Radiohead just cracked open the vault. They’ve revisited “archive” recordings from their Hail To The Thief era and announced a new live album: Hail to the Thief Live Recordings 2003–2009!
Available digitally now (and as a one-off pressing on October 31), the album captures performances in London, Amsterdam, Buenos Aires, and Dublin between 2003 and 2009. Radiohead says it’s a way to “re-evaluate their relationship” with their sixth studio album.
Now, here’s where it gets interesting: singer Thom Yorke recently worked on Hamlet Hail to the Thief — a reimagined Shakespeare production that used deconstructed versions of the 2003 album as its score. Yorke says digging into the live archives for that project floored him.
“In the process of thinking about arrangements for the Hamlet production, I asked to hear some archive live recordings. I was shocked by the energy. I barely recognised us. It helped me find a way forward. We decided to get these mixed and released — it would’ve been insane to keep them for ourselves.”
Physical copies will include limited-edition red vinyl (indie store exclusive) and cyan vinyl (via Radiohead’s W.A.S.T.E. store).
The live album news lands just as the band’s This Is What You Get exhibition opens at Oxford’s Ashmolean Museum, showcasing over 180 Radiohead-related works from Yorke and longtime collaborator Stanley Donwood. Think: original paintings, sketchbooks, lyrics, etchings, digital art, the works.
Meanwhile, Yorke’s been busy with The Smile, solo touring across Asia and Australia, and announcing a new collab album with Mark Pritchard (Tall Tales). Greenwood’s also been performing with Israeli musician Dudu Tassa. Radiohead may be quiet on the surface, but the activity is there.
And now, fans get to hear the band at peak power: 2003 to 2009, captured live!
What’s the best live album ever made? Is that ever possible to answer?
