Thom announced on a newly redesigned Dead Air Space that he will be performing at a Green Party benefit concert in support of Tony Juniper. Juniper is campaigning to become a member of parliament and also accompanied Yorke when he crashed the UN climate change conference in December.
Thom writes:
Hey-
I’m doing a low key solo thing at the Cambridge Corn Exchange on the 25th of Feb.
It’s because a friend of mine Tony Juniper (who used to be head of Friends of the Earth and who i went to the Copenhagen Summit with) is hoping to become one of the first Green Members of Parliament in the UK.
And i wanted to help him out somehow.
I think he’d be a great MP as he knows a lot about dealing with the murky brown waters of politics when it comes to the environment, but has a positive energy with a healthy contempt for the way they operate. And wouldn’t it be nice to have someone there who is actually doing more than paying lip service to climate change? And maybe rip shit up a little?
Now normally i wouldn’t get involved in politics like this… but lets face it.. it aint labour or the tories is it?!? so..
and anyway he bought me a pint and twisted my arm. it’s a slippery slope i know.
what else do i have to say? oh yes the proceeds from said event go to the Green Party of which Tony is a member.
and support will be offered by local person Pete Um.
tickets will go on sale from the waste shop tommoro at midday.
now remember it s a local gig for local people………….. err like me.
Bryan helped transform a house in the Hollywood Hills into a recording studio and spent the last three weeks there recording Radiohead with Nigel Godrich. On Saturday, we waded through a driveway full of Priuses and Minis to get to the wrap party. I was giddy seeing Beck, Selma Hayek and Danger Mouse chatting around the same pool where Dean Martin and the Rat Pack used to hang out. I marveled at the hair on one rock star that resembled one of those fuzzy boom mic covers. How exactly did he describe what he wanted to his hairdresser? I guess it was just proof rock stars can get away with stuff regular folks can’t. Thom Yorke periodically toyed with the iPhone that controlled the speakers. Usually he skipped forward to a Rolling Stones song. The band wanted to record in L.A. to get away from the dismal English winter. Nigel said they were probably lolling about too much in the sunshine when they first arrived. When it started pouring down, they realized someone up there was telling them to get on with it. If their last album was “In Rainbows,” I guess they could call this one “In Rainstorms.”
Bryan is most likely Bryan Cook, a music mixing engineer from LA. He updated his twitter with this little nugget:
is enjoying the afterglow of a career highlight: 3 weeks of recording Radiohead with producer Nigel Godrich!
You can purchase one of these sweet Radiohead for Haiti concert posters at La La Land Posters. They are $75 a piece, with ALL proceeds going to Haiti via OXFAM.
Around the 13:20 mark of his latest podcast, Peter Gabriel reveals that Radiohead will be covering his 1982 song “Wallflower” as part of a song exchange for his forthcoming covers album. He, in return, will be covering “Street Spirit.”
“Thom… want to do a version of ‘Wallflower, which I’m very curious to hear. I think it was an important track for him when he was 14,” Gabriel explained. “So, that will be a treat also for next year.”
Released on the Gabriel’s 1982 self-titled fourth studio album, “Wallflower” was inspired by Human Rights issues in South America, namely torture in Chile. Gabriel didn’t give any indication when or where Radiohead’s cover will be available, but did use the podcast to offer a brief version of his own rendition of “Street Spirit”. (The podcast is posted below; that part is toward the end).
In case you haven’t heard or seen it, here’s a video of Thom performing the new song, “Lotus Flower,” last night at the Radiohead for Haiti benefit show in Los Angeles.
Radiohead performed tonight at Music Box at the Fonda in Los Angeles to benefit the Haiti earthquake which left the country devastated. Since tickets were auctioned off, the hope is that a lot of money was raised for the cause. Current reports are that around $572,000 was raised, with $2,000 being the highest ticket bid. About 1,300 people were in attendance, many of them celebrities as you would expect.
The show just wrapped up, and here’s the setlist, courtesy of Muzjiks:
1. Faust Arp
2. Fake Plastic Trees
3. Weird Fishes/Arpeggi
4. The National Anthem
5. Nude
6. Karma Police + reprise
7. Kid A
8. Morning Bell
9. How to Disappear Completely [ondes martenot intro]
10. Wolf at the Door [Thom forgetting the words]
11. The Bends
12. Reckoner [w/ false start]
13. Lucky
14. Bodysnatchers
15. Dollars & Cents
16. Airbag [fan choice between 'Airbag' and 'Just']
17. Exit Music [Thom alone to start]
Encore #1
18. Everything In Its Right Place [Thom solo on piano]
19. You and Whose Army? [rest of band returns to stage]
20. Pyramid Song
21. All I Need
[crowd is stomping]
Encore #2
22. Lotus Flower
23. Paranoid Android
24. Street Spirit (Fade Out)
Did you go to the show? If so, let us know your experience in the comments and gigography! We’re definitely curious about the new song that was played with the full band, “Lotus Flower.” This song was first played during Thom’s Eraser band show in LA last October. Okay, it’s been told to us that Thom performed “Lotus Flower” alone and not with the full band.
Thom is reportedly DJing the small afterparty. How fancy.
Oh, and where can we get one of these badass gig posters like the one above?
We’re doing a show this Sunday (24th January) to raise funds for the relief effort in Haiti. The venue is The Music Box Theatre at The Fonda in Los Angeles, doors at 7pm. All proceeds are going to the Oxfam Haiti relief fund. We’re trying to raise as much money as possible, so tickets will be sold by auction at this site from 8pm tonight until 11am Saturday (PST):
According to LA Weekly, “most” of the members of Radiohead, as well as producer Nigel Godrich, were spotted at the Hot Rats show at Spaceland on Tuesday night.
This helps validate the rumor that they are in LA recording.
If you’ve spotted the band recently, sound off in our comments section!
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