Video: Radiohead’s 1996 Pinkpop Set Proves Alt-Rock Legends Were Built for the Big Stage

Radiohead delivered something rare at Pinkpop on May 20, 1996, a festival set that felt like a reckoning. Already reshaping alt-rock from the ground up, the British five-piece brought melancholy and raw power to Landgraaf, Netherlands, in equal measure. Thom Yorke’s voice moved from fragile to fierce within a single phrase, turning the open-air stage into something close and urgent. Jonny Greenwood and Ed O’Brien layered guitars that were equal parts tender and sharp, while Colin Greenwood’s bass and Phil Selway’s drumming locked everything into place with real conviction. The crowd swayed, sang along, and never looked away.