Come On and Let It Out: Why Did Radiohead Stop Performing “Jigsaw Falling Into Place”?

Despite going on two tours since its release, Radiohead hasn’t performed the song “Jigsaw Falling Into Place” live since August 30, 2009. Why would a band abandon one of their best songs for nearly a decade?

Written by Haley Kennis

“Jigsaw Falling Into Place” is Radiohead at their best. Detailing a story of a night at the club that goes horribly wrong, the song captures the feeling of spiraling out of control. Each member of the group’s strong suits are highlighted on this song: Thom Yorke’s frantically beautiful vocals and lyrics, Jonny Greenwood’s forceful guitar, Ed O’Brien’s stirring guitar atmospheres, and Colin Greenwood and Phil Selway’s driving bass and drums all weave together perfectly on this track. From the beginning, the song sweeps you away on a fun, haunting, and chaotic journey that, as the lyrics state, demands you to listen “not just once, not just twice.”

So, why hasn’t it been performed live since August 30, 2009?

At first, this seems totally normal. Bands stop performing certain songs live for many reasons. Old songs, slow songs, album deep-cuts, instrumentals, and overall unpopular songs tend to get erased from setlists over time to make room for newer music. At first, I sadly assumed “Jigsaw Falling Into Place” fit those molds, but the more I dug into the song’s history, the less it made sense. “Jigsaw Falling Into Place” was no obscure deep-cut — it was the lead single from Radiohead’s highly praised seventh studio album, In Rainbows, and the first single they had released in over five years.

“Jigsaw” isn’t unpopular either: Time Magazine named it the fifth best song of 2007, and in a 2016 Rolling Stone readers’ poll, fans voted it the tenth best song Radiohead has released in the 21st century. The song was only ever performed live sixty-six times during the In Rainbows tour. Every other song off the album has been performed live within the past three years, and seven of those 10 songs have since become Radiohead concert staples. All in all, “Jigsaw Falling Into Place” seems to actively oppose every single category that would force it out of a setlist — and yet it disappeared anyway. Why?

The most hopeful explanation sounds a little ridiculous: Radiohead forgot about “Jigsaw Falling Into Place.” But how could a band forget one of their own songs? Ask Radiohead guitarist Ed O’Brien, who in a 2018 Highsnobiety interview briefly forgot the song’s title, stating: “I heard on the radio for instance … off In Rainbows … God, I can’t remember what it is. It was our first single. Wow, this is really embarrassing …” Radiohead has released over 160 songs over their career, so forgetting one song isn’t unthinkable. When I looked at concert song statistics, a curiously big list of songs were absent from The King of Limbs tour. Well-known songs like “Creep,” “My Iron Lung,” “No Surprises,” “Optimistic,” and eight more were not played at all during those years. While most of these songs were brought back during the A Moon Shaped Pool tour, three of them weren’t: “Just,” “Knives Out,” and –– of course –– “Jigsaw Falling Into Place.” Maybe Radiohead just need a gentle reminder that the song exists.

However, there may be a darker reason why Radiohead abandoned “Jigsaw Falling Into Place.” The band has a history of complicated relationships with some of their songs, most famously their star-making hit “Creep.” Though the song kickstarted their entire career, the band quickly began to loathe “Creep,” refusing to play it live for years. “Electioneering” off OK Computer is a similar case and hasn’t been performed live since 1998, with some band members regretting that they made it at all. Radiohead has hated plenty of their own songs, and it is possible “Jigsaw” was the next target. Radiohead fansite Citizen Insane suggests that the group felt insecure about the song and nearly cut it from the album. However, Radiohead’s recent reintroduction of “Creep” into their most recent tour’s setlist may give us some hope. If “Creep” can be revived from the song graveyard, “Jigsaw Falling Into Place” certainly can too.

Unfortunately, the most likely reason is ironically the simplest: “Jigsaw Falling Into Place” is really difficult to play. Even for a group of musicians that has played together for over thirty years, it is quite a technical challenge. At a dizzying 166 beats per minute, “Jigsaw Falling Into Place” relies on an extremely tight bass and drum groove with almost no room for error. On top of that, Thom Yorke has to growl and wail the relentless lyrics all while also playing acoustic guitar with almost no break. As talented as he is, it would be extremely taxing for any performer. “Jigsaw Falling Into Place” is constantly on the edge of falling apart by design, fragile and powerful all at once. Still, Radiohead regularly play similarly paced songs, such as “Bodysnatchers,” as well as other distinctively difficult songs like “Idioteque” and “Videotape.” With this in mind, Radiohead definitely still has it in them to perform “Jigsaw,” but only if they want to.

At the end of the day, we may never know why “Jigsaw” disappeared. Be it forgetfulness, distaste, or difficulty, we’ll never have a clear answer until (or rather if) Radiohead reveal why. As beloved as it is, “Jigsaw Falling Into Place” might meet the same fate as other Radiohead songs lost to time. Seeing it performed live again would be a dream come true for Radiohead fans around the world. I can only ask Radiohead one request: “Come on and let it out.”

Afterglow ATXMarch 14, 2019