Radiohead may be resting dormant since last touring in 2018, but that doesn’t mean frontman Thom Yorke has slowed down his prolific creative output one bit. Since then, he’s released one solo album, two film soundtracks, and three solo LPs with The Smile, his band with Radiohead multi-instrumentalist Jonny Greenwood and drummer Tom Skinner. Yorke fans, it’s fair to say, have been well-fed.
Still, the spectre of the Oxford five-piece looms large over tonight’s outdoor concert, the first of two sold-out Sydney shows held to satiate local Radiohead fans who haven’t seen an album from the band in eight years, or an Australian tour since 2012.
Credit: Daniel Boud
It’s not a controversial statement to say Yorke’s non-Radiohead work is not as widely beloved as his main gig, and the audience tonight, for better or worse, backs that up. Each Radiohead song that’s played – they make up just under half the setlist – is met with a hushed reverence, while loud chatter is heard every time something else gets an airing.
It’s incredibly disrespectful to Yorke and to concertgoers who are actually there to listen, but a clear-headed analysis of the music, free of expectation or viewing through rose-coloured glasses, makes one thing apparent: Radiohead’s music sounds like it’s written to bring people in, while Yorke’s electronic-leaning solo work, which is not without merit, is prone to keep the listener at an icy distance.
Credit: Daniel Boud
The Radiohead-only fans in attendance are – undeservedly for some – rewarded with some sublime moments. An acoustic version of 1995’s yearning “Fake Plastic Trees” tugs hard at the heartstrings; a piano-led “Pyramid Song” is a quiet epic, even minus the sweeping strings; and “Reckoner”, from 2008’s In Rainbows, is a showcase for Yorke’s stunning falsetto.
Some of Yorke’s solo work is delivered in a similarly stripped-back fashion – opener “The Eraser” works surprisingly well as a piano ballad – but most are delivered with the full-force glitchy beats of the recorded versions (“Last I Heard (…He Was Circling the Drain)”, “Hearing Damage”, “The Clock”). They add some BPM to what is an otherwise mid-tempo show, but they do become a slog; more fun to play than to listen to, judging by Yorke’s enthusiasm and the largely ambivalent crowd.
Billed as ‘Thom Yorke: Everything’, this tour is a generous offering to fans – examining past setlists, there’s a decent amount of variety each night – but tonight’s patchy selection of songs doesn’t quite gel into a cohesive, satisfying whole, even with Yorke’s unmistakable, reaching-for-the-heavens voice tying it all together.
As a parting gift to the faithful, though, two Radiohead stunners close out the night, lifting soaked spirits after a sudden downpour of rain: In Rainbow’s “All I Need” and Kid A’s “How to Disappear Completely”, both reminders that Radiohead fans, as rude as their concert etiquette may be, are wholly justified in their selective reverence.
