Ruling Toyota

Radiohead keeps pulling off surprises: Why this tour is so shocking — and good

Radiohead still delivers after all these years.

Preparing for a Radiohead concert is risky business. One cannot simply listen to an album, memorize the words and be done with it. The band is far too unpredictable for that sort of thing.

Instead, Radiohead has made a career out of constantly reinventing itself on each album and playing its songs however the band wants in between recording sessions.

Saturday night’s show at the Toyota Center was no different, with Houstonians getting several treats that were sure to make anyone that was following the #Radiohead hashtag green with envy.

Yorke put on a few of his patented dance moves, much to the crowd’s delight.

The night opened with a gorgeous version of “Bloom” off of last year’s The King Of Limbs and continued on with 22 more songs, including three tour debuts (“15 Step,” “Paranoid Android” and a solo collaboration between vocalist/guitarist Thom Yorke and multi-instrumentalist Jonny Greenwood called “These Are My Twisted Words”) as well as two new songs.

Both of the new offerings were heavy on the electronic tinkering and dance beats that Radiohead has been bringing to the forefront for the last decade, yet each song managed to sound completely original. “Cut A Hole,” the first of the two, was heavy on the synthesizers that slowly climbed to a big crescendo, while the second debut,“Indentikit,” sounded like an updated take on Yorke’s minimalist 2006 solo album, The Eraser.

Both songs were well received by the packed arena and are sure to become live hits very soon. Houston was only the second city to hear “Cut a Hole” since it premiered earlier in Miami.

Among the better-known songs, there was still a lot to be surprised by. Songs that fans have known for years, like “Airbag,” “There There,” or “Idioteque” all took on a new menace, while the most recent material from The King Of Limbs translated better than I could have ever have hoped for live.

On nearly every song, the band could be caught strutting and gyrating while the packed house clapped on. From my close spot near the right side of the stage, I think I even caught guitarist Ed O’Brien smiling throughout the show.

Perhaps the best example of how loose the band sounded was during a slightly reworked version of “Good Morning, Mr. Magpie” from The King of Limbs. Greenwood added detuned guitar flourishes while the rest of the band took the normally mid-tempo song up a few notches. All the while, Yorke put on a few of his patented dance moves, much to the crowd’s delight.

Radiohead's plan to conquer Houston was working and we were only four songs in!

The Quiet

The evening wasn’t a one trick-pony though. Some of the better moments could be found in some of the quieter ballads.

“Codex,” one of the highlights from The King Of Limbs, was a perfectly timed breather for the band as well as the audience. The piano line sauntered to a near stand still while Yorke softly delivered the lines to the crowd.

Quieter pieces went far to punctuate the set list with the sort of emotional shifts that make Radiohead albums such enjoyable listens from start to finish.

Moments like this were few and far between in the Toyota Center, reoccurring most prominently with the back-to-back lullabies of “Give Up The Ghost” and “Nude” later in the second encore. These quieter pieces went far to punctuate the set list with the sort of emotional shifts that make Radiohead albums such enjoyable listens from start to finish.

The night was full of wild and entertaining moments, yet there’s little doubt that the biggest surprise on Saturday was the show closer, “Paranoid Android,” from the seminal 1997 album OK Computer. Though one of the most well known Radiohead songs, it hadn’t made an appearance on the tour before the Houston show.

You’d have to sort of think that Thom Yorke caught wind of Weezer’s cover last summer and couldn’t wait to offer his version for Houstonians to decide. The crowd sang along to every last word and the fantastic light show followed along with the music.

If this had been a contest, easy money says that Radiohead won this one by a landslide. Let’s all hope that they come back very soon.

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Movie Review

28 Years Later: The Bone Temple enhances the zombie franchise

Photo by Miya Mizuno

Ralph Fiennes in 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple.

It’s not often that a return to a franchise after years of no activity results in an actual good movie, but 2025’s 28 Years Later proved successful by reuniting director Danny Boyle and writer Alex Garland, who made the original 28 Days Later. Another sequel, The Bone Temple, was filmed back-to-back with last year’s film, with Nia DaCosta taking over for Boyle in the directing chair.

The movie picks up soon after the end of the first film, with the young Spike (Alfie Williams) now an unwilling member of a group called the Jimmies, which are led by a man who calls himself Sir Jimmy Crystal (Jack O’Connell). Unlike the main group in the first film that was just looking to survive the zombie apocalypse, the Jimmies are a bloodthirsty bunch who gleefully attack any zombies they find and brutalize other survivors they come across.

The story also returns to Dr. Kelson (Ralph Fiennes), whose solitary time at his self-built bone temple is interrupted by a massive zombie he has dubbed Samson (Chi Lewis-Parry). Against the odds — and with the help of some morphine — Kelson is able to bond with Samson, giving Kelson some strange but welcome companionship. But with the Jimmies lurking nearby, any peace he’s found may soon be shattered.

DaCosta, working from a script by Garland, ably steps into Boyle’s shoes, putting the emphasis on the story rather than trying for lots of stylistic flourishes. That’s not to say that she doesn’t do great work, however. The creepiness and sadistic nature of the Jimmies comes through loud and clear under her direction, and she brings out the campy comedy that comes from the unexpected pairing of Kelson and Samson.

Like the first 28 Years Later, the story is somewhat of a slow burn. The film doesn’t have many plot developments over its 109 minutes, and so DaCosta must get by on mood rather than action for the most part. But when things do get ramped up, they can get very uncomfortable as the film does not shy away from extreme gore. The damage inflicted by Samson and other zombies is one thing, but when it’s sentient humans going savage, it becomes even more difficult to look at the screen.

The juxtaposition between the chaos of the Jimmies and the quiet existence of Dr. Kelson works well for the film. Their separation for the bulk of the story gives them plenty of time to have the characters come into their own. Sir Jimmy Crystal is the ringleader, but Jimmy Ink (Erin Kellyman) gets her own showcase. Samson was already a (literally) big presence from the first film, but this film gives him a degree of humanity that gives the story more depth.

O’Connell made a big impression as the lead vampire in Sinners, and he’s just as interesting/intimidating here. Fiennes plays a character where being over-the-top is the natural reaction, and yet he keeps Kelson grounded in a number of ways that make him much more than one-note. Lewis-Parry was likely cast for his physique, but he brings out more from a zombie than you’d ever expect. Williams fades into the background a bit after his starring role in the first film, but he’s still strong.

Releasing The Bone Temple in January was not a great sign given the month’s reputation as a dumping ground for bad movies, but it actually proves to be a great choice. With most other releases being Oscar hopefuls or truly awful films, it stands out for being another compelling entry for the franchise, one that will make anticipation high for whenever the third film in the 28 Years Later series comes out.

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28 Years Later: The Bone Temple opens in theaters on January 16.