RADIOHEAD 2018 TOUR: Thom’s guitars and instruments
Thom’s instrument setup on Radiohead’s 2018 tour was paired down compared to past years. His guitar setup was especially simplified: he used only a few guitars for nearly all songs, and was unusually consistent about which guitars were used for which songs (the only exceptions being Bodysnatchers and The Bends). He played Ephiphone Casinos and Gibson SGs on almost every electric guitar song, and used his Martin 00-18 and Martin 000-18 for all but one acoustic song. Thom played his pair of Casinos on just as many songs as his pair of SGs, but actually played the SGs a little more often overall. For acoustic songs, Thom used his new Martin 000-18 on more tracks than his older Martin 00-18, which makes sense given that the 00-18 is already heavily worn for years of use.
Thom with his Epiphone Casino #2 during the band’s performance of The Bends in Montreal on July 17, 2018 (raph_ph).
The four other guitars which Thom brought along are each long-time favorites which define the sound of particular songs. His black Fender Jazzmaster #1 has been standard for Airbag since the mid-90’s, and was tuned to EADGAE for all of the 2018 tour. Similarly, his Gibson ES-125T was tuned DBDGBE and only used for There There (as has been the case since 2003), and his white Fender Jazzmaster #2 was kept in standard tuning and only used for Bloom (as has been the case since 2011). His only other acoustic guitar was his Gibson B25, which was only used for Karma Police.
Thom with his Fender Jazzmaster #2 during the band’s performance of Bloom in Montreal on July 17, 2018 (raph_ph).
When he wasn’t playing guitar, Thom was most often found playing the Kemble KC121 upright piano. He used his other instruments far less frequently: Thom played the DSI Prophet 08 on only a couple of songs, and the Alesis Q25, Electro-Harmonix 45000, Minimoog Voyager PE, and Rhodes Suitcase Piano each on only a single song.
Like Thom’s less-used guitars, these less-used instruments justified their presence by being essential to certain songs (or by being used by other members of the band). The Alesis Q25 and Electro-Harmonix 45000 were both used for every show of the tour, being necessary to Ful Stop and Daydreaming, respectively. Thom played the Minimoog and Rhodes less often, but both instruments were used frequently by Jonny on fixtures such as Lotus Flower and Paranoid Android. The Prophet 08 was used less by Thom than on previous tours, but it was used for key songs by both Thom (Everything In Its Right Place and Identikit) on by others members of the band (Phil on Daydreaming, Jonny on Lotus Flower and many others, Colin on Idioteque).
Thom also made heavy use of hand percussion: Detroit and Cincinnati were the only shows which didn’t feature any, and most saw Thom playing both maracas and tambourine.
Thom with his new Martin during the band’s performance of Paranoid Android in Montreal on July 17, 2018 (raph_ph).
Thom with his old Martin during the band’s performance of Fake Plastic Trees in Montreal on July 17, 2018 (raph_ph).
Thom with his Alesis Q25 during the band’s performance of Ful Stop in Bogota on April 25, 2018 (juandiegobc).