7 Things We Learnt At Thom Yorke’s First Australian Concert

Thom Yorke is in Australia for his first-ever solo tour, bringing Radiohead classics, The Smile and Atoms For Peace tunes and solo numbers to the spotlight for his devoted fans.

It’s been twelve long years since Radiohead touched down on our shores, so to have one member of the band down under playing such unique shows is quite the experience. It also turns out that despite what we thought we knew about Yorke, we learned even more after witnessing just one show on his Everything Australian tour. Here are seven of them:

1. THOM WOULD LIKE YOUR FULL ATTENTION

“Where the fuck are you going!?” Thom Fucking Yorke asks a weak-bladdered punter who is obviously heading to the toilet. Or trying to. The collective heart-in-mouth, thank-god-that’s-not-me feeling is palpable. But this is Radiohead's big dog, the man does give a fuck, he’d like your ears please. Yorke sneers incredulously: “I’ll start that again then.”

We the crowd (now minus one) are the beneficiaries as everyone leans in to the cold electronic thud of the Tomorrow’s Modern Boxes song Truth Ray. His quality control remains as high as his peripheral vision; Truth Ray is all widescreen atmospherics and open heart surgery. I’m reminded of the tense sporting contest description: “You’ll pay for a whole seat but only need the edge.”

2. THE THOM THOM CLUB IS A VIBE

At first, I was a little concerned that Yorke would have to do all the heavy lifting to present a compelling 90-minute show. Instead of his bookish Radiohead mates, he had an array of synths, plug-ins, keyboards, etc, which I dubbed his Aphex Twinks, his Bjork-horses, and his Manual Autechres.

Yorke also had a small team of sweating sound techs working behind the scenes to make sure everything triggered sounded tip-top. There were a few bung notes and wayward guitar moments, minor quibbles when you’re watching someone execute a performance like spinning plates.

Speaking of oblique Radiohead references, he treated us to a few songs he rarely does, including Lucky and Pyramid Song. The Eraser and Let Down got an early airing, then Packt Like Sardines in a Crushd Tin Box caused the first singalong: “I’m a reasonable man, get off my case.”

3. NAARM/MELBOURNE IS THE ANXIETY CAPITAL OF AUSTRALIA…AND SOMETIMES THAT’S OK

Now, hear me out. I have never, ever seen a more on-edge crowd before our art-rock hero sauntered onto the stage. Is it all the coffee we hoover up? Is it the fact we are the world champions at saving lives, having gone through the longest lockdowns in the world? Or is it because Radiohead last toured here when the iPhone 5 was released? A combination of all three meant that in the seated section, barely anyone moved or bought drinks. Instead, we clapped, we sang, we cried, we phwoarrrred.

4. THOM NEVER PHONES IT IN

I’ve been lucky enough to see Radiohead thrice (ouch, I can feel your daggers): Festival Hall on the OK Computer tour, perched up a tree (me, not the Yorkeshire Pudding) at Fuji Rock Festival and Rod Laver Arena in 2012. He was on fire at all three of those shows and looked just as engaged tonight.

The music flows through him, and I think of Nick Cave, Florence + The Machine and Karl Hyde (Underworld). Just like the aforementioned Cave, Yorke is challenging himself to see if he can pull off the magic act without a band behind him on this Everything tour with an expensive visual show. Huge LED screens pixelate his face in blues and red, darting into topographical Tron aesthetics and then blurring into smudgy greys and greens. It’s wonderfully overwhelming.

5. RADIOHEAD FANS ARE EMOTIONAL VOLCANOES JUST BUBBLING AWAY

Someone trills a wolf whistle after the first verse of Let Down, which allows for an applause break. In Fake Plastic Trees, three people “woohooo” at the same time during the high point of the chorus, just as his face morphs into Edvard Munch’s The Scream. Even Simon Winkler, Triple R’s thoughtful and usually reserved Music Co-Ordinator, starts shadow-boxing midway through Everything In Its Right Place. “I love you!” chirps a woman before Black Swan. “I love you too, but I’m a bit busy right now,” he flirts back.

6. LOOKS LIKE A WHARFIE, DANCES LIKE A PILLED-UP SAMURAI

Nobody does snake hips and a Cheshire Cat grin like our man from Oxford. He gives the crowd a little come-hither hand gesture that makes me type “gooch tickle” into my notes. “Are we allowed to stand up and dance?” he asks late in the concert, and immediately, the seated section sheds its caffeinated cool and starts bopping.

7. THOM YORKE IS OUR GENERATION’S BOB DYLAN

Less of a curmudgeon, sure, but Yorke is just as much of a zeitgeisty truth-teller, willing to kick against the pricks, always political in a subversive way. Remember, he was brave enough to call a song Subterranean Homesick Alien and backed it up with a suite of game-changing albums from Radiohead, Atoms For Peace, solo records, and the recent tear he’s been on with The Smile.

I read that while writing the song Lucky, he had a whole page of anti-Blair lyrics, then did a hard edit to just this: “The head of state has called for me, by name/ But I don't have time for him.” Tonight, he finishes with Lucky, sending us out into the night feeling motivated, liberated and a little bit groovy.

Thom Yorke’s Everything tour continues in Sydney on Friday, 1 and Saturday, 2 November.