Song · The King of Limbs era (2011)
Staircase
Written for the From the Basement session it was recorded at, and released as a studio track that is really a live one.
2011
basement material
They had started it before the album came out and only took it past a demo once The King of Limbs was finished, in time for Live from the Basement, the session that the band used to work up material beyond the album, with Clive Deamer joining Philip Selway on drums. The two-drummer arrangement is the point: the song runs on interlocking patterns with Yorke's falsetto over the top, closer to what the band would do live in 2012 than to anything on the record itself.
19 dec 2011
released with “the daily mail”
The two songs went out together as a download on 19 December 2011, both lifted from that session. Stereogum has since argued that The King of Limbs would be remembered differently if these, along with “Supercollider” and “The Butcher”, had been on it.
the session
From the Basement.· Radioheadwatch on youtube →
takes(2)
Live history
| Times played | 45 shows |
|---|---|
| Live debut | Friday 24 June 2011 · Pilton |
| Last played | Friday 16 November 2012 · Melbourne |
Nights played include broadcasts; opened and closed count gigs only. A cancelled night has no setlist. All setlist stats →
sources3
- “Check out: Radiohead, ‘The Daily Mail’ and ‘Staircase’”, Consequence of Sound, 19 December 2011.
- Ed O'Brien, Zane Lowe Sessions, BBC Radio 1, 13 December 2011.
- Chris DeVille, “Radiohead's The King of Limbs came out 10 years ago today”, Stereogum, 18 February 2021.