Wrangling Radiohead’s RF for Arena Run

Radiohead played London’s O2 in the round on its recent tour. Photo: Alex Lake. London, UK (May 28, 2026)—After a seven-year absence from the touring circuit, Radiohead made a much-heralded return to the stage with a European arena run recently, playing in the round.

Out and about with Britannia Row providing audio services, the band has long preferred using cabled instruments and vocal mics whenever possible, both for audio and reliability concerns. However, that changed with the most recent tour, as it opted to use a number of Sound Devices Astral Wireless systems. FOH engineer Simon Hodge explained, “Although the band have used RF systems for guitars in the past, the opinion was always that it never sounded as good as a cable and would not be adopted.

In an arena, you have so many factors affecting the actual sound that go far beyond RF or cables, which is why we spend so much time in advance doing blind tests and ensuring we’re starting from the best place.” When the Sound Devices systems came along, he recalls, “We brought it into Jonny [Greenwood]’s studio and did some blind tests between Astral and their preferred cables. We all listened and even the most cynical guitar techs were impressed!

The quality of the audio path was obvious, and it wasn’t changing the sound at all. The packs also auto-detect the cable, allowing us to easily adjust them in the receiver menu or UI as needed per instrument.” As a result, the tour saw Radiohead use three Astral ARX32 wireless receivers, 42 Astral TX digital wireless bodypack transmitters, and six Astral HH wireless handheld microphones for its stage show.

The Astral TX units were chosen for their compact size and flexibility, enabling the crew to utilize them across the show with microphone or line inputs as well as the Astral Guitar Cable. As for the Astral Guitar Cable, it proved to be the solution to the band’s sonic concerns, with its selectable input impedance (100k, IM, or 10M ohms, matching popular amplifier specifications) and adjustable cable capacitance (0 pF to 1500 pF in 25 pF steps, corresponding to typical guitar lengths), providing the required sonic fidelity to match their cable rigs. • Mix Music Production NYC 2026 Launches with Early Bird Tickets The systems also enabled a more seamless approach to the many, many guitar changes throughout the band’s shows.

Hodge and RF Tech Matt Hayes designed a custom solution which fed the Astral ARX32 inputs into a Prodigy Audio Processor via Dante and custom Streamdeck controllers to provide quick accessibility to both the band and their respective guitar techs. “The band travels with dozens of guitars; Ed O’Brien himself had 32 on this run,” Hodge states. “This was the first time we could have all 32 at once accessible and easily switchable in the same interface—a choice that either the musician or tech can make as needed.

” Discover more great stories—get a free Mix SmartBrief subscription! The result was an RF setup that the meticulous band was pleased with. “It was an excellent experience for both the band and the fans because the setup allowed it to be intimate while still giving us excellent control of all the sonic and visual details that are so important,” Hodge says.

“We are all very invested in that personal experience and anything added only makes the cut if it’s guaranteed to do that.