“Flea is wearing a shirt!” That was the first thing worth noticing onstage at Friday night’s “rehersal” for Thom Yorke’s “solo” shows that took place at The Echoplex. Other surprises included Yorke without a shirt (or at least, one unbuttoned down the front) as the enigmatic Radiohead frontman gave an surprisingly ebullient performance for a crowd to rival any indie starfucker convention in recent memory.
It’s hardly surprising that Thomas Bangalter was in attendance. More so seeing Kim Gordon hanging out, Zach de la Rocha at the bar and Rick Rubin making an in-and-out appearance in about 10 minutes. But the real excitment was onstage, where Yorke, Flea, longtime producer Nigel Goodrich and drummer/percussionist duo Joey Waronker (Beck, Smashing Pumpkins, REM) and Forro in the Dark multi-instrumentalist Mauro Refosco turned Yorke’s desperately inward-looking The Eraser into a virtual rock show, with Yorke showing off his now patented Ed Grimley: Rock God dance moves to an audience that couldn’t quite muster the same movement as they held video-phones aloft.
The first half of the show presented Yorke’s 2007 solo effort front to back. But the real treat was the extended encore, which found Yorke alone on stage with piano or guitar performing sketches of new songs “Open The Floodgates,” “Lotus Flower,” “Skirting On The Surface” and “Judge, Jury, & Executioner.” Freed from the dense band format (or Yorke’s own laptop skitterings), it was as upclose and intimate one will ever get to hearing Thom Yorke as a songwriter and performer. And to think, I wasn’t even going to ask for tickets.
“Open The Floodgates”
“Lotus Flower”
“Skirting On The Surface”
“Judge, Jury, & Executioner”
“Paperbag Writer”
“Feeling Pulled Apart By Horses”
“The Hollow Earth”
“Cymbal Rush”
[...] the name Atoms For Peace, the official moniker for the newly christened Radiohead side-project Thom unveiled in Los Angeles, is taking to Coachella, and, it turns out, will whip around the U.S. in the weeks leading up to [...]