When a supergroup decides to play a surprise intimate show in LA, celebrities flock to the gig, and last night’s Thom Yorke, Flea, Nigel Godrich, Joey Waronker, and Mauro Refosco set at Echoplex was no different. Even though the ‘superaudience’ included Rick Rubin, Danger Mouse, Spike Jonze, Sonic Youth’s Kim Gordon, actress Ellen Page, Muse (Glenn Beck’s new favorite band), and many more, Yorke wasn’t going to let them talk over him while unveiling four new jams: “If you want to have a chat, go fuck off outside, alright?” he said, before starting the piano intro to new song “Open the Floodgates” and adding, “‘cause you won’t get back in.”
Yorke and Friends played 16 songs in about 90 minutes last night and you don’t have to take the word of audience members or reviewers that it was an amazing set because the Internet has been flooded with videos to prove it.
Here’s the setlist with a link to video from every performance:
After a few days of rumors and speculation about a possible “secret” gig at LA’s Echoplex on Friday night, Thom Yorke has finally confirmed that his new band (Flea, Nigel Godrich, Joey Waronker, and Mauro Refosco) are playing the show. Here’s what he just posted on Dead Air Space:
Hey what are you doing tomorrow night? so listen right that band thats doesnt really have a name that im working with at the moment?????? have decided to do a warm-up show on Friday Oct 2nd around 9pm at the Echoplex in Los Angeles Its not that big, it’ll be total chaos and its kind of a rehearsal but .. if you are near by.. below is a link to get tickets. hope you get lucky with it. if not you’ve got to be a really really really good friend to get in: )
so ain’t no point hanging around outside if you’re not! the link should go live at 8.15pm (i’ll believe that when i see it)
**Update:The link Thom provides gets an error message, which I first thought meant the show is sold out. This page on Ticketweb, however, says that tickets go on sale tomorrow at 12PM PDT. I’m not sure why Thom said “8.15pm,” but either way, it’s going to sell out in seconds.
Thom Yorke’s surprise announcement late last night that he’s formed a new group for two shows in LA in less than a week spread like wildfire throughout the blogosphere and news beast. What truly made bloggers swoon, however, was that Red Hot Chili Peppers bassist Flea and Radiohead/McCartney producer Nigel Godrich are also in the band, enabling everyone to use their favorite word: supergroup.
We already know lots about Flea and Godrich, but if it’s truly a “supergroup,” we should learn a thing or two about his new percussionist as well. And in doing so, I’ve got a few more details to reveal from the man himself about the upcoming Yorke shows.
Mauro Refosco’s primary gig is as a member of Forro in the Dark, a NYC-based band that is touring the U.S. and Europe to promote their new album immediately following Yorke’s two LA concerts. Refosco’s other big claim to fame, however, is that he’s been working with David Byrne since 1994. In fact, he was working with Byrne in London this past summer when he met Yorke, Refosco revealed in an interview with Abril.com.
Also in that interview, the Brazilian-born percussionist said that Yorke is planning to play his entire solo album, The Eraser, four new songs, and one Radiohead tune for good measure, at the upcoming shows. Perhaps Yorke’s mysterious contribution to the Twilight soundtrack, “Hearing Damage,” will be one of said “new songs” and we’ll finally get to hear his interpretation of teenage vampire drama.
Meanwhile, check out Refosco’s band here, a blog Q&A here, or watch him jam with David Byrne here.
I toyed with the idea of putting the word “supergroup” in the title, but I’ll hold off on that. Let’s just call them “friends.” Very, very famous friends. Flea, Nigel Godrich, Joey Waronker, and Mauro Refosco will join Thom Yorke for two concerts at LA’s Orpheum theater in less than a week. Yorke made the announcement on Dead Air just moments ago (via CoS):
hi in the past couple of weeks i’ve been getting a band together for fun to play the eraser stuff live and the new songs etc.. to see if it could work! here’s a photo.. its me, joey waronker, mauro refosco, flea and nigel godrich.
at the beginning of october the 4th and 5th we are going to do a couple of shows at the Orpheum Theatre in Los Angeles. we don’t really have a name and the set will not be very long cuz ..well …we haven’t got that much material yet! but come and check it out if you are in the area. we’ve also got locals Lucky Dragons playing. all the best
Do you have a credit card handy? Buy tickets for the shows today at 7AM EST here or here. Yorke & friends may just be dipping their toes in the supergroup waters, but they do have a promo pic (see above) already.
