The Echoplex, Los Angeles
October 2, 2009
Tweet of the day: “Secured tix to the semi-secret Thom Yorke and friends show tonight. This is why I live in LA…they don’t do this shit in Kansas” (@brandonyano).
Thom Yorke and Flea
At 8:28pm Monday night, September 28, The Scenestar broke the news that Radiohead front man Thom Yorke had put together a new band and would be playing at The Orpheum in Los Angeles on October 4th and 5th. Actually, let me rephrase – Yorke broke the news on Dead Airspace (although many of us heard about it first from The Scenestar), stating: “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! 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!”
Thom Yorke singing a new song
Tickets for the October 4 and 5 shows went on sale Tuesday morning (September 29) at 10:00am and, as expected, sold out in minutes. Then, on Thursday morning (October 1), The LA Weekly posted a story surrounding a possible Thom Yorke and friends “secret show” at The Echoplex on Friday, October 2nd. Bloggers and fans speculated until Yorke posted another update on Dead Airspace late Thursday, confirming this additional, intimate show. Yorke’s post included a faulty link to purchase tickets, an announcement that tickets would go on sale at 8:15pm Thursday night, and the disclaimer, “I’ll believe it when I see it.” That post has since been edited, because Yorke’s suspicions proved true and tickets did not go on sale at 8:15pm Thursday night. (Yorke also included a working link to buy tickets in his revised post.)
The band with no name
Instead, tickets were sold via TicketWeb at noon on Friday. The gap between the initial announcement and the actual on-sale gave scalpers (who later attempted to sell tickets for as much as $3,500 on eBay) enough time to ready their troops. Unfortunately, it seems TicketWeb may not have had enough time to ready their servers. Just minutes after the clock struck 12, there were hundreds of Tweets complaining of TicketWeb crashes and claiming “TicketWeb Fail”. I know it’s frustrating, but to be fair, some major ticketing sites (including Ticketmaster and Live Nation) have been reported to crash during high-profile on-sales. Furthermore, in this case, we’re talking about one of the largest artists in the world, playing at a very small venue (approx. 700 capacity). If the system did indeed crash, it should come as little to no surprise. As it happened, I was stuck in the “processing” queue for 12 minutes before the “sold out” message appeared.
Kind of a rehearsal
For the lucky friends and fans of the band who got in, well. . . we were lucky. Prior to the show I heard several audience members discussing the “little miracles” that allowed them to be there. Indeed, it felt miraculous to be introduced to new material and the formation of a new band led by Yorke, in such close proximity to the stage. This show was billed as a “warm-up,” as Yorke put it, “kind of a rehearsal.”
Well, I always imagined Yorke held himself to extraordinarily high standards, but if that show was a rehearsal, then a “rehearsal” has made its way into my top concerts of all time.
The band is comprised of exceptional musical talents: Thom Yorke (of course), Joey Waronker, Nigel Godrich, Flea , and Mauro Refosco. To kick off the show, the as of yet unnamed band played Yorke’s solo album, Eraser, start to finish. Yorke also debuted some brand new songs, solo, during one of two encores. He then invited the band back to join in on the remaining three songs.
Yorke gives the bird to requests for "Freebird"
If you were fortunate enough to find a place toward the front of the venue (under the high ceiling), you were treated to great sound, enjoyed watching Yorke lose himself in dance (although, you likely couldn’t miss that, regardless of where you stood), and watched closely as Yorke masterfully created and replicated the magnificent sound he’s known for. The intimacy of the venue was further appreciated as Yorke joked, interacted with, and flipped off the audience.
Yorke didn’t flip off everyone, just the handful of people who were requesting “Freebird!” between songs. Surprised people still do that? Well, so was Yorke, “Shouldn’t you be calling out Stone Temple Pilots or something more current? Freebird is so 80′s!”
Thankfully, ignoring the audience (after showing them how he felt about the “Freebird” requests by giving them the bird), Yorke kicked in to more of his own songs. “That sounded great!” yelled a fan, following the next song.
“Thank you,” Yorke replied with a smile, “it’s my job.” Then, with another smile (bordering on a smirk), Yorke added, “sometimes I get paid for it.”
And therein lies another small miracle of this show, tickets were only $20 each. Thank you, Thom and the unnamed band. Seeing as that was the rehearsal, I think you’re ready for the shows on Sunday and Monday.
Videos from the show:
New Song “Skirting On The Surface”:
New Song “Open The Floodgates”:
Next time, dance like you mean it, Thom 
Since it was a special show, here’s the set list (via At Ease).
01 The Eraser
02 Analyse
03 The Clock
04 Black Swan
05 Skip Divided
06 Atoms for Peace
07 And It Rained All Night
08 Harrowdown Hill
09 Cymbal Rush
Encore one [Thom solo]:
10 Open the Floodgates
11 Lotus Flower
12 Skirting on the Surface
13 Judge, Jury, Executioner
Encore two [full band]:
14 Paperbag Writer
15 The Hollow Earth
16 Feeling Pulled Apart by Horses
35 Comments
October 3, 2009 at 10:52 am
THEY PLAYED PAPERBAG WRITER?!?!?!
Wow. I think I may weep.
October 3, 2009 at 12:19 pm
Thanks for posting all these high quality vids. I’m so jealous by the way.
October 3, 2009 at 1:06 pm
these are SEXY good.
great quality video and audio; already looking forward to the rips.
October 3, 2009 at 3:19 pm
Thank you so much, you made my day !
