so “Staircase” was finished and “Daily Mail”, around since 2005, came together in 10 minutes. A new one called “Full Stop” is a killer, he says.

Mark I was Pablo Honey to OK Computer, Mark II Kid A to In Rainbows, and the last two years Mark III. Ten years ago was hard, and he held on. “What I understand about life is that it doesn't stay hard.”