Live Review: Thom Yorke @ The Roundhouse, 8th June

A captivating 90-minute trip through Yorke's solo discography.

Arguably, Thom Yorke's most famous tracks are 'Creep' and 'Karma Police', yet their omission at Friday's performance created no reaction from the audience. Yorke still managing to beguile and captivate his audience without pulling out the 'hits', for what was a kaleidoscopic and beat-thumping show, ranging from quiet piano performances to vocal looping and left-field techno sounds, to guitar funk-outs. Thom Yorke’s solo career has always played second fiddle to his seminal band Radiohead, fitting in and around the group's recording and touring commitments, and so has been somewhat sporadic, with Yorke popping up for collaboration albums, full-length solo releases and also making appearances as a DJ. Tonight at the Roundhouse, the crowd erupts into cheers as they spot Yorke making his way through the backstage towards the stage. Beginning at the piano for the set opener and warm-up track 'Interference' taken from 2014's Tomorrow's Modern Boxes. Yorke continues his evening hopping around the stage back and forth to the many pieces of equipment used on each track, such as modular synths, guitars and loop pedals in front of a swirling psychedelic techno digital background, the atmosphere is that of a rainbow tent from a 90's illegal rave. In what spun out to be a near two-hour performance with two encores, Yorke finally ends the evening with Spectre (an unused track Radiohead wrote for the Bond film) and a shout out to his Radiohead bandmates who were here this evening, as his voice soars around the room climbing and falling during the rendition. "Hope that was ok guys," he offers as he makes his way backstage, the audience erupts for a final wave of adoring cheers as he saunters off, the silhouette of his yogi attired physique and ponytailed profile ducks out behind the screen. Photo Credit: Press.