Radiohead headline Summer Sonic in Osaka and Chiba

Radiohead headlined both halves of Summer Sonic this weekend, at Maishima in Osaka on Saturday 20 August and at QVC Marine Field in Chiba, the festival's Tokyo site, on Sunday.

Summer Sonic runs over one weekend in two cities, with the bill swapping between them as at Reading and Leeds. Underworld had closed the Tokyo stadium on the Saturday while Radiohead were in Osaka. These were their first shows in Japan since Fuji Rock in 2012.

The Chiba set ran to more than two hours, and the festival's fireworks went up after it. The Tokyo site drew 65,000 people over the Sunday, and the festival reckoned most of them watched Radiohead; The Japan Times found the ballpark so full that fans sat in the aisles.

In Chiba A Moon Shaped Pool, out on CD and vinyl for little more than two months, was still new to much of a crowd Dan Grunebaum put at more than 30,000 in his Metropolis review, and “Burn the Witch” went down only moderately well. Thom Yorke's Japanese between songs ran to the odd “dozo”. The peak of the night, for Grunebaum, came in the encore with “Creep”.

Setlists

Radiohead's full set at Summer Sonic, QVC Marine Field, Chiba, 21 August 2016· Radioheadwatch on youtube →