A sound that makes feeling alienated feel less alienating

Standing in the crowd at the opening night of their reunion tour, long-time Radiohead fan Lucy Jones is reminded once again of what it is that makes this uplifting band so special

- Lucy Jones

Four decades after five boys formed a group at school to play music together, over 20,000 people gather in London’s O2 Arena on a Friday night to watch them perform, as they have in venues across the world, over the last 40 years. Tickets for this tour sold out in minutes. Millions of records sold. Charts topped with critically acclaimed albums. Adored and followed by fans with an unusual intensity. How, and why?

It's all laid out on the circular stage in front of me, as they're playing “in the round” tonight. Phil Selway is in the middle on his drum kit. Ed O'Brien's on the left. Thom Yorke's in the centre but wanders around. Jonny Greenwood's on the right with his many instruments. His brother, Colin, is further back on the right. Chris Vatalaro is also here as the second drummer. Vast screens project graphics of oozing fluorescent slime, glitched octopi, closeups of each band member.

The opening chords of “Planet Telex” emerge - a distorted glitchy wash - and then the glorious drop as Yorke's vocal comes in and we're off into interstellar harmonic space. I've got that feeling in my stomach: joy, nerves, serotonin, excitement. It's a feeling that Radiohead have consistently given me, more than any other band, since I first heard “Paranoid Android” on the school bus when I was 11, in 1996, and almost choked on my Nice'n'Spicy Nik Naks.