Radiohead are 'Creeps' Again on World Tour

Radiohead became rock anti-heroes with their first single "Creep" in 1992 and, after a tortured three-decade history with the song, the band is embracing it again.

The English experimental rockers on Wednesday closed out the second of two nights at New York's Madison Square Garden with "Creep" to the delight and disbelief of the sold-out crowd.

"Apparently this is what showbiz is. Could have fooled me," frontman Thom Yorke mumbled in the second encore, seemingly in acknowledgement of the applause.

The band then headed into the dour opening scales of "Creep," with stage lights flashing in unison as Jonny Greenwood delivered the song's three thundering bursts of guitar.

Thousands of fans sang along or held out their arms in joyful recognition of "Creep," a tale of a self-doubting modern man who struggles to find an appropriate way to seek a woman's attention.

"Creep" catapulted the Oxford-based band, then playing university gigs, to the big stage as the song became an unlikely international hit.

But Radiohead soon grew fed up with the song, feeling that crowds were coming only to hear "Creep," and for years would not play it at all.

The band meanwhile went in a more experimental direction starting with 1997's "OK Computer," keeping the dark undertones but exploring electronic effects and non-traditional song structure.

The band has nonetheless appeared to make peace with "Creep," which it also played at select dates on the European leg of its tour, including at Barcelona's Primavera Sound festival and in Paris.

Prince played a powerful cover of "Creep" at the Coachella festival in 2008 -- with footage only allowed online shortly before the pop icon's death after intervention by Radiohead, even though the band members are hardly fans of unimpeded online access.

Radiohead, powered by two drum sets, ran the gamut of its career at Madison Square Garden, starting with "Burn the Witch" off the band's latest album "A Moon Shaped Pool," which inches the band back into guitar rock territory.

Yorke -- known for his activism on fighting climate change and global poverty -- offered a brief political allusion as he said he wanted to sleep and "never wake up" when following recent headlines.

"But we really, really need to wake up," Yorke said to cheers.

Radiohead, touring after a nearly four-year hiatus, chose to play stand-alone shows in only six cities -- Amsterdam, London, Paris, New York, Los Angeles and Mexico City -- although the band is also headlining festivals around the world.