Chesney Hawkes has shared his former ambitions of joining Radiohead, saying it was “all I wanted to do” for a spell in the ’90s.
Read More: Radiohead live in London: a generous and visceral hit parade (of sorts)
The pop singer recently sat down with Radio X’s Chris Moyles to discuss his upcoming 2026 tour dates in support of his latest album ‘Living Arrows’. While discussing the record, the conversation moved onto Radiohead, who he said he’d not managed to see while they were in London last week.
“I wanted to be in Radiohead, to be honest with you,” he told Moyles. “Throughout the ’90s, I literally shoegazed turned up to 11 and pretended I was in Radiohead. That’s all I wanted to do. I formed bands, and we were just a guitar band basically. I was probably rebelling against the early years, I would say.”
When Moyles suggested they ask the band if they’d be up for adopting him on air, he quipped: “I think Radiohead would do a fantastic version of ‘The One And Only’. Can you imagine that?”
The band recently completed four sold-out nights at The O2 in London, and set a new record for fan attendance – surpassing that of Metallica, who have held the title since 2017.
At those London gigs, £1 from all ticket sales was donated to the LIVE Trust – supporting artists, venues, promoters, festivals and grassroots spaces. There were also charity volunteers on site to collect donations for Samaritans. For the European shows, 1€ from every ticket is being donated to Médecins Sans Frontières (Doctors Without Borders).
Their first show at the O2 was given a five-star review from NME, with Andrew Trendell writing: “What a show: a visceral energy, a tasteful spectacle, all delivered with a generosity of spirit, Yorke in full rockstar mode as the band trade places to tend to each corner of the venue.
“For a band once embarrassed by the notion of ‘arena rock’, nobody does it better. A new album and another night like this can’t come soon enough.”
On Monday (December 1), the group announced that their first two concerts in the Royal Arena in the Danish capital had been postponed after frontman Thom Yorke contracted an “extreme throat infection”.
Shows on Monday and Tuesday (December 1 and 2) have been delayed to December 15 and 16, with tickets being automatically transferred to the new dates and refunds available from point of purchase, with hundreds of Radiohead fans coming together for a karaoke party after the cancelled a show in Copenhagen.
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