Nick Cave was "deeply moved and humbled" by Radiohead at The O2 London

19 December 2025, 08:30

Nick Cave and Radiohead's Thom Yorke. Picture: Jeff Spicer/Getty Images, Pedro Becerra/Redferns/Getty

By Jenny Mensah

The Into My Arms singer has taken to his blog to wax lyrical about his "spiritual" experience watching the band.

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Nick Cave has praised Radiohead after watching them live last month.

The band wrapped up their 2025 European tour last week, ending their 20-date run on Tuesday 16th September.

The epic gigs - which saw them play in the round at arenas in Madrid, Bologna, London, Berlin and Copenhagen - dazzled their throngs of fans, but also impressed the Australian artist, who described it as a "spiritual" experience to his fans.

Asked by a fan on his personal blog The Red Hand Files if he enjoyed watching other shows, Cave wrote: "When I’m on tour, the last thing I want to do is go to someone else’s concert. I feel sonically and emotionally overloaded, and the live experience is simply too intense. However, I’ve had a couple of months’ break from touring, life has settled down, and, to my surprise, Jordan, I’ve had the urge to go and see live music. Over the past couple of months I’ve attended many gigs – incredible evenings, all of them – including Bob Dylan, Swans, Radiohead, Cameron Winter, and Dirty Three."

Cave, who completed his own duo of dates at The O2, London last year, added: "At the Radiohead concert at the O2, I was sitting among twenty thousand people. Bizarrely, it was the first time I had ever been in the audience at such a large show, and I was stunned by the depth of love in the room – people dancing, screaming, crying, hugging each other, throwing themselves around. I was struck by the realisation of just how powerful live music is – that a group of individuals can come together and concoct a sound unique to them, and that people can connect with that distinctive vision as if it were their own experience. I could feel its moral quality – how this singular force has the capacity to repair the world with its goodness.”

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The Wild God singer went on to talk about engaging in various "spiritual activities" including walking in nature, meditating, wild swimming and attending church, but added that "none offer the transcendent opportunity of a live concert."

He went on: "It is a form of human activity that radiates goodness, working its way through the crowd and into the world as a reparative, cosmic force, improving matters, keeping the devil at bay. I believe Radiohead’s audience was responding not only to the music, which was astonishing, but also to the courage of the performers – the sheer nerve to stand before a crowd and offer up their souls. Like everyone else there, I was deeply moved and humbled."

Describing the "vast crowd" at the venue, the Bad Seeds singer reflected on the the notion of stage fright and the doubt every artist feels ahead of a performance, but recognised the bravery it takes to silence the "crippling voices" to deliver an epic set.

He concluded: "This is what the vast crowd at the O2 recognised, a band engaging in a remarkable act of ordinary courage, a distinctly human form of heroism – the audacity to stand before the world and declare, ‘This is what we think. This is what we feel. This is who we are.’ Manuela, perhaps understanding that we all fight battles within ourselves can help you feel less alone and encourage you to step onto that stage. I hope so."

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Radiohead's quartet of London dates saw them make history by achieving the highest ever attendance within the arena.

Each of the band's four UK exclusive shows - which were held on the 21st, 22nd, 24th and 25th November - saw over 22,200 fans in attendance, with each night breaking the previous night’s number.

The record, which was previously set by Metallica in 2017, has now been surpassed four times with Thom Yorke and co setting a new record of 22,355 gig-goers attending in one night.

The London dates also proved to be extra special, not just with the band - completed by Jonny Greenwood, Philip Selway, Colin Greenwood and Ed O'Brien - playing on UK soil, but due to the band giving two songs their tour debut during the residency.

Night three saw the band add OK Computer track Climbing Up The Walls to their set, while the fourth and final night saw them play Amnesiac song Like Spinning Plates.