Radiohead play their first Czech show, in a Prague park

Radiohead played the Czech Republic for the first time on Sunday 23 August, in an arena built for the night in parkland beside the Výstaviště exhibition grounds, on the north side of Prague. “These Are My Twisted Words”, a free download since 17 August, came in the first encore. It had been played live for the first time two nights earlier at Frequency in St. Pölten.

The Quietus put the crowd at about 18,000. The band came on as the sun went down and played for nearly two hours, saying very little between songs. Beside the In Rainbows material they brought out “A Wolf at the Door”, “The Gloaming” and “How to Disappear Completely”, and played “True Love Waits” in the second encore.

Wyndham Wallace, reviewing the night for The Quietus, calls it a giant celebration, the opposite of the band's gloomy reputation. The stage was simply lit, with nothing of stadium excess about it. A ticket near the front cost close to a tenth of an average monthly salary in Prague, he notes, and the bar queues ran to half an hour until the band came on. He picks out Jonny Greenwood's riffing at the end of “Bangers + Mash”, a quicker “Weird Fishes/Arpeggi” than usual and an especially eerie “Nude”. The crowd danced to “Idioteque”, he says, and took “These Are My Twisted Words” like an old friend.

Setlist