Last Thursday, Thom Yorke’s supergroup Atoms for Peace performed at the sold out Citi Performing Arts Center (better known as the Wang Theatre) in Boston. Before I recount the highlights of this amazing show, a little background information about the band is in order.
Yorke formed the band during the latter part of 2009, and the group played their first show on October 2, 2009 at the Echoplex in Los Angeles. Members include bassist Flea of Red Hot Chili Peppers fame, R.E.M. drummer Joey Waronker, Mauro Refosco on various other percussion instruments and Radiohead producer Nigel Godrich on guitar, keyboards and backing vocals. Yorke leads the way on vocals, piano and guitar.
The group is currently on a mini-tour of the U.S.; they played two shows in New York City early last week, and over the weekend they had two concerts at Chicago’s Aragon Ballroom. They will play two more shows in San Francisco and one at the Santa Barbara Bowl before finishing up their tour at the Coachella Music Festival on April 18.
While this tour is definitely a short one, I believe it may be because Yorke and Godrich are also currently working with the rest of the Radiohead crew on a new album.
According to a December 2009 post from Ed O’Brien on Radiohead’s website, “The vibe in the camp is fantastic at present, and we head off into the studio in January to continue on from the work we started last Summer…I am so genuinely excited about what we’re doing, but for obvious reasons I can’t divulge anything more…anyway we all love surprises don’t we?”
Yes, we do love surprises, and there’s little doubt that Radiohead’s next album will be a very pleasant one. For now though, we have another gem in Atoms for Peace.
The show couldn’t have happened at a more ornate venue. Every time I’ve been to the Wang Theatre – be it the Nutcracker, Monty Python’s Spamalot or Atoms for Peace – I’ve been amazed by the sheer majesty of the theater. Gold-adorned walls and marble statues surround the audience, and the ceiling is filled with Renaissance-style paintings of natural scenery and naked women playing various musical instruments. It seemed as if it was a mere ten minutes before Atoms for Peace took the stage, mainly because I was so preoccupied with admiring the exquisite details of the theatre.
However, when the lights dimmed and the band did appear, the whole atmosphere of the venue changed. No longer was it a place that seemed more appropriate for a dramatic presentation or an orchestral performance; the roar of the enthusiastic crowd immediately signaled a departure from the decorum evoked by the theatre’s ornate appearance.
The show’s lighting included long beams hung above the stage akin to the ones Radiohead used on their 2008 tour. Unlike Radiohead’s long, straight lights, however, these ones were in bent shapes that resembled hexane chains (for all you organic chemists out there). They presumably were environmentally friendly, as Yorke is known for his promotion of environmentally-conscious practices.
For the first half of the show, the band played the entirety of Thom Yorke’s 2006 solo album The Eraser; however, unlike the recorded version, the live performances featured enhanced bass lines and more creative instrumental approaches to the quirky synthetic beats. Flea singlehandedly gave some of these songs new life, especially on “Harrowdown Hill,” where he showcased his amazing, bass-slapping skills. Mauro Refosco also infused new, jungle-like energy into some of the songs with his various percussion arrangements.
The second half included a random selection of musical goodies, both old and new. These included two pieces performed solo by Yorke, the first of which was a poignant new song called “Present Tense” and the second was a piano version of the Radiohead track “Like Spinning Plates.”
After these songs, Thom gave a little soapbox speech about the present state of the U.S. and U.K. political systems. He specifically mentioned his disdain for special interest groups, and said, “you could put anyone in the White House and it wouldn’t matter how good their intentions were; they’d still come up against this huge f—ing monster of lobby groups and all the interest groups and oil companies and all that s—.”
While these comments were not expected, they certainly did elicit passionate cheers from the Boston crowd.
The rest of the set list was made up of new songs that Yorke has been working on recently. One song, titled “Judge, Jury, Executioner,” was particularly invigorating and alluded to the parenthetical title that accompanies the song “Myxomatosis” from Radiohead’s 2003 album Hail to the Thief.
Overall, I found the show to be absolutely incredible. Each of the band’s members gave outstanding musical performances, and there’s no doubting Yorke’s lyrical mastery and Flea’s awesome prowess on bass. Hopefully, this first tour will not also be the last for Atoms for Peace.
If they record an album comprised of the new songs they played on Thursday, they will presumably return to cities like Boston for more memorable performances in front of capacity crowds.
