There have been few times in the long history of popular music when a band with no name has generated as much anticipation and excitement as Thom Yorke‘s new supergroup has in the last week. The band performed two very exclusive shows at the Orpheum Theatre in downtown Los Angeles on Sunday and Monday night. The shows were announced at midnight a week ago Monday, went on sale at 10 a.m. that morning, and were sold out in about 15 minutes. Such is the draw of Thom Yorke and Radiohead.
The singer said his new band, comprised of Red Hot Chili Peppers bassist Flea, drummer Joey Waronker, percussionist Mauro Refosco, and Radiohead producer extraordinaire Nigel Godrich, had only rehearsed for three weeks, but you would never know it by the way they transformed Yorke’s twitchy 2006 solo album, The Eraser, into a syncopated, rhythm-filled dance party. The band played the album front to back, with Flea dropping slap bass bombs all over tracks like “Harrowdown Hill” and “Cymbal Rush”, while Refosco’s Brazilian percussion bits like a berimbau transformed the groove on “The Clock” into some kind of acoustic dubstep mashup. After a quick break, Yorke returned to play some new tracks solo on the piano, before the entire band followed to play his new 12″ “FeelingPulledApartbyHorses”, as well as the b-side “The Hollow Earth” and Radiohead b-side “Paperbag Writer”.
I walked out of the packed show sandwiched between Josh Groban and Leonardo DiCaprio of all people. A bizarre ending to a very surreal night.
More pics and video after the jump…
Scott Meleskie says: 
