Thom Yorke tells Q why “Creep” and “No Surprises” are back

Thom Yorke has told Q that Radiohead brought back “Creep” to see what the reaction would be and how it felt to play, and “No Surprises” on the same footing. Songs go into phases where they don't feel right and then they come back.¹ He spoke to Niall Doherty backstage at Le Zénith on 23 May, after the show where both songs returned for the first time since 2009. It was Yorke's first interview with Q in more than ten years. Both were played again at Primavera Sound in Barcelona on 3 June and at Secret Solstice in Reykjavik on 17 June.

“No Surprises” was not played once on the King of Limbs tour in 2011 and 2012. Yorke says it has to be played very slowly, and that played properly it is very dark because of its words. It only sounds good if it's really fragile.¹ Singing it, he says, is close to acting. It's on the edge of totally hamming it up but you're not.¹

The band had braced for the opposite of the reception A Moon Shaped Pool has had, Yorke says. I cherish this band, but I don't expect anyone else to.¹