Radiohead Announce Euro Tour, Yorke Disses Blair

Only it looks like our Old World brethren chanted harder: Thom Yorke and pals have just announced a handful of European dates, and like turtle doves and underpants, these come largely in pairs.

"We're excited to be touring again, especially to play new songs to an audience," spake Radiohead in a statement, according to NME.com. "For the first time, we have no contract or release deadline to fulfil - it's both liberating and terrifying."

"To keep things more fun and spontaneous," the band continues, "we will be playing new songs that are work in progress. We will also be releasing music to download when we are excited about it, rather than wait twelve months for a full blown album release. Music's not just about all-time greats - it's also a document of its time, and we want to be able to put out a song when it feels right."

Right brilliant, that. And the dates:

05-01 London, England - KOKO (Friends of the Earth benefit with Thom Yorke and Jonny Greenwood)
05-06 Copenhagen, Denmark - KB Hall #
05-07 Copenhagen, Denmark - KB Hall #
05-09 Amsterdam, Holland - Heineken Music Hall #
05-10 Amsterdam, Holland - Heineken Music Hall #
05-12 Blackpool, England - Empress Ballroom #
05-13 Blackpool, England - Empress Ballroom #
05-15 Wolverhampton, England - Civic #
05-16 Wolverhampton, England - Civic #
05-18 London, England - Hammersmith Apollo #
05-19 London, England - Hammersmith Apollo #
06-17 Manchester, TN - Bonnaroo Festival *
08-12 Budapest, Hungary - Óbudai Island (Sziget Festival) %
08-19 Chelmsford, England - Hylands Park (V Festival) ^
08-20 Staffordshire, England - Weston Park (V Festival) ^
08-22 Edinburgh, Scotland - Meadowbank
08-24 Dublin, Ireland - Marlay Park

# with Willy Mason
* with Beck, Death Cab for Cutie, Bright Eyes, Ben Folds, Common, Sonic Youth, My Morning Jacket, Cat Power, Atmosphere, Amadou & Mariam, Stephen Malkmus & the Jicks, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, The Magic Numbers, Dungen, Andrew Bird, et al
% with Franz Ferdinand, Ministry, Robert Plant, Natacha Atlas, Sick of It All, et al
^ with Beck, Bloc Party, The Magic Numbers, Keane

Hmm now, that relative absence of scheduled dates in the vicinity of June 17's Bonnaroo gig seems might suspect, no? Sure does, and that's because Radiohead are, and I quote, "heading off on an American and Canadian tour in June"! So claims their spooky website. Dates will be announced as soon as they are confirmed. Beck recently blabbed to Rolling Stone about playing a few shows with the band this summer, so get excited.

**UPDATE!** Just a couple of hours after we posted this, the Associated Press ran a story quoting a new Yorke interview with NME, in which the sleepy-eyed icon talks about saying no to an opportunity to discuss global warming with British prime minister Tony Blair.

When asked by the charity Friends of the Earth to chat with Blair, "I got so stressed out and so freaked out about it," York said. "Initially when it came up I tried to be pragmatic, but Blair has no environmental credentials as far as I'm concerned."

Right, and as a rock singer, you, Thom Yorke, are full of environmental credentials.

He continued, "It was like talking to Blair's spin doctors. It was all getting weird. It was just obvious there was no point in meeting him anyway, and I didn't want to."

So Yorke gave up. "I came out of that whole period just thinking, I don't want to get involved directly, it's poison. I'll just shout my mouth off from the sidelines." Which, if you think about it, is what he's been doing with Radiohead the whole time.

Radiohead: http://www.radiohead.com/