Radiohead play “Just” and “Optimistic” again on their last Madrid nights

Radiohead played “Just” for the first time since 2009 on Friday 7 November, the third of their four nights at the Movistar Arena in Madrid, and on Saturday, the last of them, they brought back “Optimistic” for the first time since 2018. The tour moves on to four nights at the Unipol Arena outside Bologna from 14 November.

“Just”, last played at Reading Festival on 30 August 2009, came second to last, before the closing “Karma Police”. NME reports that the band told the crowd they didn't know whether people remembered this one, and Stereogum that the crowd sang it back, guitar riff and all.

BrooklynVegan reported both songs pencilled onto the written setlist on 5 November, “Just” as the alternative to “Planet Telex” and “Optimistic” to “The Daily Mail”, and neither was played that night. On Friday “Planet Telex” opened the show instead, the first time it had opened a Radiohead concert since 2008, and OK Computer gave the night six songs, more than any other record.

Carlos Pérez de Ziriza, reviewing the Saturday show for the Spanish webzine Efe Eme, admired the band but came away unmoved, except once, when “There There” was played with its percussion tripled by a drum kit and two more drums.

Friday's set was the opening night's with two songs swapped, “Planet Telex” and “Just” in for “Myxomatosis” and “How to Disappear Completely”. Saturday's was the second night's with “No Surprises” and “Optimistic” in for “Bodysnatchers” and “Planet Telex”. Both came in a new order, and only nine songs were played on all four nights. Before the tour Colin Greenwood said So we'll play anything in any order, at any time. We sort of take a busking attitude to the Radiohead set list.⁵

Setlists, Movistar Arena, Madrid, 7 and 8 November 2025