O'Brien (left) called Glastonbury '97 "the worst night of our lives"

In 1997, Radiohead, widely-acclaimed for their exceptional live performances, arrived with the recently-released OK Computer being declared by critics as one of the greatest albums ever.

But the performance did not go as they had hoped.

"Ninety-seven felt very much like we had a huge spotlight on us at the time," bassist Colin Greenwood told BBC World Service's Music Feature programme.

"OK Computer had just been released and had been received very well, and we suddenly went from standing to being at some sort of enforced speed in a very short space of time."

'Two-month comedown'

A glut of technical problems struck as they took the stage, and the band admit the set was only held together by vocalist Thom Yorke and drummer Phil Selway.

"Everything broke on stage," guitarist Ed O'Brien told Music Feature.

"It turned into the worst concert and the worst night of our lives, basically.

Glastonbury '97 was a defining moment for the band

"I don't think we ever wanted to play a concert again."

The band admit that the following OK Computer tour was a disappointment, as they were "emotionally drained" following Glastonbury.

"It took us two months to get over, basically," said Greenwood.

"It's like having a massive hit of a drug for 24 hours, and then having a two-month comedown afterwards."

Millstone

Radiohead's touring began as an opening act for a now forgotten band called Kingmaker at various small UK venues in 1992.

To cut hotel costs, on most nights they would drive back to their homes in Oxford in a small van.

The money began to roll in after their song Creep became a huge hit in America.

But on touring, they found the song to be a millstone.

Everything's set up for us now so that we do concentrate on those aspects of touring that are interesting Drummer Phil Selway

"When you do get a pop hit in America there's a certain type of person who comes along to the show," explained Ed O'Brien.

"It's a terrible generalisation but it's true.

"At our first gig in America in Boston, [after] we played Creep fourth on the set, 25 percent of the people walked out."

People were only going to the gig to hear one song - so a change in approach to gigging was put in place in time for the second album The Bends.

"When we went back to America for The Bends it was like we were starting again," O'Brien said.

"We started right back in the clubs and did exactly what we had done in the clubs in the UK and Europe and just toured smaller places."

Live challenge

After five of these tours, Radiohead had acquired a much bigger following. Soon they were playing Glastonbury, in 1994 as Britpop was taking off.

"We were on the NME stage, we were between Oasis and Blur," said Greenwood.

"What a line-up - it was like the Champions League.

"That felt quite significant for us. What were we doing there?"

From there Radiohead's reputation as one of the greatest live bands - save for the 1997 problems - was established.

Yorke's voice was computerised for the Kid A tour

But they faced a new challenge after recording their fourth album Kid A, a studio-based project in which most of the recording was done by band members individually, separate from the rest of the group.

This meant playing the songs live would present an enormous challenge.

"I think it's fair to say when we were recording it we really didn't know if we were ever going to play live again," Selway admitted.

But he said it was the challenge of working out how to perform the songs that encouraged the band to go back on the road after the OK Computer tour.

"The songs from The Bends and OK Computer were actually Xeroxed copies when we played them live," he said.

"It's exciting to have that flexibility in what you're playing.

"It had to be completely different for us to go out again."

Testing songs

The tour changed pace, with relaxed schedules, and venues were to be interesting, rather than "warehouses".

Thom Yorke's voice was recorded and played back during the live set while he sung over it to tackle some of the difficulties of transferring Kid A to a live set.

But for latest album Hail To The Thief, Radiohead have taken the reverse approach - they have tested the songs live, in Spain and Portugal, before recording.

"For the last couple of years we have really enjoyed touring," Selway said.

"Everything's set up for us now so that we do concentrate on those aspects of touring that are interesting.