Ed O'Brien calls Glastonbury 1997 “like a form of hell”

Radiohead's 1997 Glastonbury headline set, the one remembered as among the festival's best, was like a form of hell¹ to play, Ed O'Brien has told Jo Whiley on BBC Radio 2. He was on her show with Phil Selway ahead of tomorrow night, when Radiohead top the Pyramid Stage bill for the third time.

Equipment failures on that Saturday night in June 1997 left the band unable to hear themselves for much of the set, and O'Brien says they were in crisis mode just keeping everyone on stage. He confirmed that Thom Yorke wanted to walk off partway through, and says he talked him through it one song at a time. It was worst for the singer, who has to face the crowd and could neither see nor hear.

In an interview earlier this month, Yorke said he tapped O'Brien on the shoulder to say he was leaving, and was told he would regret it for the rest of his life.

I thought 2003 would be our last time. We weren't in the best place as a band and it wasn't a good set

Ed O'Brien¹

, O'Brien says of their second headline, and he wanted the chance to put that right. This time the band are in the best frame of mind, and in times as challenging as these, he says, Glastonbury feels like it's more important than ever.¹