Song · Live covers
Unravel
Radiohead have played Björk's song once, the night before their Thumbs Down webcast in 2007, and since then only in pieces.
1997
homogenic
Björk wrote it with Guy Sigsworth for Homogenic. Thom Yorke has sung with her too, on “I've Seen It All” from Selmasongs.
2006
the favourite
In November 2006 Yorke told Spin that “Unravel” was his favourite song of all.
I'm trying to get Radiohead to do a cover because I think it's one of the most beautiful songs I've ever heard.
thom yorke · spin, november 2006
8 nov 2007
the testcast
He got his way a year later. On the night of Thursday 8 November 2007, the evening before Thumbs Down, the band put out a 20-minute “testcast” on radiohead.tv from their studio in Oxford. Yorke DJed, some coloured graphics went by, and then came “Unravel”, the first song of the night, with Yorke at the piano and Phil Selway sitting it out.
Talking to Pitchfork in March 2008, Colin Greenwood doubted that “Unravel” or the Smiths' “The Headmaster Ritual”, from the next night's show, would be played on the coming tour, and neither was played in full. Pieces of it have come back since as a way into “Everything in Its Right Place”, a verse at the Ziggo Dome in Amsterdam in October 2012, and some of it again at the O2 in London on 24 November 2025.
on stage
From the band's Thumbs Down webcast, a song they only ever played live.· Radioheadwatch on youtube →
Live history
| Times played | 1 show |
|---|---|
| Live debut | Thursday 8 November 2007 · Oxford |
Nights played include broadcasts; opened and closed count gigs only. A cancelled night has no setlist. All setlist stats →
sources7
- The site's own catalogue note, based on setlist.fm and Stereogum.
- The site's news archive, 22 November 2006, for Yorke's words to Spin, drawing on Drowned in Sound.
- The site's news archive, 9 November 2007, for the testcast, Yorke at the piano and Selway sitting out.
- The site's show page for 8 November 2007, for the running order.
- Ryan Dombal, interview with Colin Greenwood, Pitchfork, March 2008, for his doubts about the covers.
- Lucy Brouwer, review of Radiohead at the Ziggo Dome, DIY, 16 October 2012, for the verse in Amsterdam.
- Philip Hamilton, review of the O2, Contactmusic, 25 November 2025, for London.