Thom Yorke takes audiences on a transcendent tour of his ...

Words by Tammy Walters

An eclectic bunch of excited patrons filtered into the open space of Sidney Myer Music Bowl last night, Tuesday 29 October to witness an exhibition of musical excellence expelled from diverse, multi-instrumental music-magician Thom Yorke.

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The sea of people were a representation of Yorke’s vast and varied catalogue – the Gen X audience that were originally exposed to the frontman through Radiohead’s early alternative, riff-driven records, the experimental crowd of creatives who were lured in by the electronic exploration of Thom Yorke’s solo search and side project Atoms For Peace, the academic older audience who have an appreciation for Yorke’s soundtrack and cinematographic contributions and the new listens who have been taken over by The Smile’s sonic serving. Tonight everyone in the crowd shared a common thread in knowing the talent that was about to teleport us into another dimension, higher than his famous falsetto could reach.

With no support act and the smooth serenading of experimental orchestrations and jazz blends sinking us into the setting, Thom Yorke’s entrance was humble and unfussed – fitting for the Oxford frontman’s conservative ‘celebrity’ life. Throughout the tour, in Radiohead fashion, the setlist has shifted and evolved each night with audiences never knowing what to expect. Tonight was no different as he jumped into the restless key chord progression of 2006’s ‘The Eraser’. As a solo show, the stage setup consisted of synths, mixers, keys and microphones set up in two semi circles, with Yorke bouncing between equipment as the set ebbed and flowed between intimate acoustic arrangements and animated electronic elevations. Blocked screens backlit Yorke with vibrant kaleidoscopic projections, engulfing the singer songwriter in an immersive installation of colour.

Following ‘The Eraser’, Yorke stood front and centre with an acoustic guitar, deep reds and blue embers clouding on the screens for a stripped back, raw and emotionally-encompassing version of Radiohead’s ‘Let Down’. This was a consistent continuation of delivery for the emotion-evoking ‘Fake Plastic Trees’, ‘Present Tense’ and ‘Reckoner’ later on the in set, alas with electrics for the latter two.

Yorke weaved a tapestry of texture in his instrumentation throughout the night, diving from erratic synth driven numbers like ‘Last I Heard (…He Was Circling the Drain)’ from 2019 visual album ANIMA, to ‘Packt Like Sardines In A Crushd Tin Box’, and ‘Hearing Damage’ to the softer palettes of ‘Bloom’, ‘Suspirium’ and ‘Pyramid Song’. It allowed for Yorke to showcase his unparalleled range not only vocally but within his musicality. A break in the tense meets loose transitions came with  ‘Truth Ray’, which was restarted hilariously as Yorke called out an audience member for leaving their seat with an incredibly English “Where the fuck are you going? Are you busy?”.

Whilst like a concert hall performance for the most part as audiences sat in awe of the entertainer, a special moment of euphoric dance breaks occurred during the final trifecta of main set songs. Yorke called out a security guards cross-armed stance delivered to a punter wanting to dance in their seat, encouraging everyone to get up. It was in moments like this that the notoriously shy frontman revealed his wit, genuinely seeming to be enjoying himself upon the stage.

‘Cymbal Rush’ closed out the main set, with Thom Yorke returning for three Radiohead anthems, starting with set highlight ‘All I Need’ which captured the fullness of the original song structure, ‘Everything in Its Right Place’ and a glorious send off with ‘Lucky’, preceded by a dedication to “My band, and my other band”.

Whilst the set didn’t see appearances of any music from his projects Atoms for Peace or his current collaboration with Johnny Greenwood and Tom Skinner, The Smile, having just released their third studio album Cutouts, Thom Yorke delivered on his tour title promise, pooling everything into one performance. After witnessing it all unfold live, there is no denying Thom Yorke’s brilliance as a songcrafter, nor is there any denying his once-in-a-lifetime ability as a sophisticated and talented performer.