October 3, 2009 at 3:37 pm
I’m actually glad I woke up sick again today because if I had woken up healthy after missing this I would have killed myself
thank
you .
Thanks
October 3, 2009 at 5:47 pm
Thanks a lot
This was a great surprise for me.
Now gonna get some sleep, cause I’m exhausted from shaking my ass off…
Thanks
October 3, 2009 at 5:54 pm
[...] TwentyFourBit – Thom Yorke & Friends at Echoplex Rock Is A Girl’s Best Friend – Thom Yorke at The Echoplex: The Not-So-Secret Show [...]
October 3, 2009 at 7:53 pm
great pics and vids! i was lucky enough to get in there too…amazing show.
question, what did you use to record the videos? every time i try to record video at shows, the audio is way too distorted, but yours sounds so clear.
October 3, 2009 at 8:06 pm
[...] Republished with permission from: Rock Is A Girl’s Best Friend [...]
October 4, 2009 at 1:16 am
[...] Follow this link: Thom Yorke at The Echoplex: The Not-So-Secret Show « Rock Is A … [...]
October 4, 2009 at 5:32 am
Star for posting these. Awesome quality.
October 4, 2009 at 10:51 am
Good review and amazing videos. I can’t thank you enough.
October 4, 2009 at 12:14 pm
I’d like you to know we really appreciate your work… great quality! hope you’ve enjoyed the gig anyway
October 4, 2009 at 1:03 pm
Thank you! Yes, it would have been impossible not to enjoy that show! Happy to hear you like what you see – that makes it all worth it.
Going back again tonight and Monday, so get ready. . .
Thank you again (and all those who commented above).
October 4, 2009 at 5:39 pm
[...] Thom Yorke at The Echoplex: “Kind Of A Rehearsal” The Echoplex, Los Angeles October 2, 2009 Tweet of the day: “Secured tix to the semi-secret Thom Yorke and [...] [...]
October 5, 2009 at 3:03 am
[...] Archives Thom Yorke at The Echoplex: “Kind Of A Rehearsal” [...]
October 5, 2009 at 6:12 am
All your videos are amazing. THANK YOU.
October 5, 2009 at 10:40 am
[...] Review: Rockisagirlsbestfriend [...]
October 5, 2009 at 11:17 am
[...] the Thom Yorke band played a set nearly identical to their rehearsal show at The Echoplex on Friday. They began by playing The Eraser, start to finish, in sequence. The [...]
October 6, 2009 at 12:21 am
[...] Full video coverage and highlights can be could on rockisagirlsbestfriend.com [...]
October 6, 2009 at 1:42 am
brilliant videos, brilliant post…you rock!
October 6, 2009 at 6:43 am
[...] Yorke’s solo material, and a few new songs. Check out a couple clips above and below and go here to read more about it and see more videos. Not sure about the music, but Thom’s dance moves [...]
October 6, 2009 at 10:53 am
[...] to cover the final Thom Yorke show in order to give the real journalists time to catch up with the news and post more than a “quick take [...]
October 6, 2009 at 1:13 pm
[...] to cover the final Thom Yorke show in order to give the real journalists time to catch up with the news and post more than a “quick take [...]
October 6, 2009 at 6:48 pm
[...] great footage of Thom Yorke when he visited and performed. Apparently it was all the rage of the internet, this being his first unveiling of the as yet unnamed group. I didn’t realize it when I [...]
October 10, 2009 at 1:31 pm
[...] material a bit more depth and had more of a dance groove to it. It was an interesting concert and Rock Is A Girl’s Best Friend has a great blog post about it and several high quality youtube videos. Below is a sample of the differences between [...]
October 10, 2009 at 5:07 pm
Isn’t Thom so gorgeous! Best voice in the world!
October 14, 2009 at 9:59 pm
[...] distraction. So here are a few reasons I love Twitter: Nine Inch Nails last show ever, Thom Yorke “secret” show at The Echoplex, Imogen Heap TweetUp, David Gray last-minute show at Hotel Cafe, and Brett Dennen [...]
October 21, 2009 at 9:14 pm
[...] godrich. Here is the rundown of how the night progressed, plus a load of great youtube vids – Thom Yorke at The Echoplex: “Kind Of A Rehearsal” Rock Is A Girl's Best Friend YouTube – Thom Yorke "Cymbal Rush" Live at The Echoplex [...]
October 23, 2009 at 4:44 pm
[...] for much less money. Nine Inch Nails’ last show ever was only $65. Thom Yorke’s secret show at The Echoplex, with fewer than 700 people in attendance was a $20 [...]
October 23, 2009 at 7:48 pm
Incredible, i live so far, in Chile, is too far, but the taste is the same, good Thom
January 21, 2010 at 3:23 am
[...] the ability to surf and then ski all in the same day, and last-minute benefit concerts featuring Thom Yorke, Nigel Godrich, Gaz Coombes & Danny Goffey (Supergrass and The Hot Rats). Yes, Maroon 5 was [...]
January 26, 2010 at 3:51 am
Thank you Thank you Thank you!
February 15, 2010 at 8:43 pm
[...] a good write up of the actual show here. All’s I’m sayin’ is that it’ll be good to be graduated so I have more time [...]
April 15, 2010 at 11:51 pm
[...] and Mauro Refosco make up Atoms For Peace (formerly known as “??????” or “The Thom Yorke Band“). Before they had a name, the band debuted and played three rehearsal shows in Los [...]