Oh Thom, I knew there was a reason you’ve been dressing for the second coming.
We’ve been going on and on about Thom Yorke’s upcoming 12”/digital release, so it would be a crime to not alert our readers at the very second an audio stream has become available online.
Do yourselves a favor, wipe those Dylan Christmas album samples from your memory, and check out the Radiohead front man’s new jams here or here or embedded below (via Stereogum):
Every time I try to write a Radiohead news post today, another bit comes across my screen, so let’s drop some info in one fell swoop, shall we?
First off, we’re grateful to our buddy Brock Thiessen over at Exclaim, who gave us a helpful heads-up on his scoop that Thom Yorke will release a limited 12” solo single for the songs “Apart By Horses” and “The Hollow Earth” later this month. We were the second site on the Internet to report on the story and many followed suit, adding a question mark to the title. Well, drop those ?s, folks, ‘cause Thom Yorke confirmed the news at Dead Air Space this morning and you can pre-order your copy (digital download included) here.
Also, Sasha Frere-Jones interviewed Jonny Greenwood in the second installment of his “Dithering” series in The New Yorker. Greenwood’s opinions on MP3s, FLACs, and “thirty-something men who lurk in hi-fi shops” are predictably fascinating. Not only is he a fan of the compressed audio file format, but Greenwood even asserts that they have a “helpful crunchiness.” I’ve got a whole rant about audio quality, live music, and the Tascam 246 rarin’ to go, but I’ll save that sort of madness for the weekend. Check out the interview thataway.
Now let’s get back to Thom Yorke: according to Billboard (via The Daily Swarm), Yorke is planning a possible string of live dates for later this year and they are… drum roll… “potentially his first with a band other than Radiohead.” That’s cool, but if he replaces Jonny with Dave Navarro, I may have to only cover Thom Yorke news every other day.
Those are three names you never thought you’d see together, no? The former U.N. Secretary-General and X-Files star will be participating in a panel discussion followed by a performance by the Radiohead frontman at the U.S. premiere of The Age of Stupid, an eco docudrama, reports Paste. The whole event will be filmed live from New York.
The official website describes the film as “the new four-year epic from McLibel director Franny Armstrong. Oscar-nominated Pete Postlethwaite stars as a man living alone in the devastated world of 2055, looking at old footage from 2008 and asking: why didn’t we stop climate change when we had the chance?” The movie’s followed by the aforementioned panel with Annan and Anderson, among scientific and other political types with a couple other celebrities thrown in there too. Then Yorke’s acoustic rendition of the film’s title track.
Yorke seems to be on an ecological bent lately: first “The Hollow Earth,” then this movie. Hey, I’m not complaining, as long as I get to see Scully grill Annan on just what the U.N. knew about those alien lifeforms.
The Age of Stupid Live from New York hits 444 theatres nationwide on September 21. Check out Fathom Events for tickets in your area.
When a supergroup decides to play a surprise intimate show in LA, celebrities flock to the gig, and last night’s Thom Yorke, Flea, Nigel Godrich, Joey Waronker, and Mauro Refosco set at Echoplex was no different. Even though the ‘superaudience’ included Rick Rubin, Danger Mouse, Spike Jonze, Sonic Youth’s Kim Gordon, actress Ellen Page, Muse (Glenn Beck’s new favorite band), and many more, Yorke wasn’t going to let them talk over him while unveiling four new jams: “If you want to have a chat, go fuck off outside, alright?” he said, before starting the piano intro to new song “Open the Floodgates” and adding, “‘cause you won’t get back in.”
Thom Yorke’s surprise 
We’ve been going on and on about Thom Yorke’s upcoming 12”/digital release, so it would be a crime to not alert our readers at the very second an audio stream has become available online.
Every time I try to write a Radiohead news post today, another bit comes across my screen, so let’s drop some info in one fell swoop, shall we?
Those are three names you never thought you’d see together, no? The former U.N. Secretary-General and X-Files star will be participating in a panel discussion followed by a performance by the Radiohead frontman at the U.S. premiere of The Age of Stupid, an eco docudrama, reports 
