Thom Yorke pulls Tony Blair's faces at Earls Court

Thom Yorke opened the first encore at Earls Court in London on 26 November by complaining about George W. Bush's state visit the week before, then sang “You and Whose Army?” pulling faces he said were Tony Blair's, shown in close-up on the giant screens either side of the stage. Last week, our nation's capital was hijacked, and these are the kind of faces Blair pulls when Bush comes to visit³, he told the crowd. NME say the impression was mostly eyebrows. “The National Anthem” followed over samples of Blair's voice. The support, Asian Dub Foundation, had dedicated “Blowback” to Bush.

It was the first of two sold-out nights, and the start of Radiohead's first run of British arenas since the OK Computer tour of November 1997. Since then they have played tents, parks and theatres in Britain, and one arena, the Odyssey in Belfast in September 2001.

For Niall Doherty, reviewing for XFM, the band were at ease with being Radiohead; Yorke cracked jokes, danced and asked the crowd to clap along because it would make the song sound brilliant. “The Gloaming” opened the night, turned from the programmed track on the record into something distorted, jazzy and electronic. Tom Day of musicOMH rates this “Paranoid Android” the finest he has heard.

The night ended with “Everything in Its Right Place” and the word FOREVER on the screen behind the band.

Setlist, Earls Court, London, 26 November 2003