Radiohead Management Spark Tour Rumours With Charity Auction Ticket Donation

One of the most anticipated live comebacks in recent years could be underway after Radiohead management appear to have confirmed the band’s return during a wildfire relief auction.

Just a week ago, the English icons sparked up discussion of a potential new era when it was reported they had formed a new legal entity, something they’ve historically done before embarking on some new activity.

Last Monday, the group registered a new limited liability partnership (LLP) under the name RHEUK25, with LLPs serving as a form of business entity that allows the band to operate without the ordinary record label model. Previous LLPs had formed before new records from the band, in addition to albums from frontman Thom Yorke and side project The Smile.

Now, discussion has shifted to the live space, with Resident Advisor reporting that a Los Angeles fire relief auction run by Palisades High School featured four tickets to a “Radiohead concert of your choice” as one of the items that could be bid on.

Donated by Blueyed Pictures, Inc. – who have been reported as being an intermediary of the band’s management – the item noted that the winning bidder can select their preferred date and location “based on the band's tour schedule".” RA also added that an unnamed source has since confirmed that the band have placed holds on venues in a handful of European cities for a run of “residency gigs” later in the year.

However, despite the initial details on the listing, the item’s particulars have since changed to read “4 Premier Concert Tickets,” with the winning bidder able to secure the opportunity for tickets to “any artist currently on tour in the United States — including Kendrick Lamar, Beyoncé, Coldplay, Metallica, and more.” As RA point out, using Google to search for the URL still returns its original heading of “4 Exclusive Radiohead Concert Tickets.”

Currently, it’s been almost seven years since Radiohead last performed live, having wrapped up their live dates in support of 2016’s A Moon Shaped Pool after the completion of a US tour in August 2018.

Since then, band members have remained busy, with Yorke releasing solo material, and teaming up with Jonny Greenwood as part of The Smile. In 2024, Yorke also embarked on a solo tour, which visited Australia and saw him debuting material from a forthcoming collaborative album with Mark Pritchard.

Speaking to Double J ahead of the tour, Yorke asserted the band’s right to operate without intense speculation and pressure from online fan communities.

"I am not aware of it and don't really give a flying fuck," Yorke said. "No offence to anyone and err, thanks for caring. But I think we've earned the right to do what makes sense to us without having to explain ourselves or be answerable to anyone else's historical idea of what we should be doing."

The band also celebrated 30 years of acclaimed second album, The Bends, last week, sharing a playlist of B-sides and remixes from the era just yesterday.