Greg Williams spends three days with Radiohead for Hollywood Authentic

Greg Williams, who founded Hollywood Authentic, spent three days with Radiohead during their run at the Unipol Arena outside Bologna in November. His photographs and interview are in the magazine's 12th issue, on sale from 26 February. Jane Crowther wrote the piece up. Williams says in it that the band guard their privacy and seldom let anyone that close.

The magazine counts 20 arena dates, the band's first in Europe for seven years, with 2.2 million people trying for 400,000 tickets. They rehearsed 64 songs to draw each night's set from, and Thom Yorke and Ed O'Brien, who share the tour bus, settle it after talking over the night before. Yorke says Radiohead have only ever played stadiums as one-offs or at festivals. It's not really us. There is a larger-than-life aspect to the performance that just grinds you down.¹

Yorke writes in a dimly lit room on tour and does a long yoga routine before shows. Jonny Greenwood plays guitar with a bow at soundcheck, and on the bus back folded the used setlists into paper aeroplanes; Colin Greenwood keeps a Leica on his amp. Paul Thomas Anderson came to shows, and Leonardo DiCaprio to at least one.

At the encore Williams watched, about 16,000 people sang “Fake Plastic Trees”.