Thom Yorke tells Melody Maker the tour is pushing him too far

Thom Yorke sprained his ankle at the end of “Anyone Can Play Guitar” at the Manchester Academy, lost the use of the leg for two days and spent the next afternoon at Wolverhampton General having it X-rayed. Holly Barringer was with the band for the three British dates, and her cover story in this week's Melody Maker finds him limping, ill and nearly out of voice. Festival sets the weekend before had already shredded it.

Manchester, with about 500 in, was Radiohead's first British show since November. When Barringer finally gets Yorke in a hotel foyer after Wolverhampton, the Astoria is the next night, with 2,000 expected, and he says it all rests on him.

I'm being pushed beyond that point. Way beyond it. Physically and mentally.

Thom Yorke¹

Britain matters to him more than anywhere. He pulled out of Reading last year when his voice went, and not everyone believed he was ill.

Britain's important to me … because we've been ripped to shit here, especially after Reading last year.

Thom Yorke¹

Asked whether “Paranoid”, one of the new songs, comes from the same self-loathing as “Creep”, he says that self-loathing was what one song was about.

Yorke spent the hour before one show resting his voice, so the other four talked to Barringer in the dressing room, where Jonny Greenwood was asked how he liked being in the new U2.

I don't have any of their records, although I heard 'Achtung Baby' a few weeks ago and it's dated really quickly.

Jonny Greenwood¹