Song · Live covers
Wonderwall
The biggest song of Britpop, played once by Radiohead in Vancouver in 1996 and never again.
1995
the other band's anthem
Noel Gallagher wrote it for Oasis's (What's the Story) Morning Glory? and Creation released it on 30 October 1995, the album's fourth single. He described it as being about “an imaginary friend who's gonna come and save you from yourself”, and took the title from George Harrison's Wonderwall Music. The original plan was to record it against a wall outside Rockfield Studios; that was dropped for a normal studio take.
It went top ten in twenty countries, number one in Australia and New Zealand, number two at home, and number eight in America, which remains Oasis's only top-40 single on the Hot 100. Nigel Dick's video won British Video of the Year at the 1996 Brit Awards. In October 2020 it became the first song of the 1990s to pass a billion streams on Spotify.
22 mar 1996
vancouver
Radiohead played it once. It is remembered as a snippet and a joke rather than a worked-up cover, and no studio version exists.
That is the whole of Radiohead's relationship with the song: one night, one city, thirty years ago.
on stage
Live, 1993.· Radiohea_dwatch on youtube →
Live history
| Times played | 1 show |
|---|---|
| Live debut | Friday 22 March 1996 · Vancouver |
Nights played include broadcasts; opened and closed count gigs only. A cancelled night has no setlist. All setlist stats →
sources3
- Wikipedia, “Wonderwall”, for the Oasis single's history and chart placings.
- Stereogum, on Radiohead's live cover.
- Performance date and count from this site's own setlist archive.