Thom Yorke dodges ‘exploding manholes’ to kick off Atoms For Peace dates in New York

'Everything Thom does sounds beautiful' bassist Flea tells NME.COM

Radiohead frontman Thom Yorke‘s new band Atoms For Peace kicked off their first tour with two shows at New York‘s Roseland Ballroom on Tuesday (April 5) and last night.

The band, featuring Red Hot Chili PeppersFlea on bass, producer Nigel Godrich on keyboards and guitar, Joey Waronker on drums and percussionist Mauro Refosco, performed Yorke‘s 2006 solo album ‘The Eraser’ in full at the Tuesday show.

Yorke also treated the crowd to a brief solo set featuring the live debut of a ballad with the working title ‘A Walk Down The Staircase’. Performing the song with just a guitar, Yorke explained that it was still a work in progress before joking that he didn’t even know the lyrics for it.

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A piano version of ‘Everything In Its Right Place’ drew the biggest cheer of the evening but it wasn’t the only Radiohead song performed. The band played an encore which featured a version of ‘There, There’ B-side ‘Paperbag Writer’.

The show was attended by a number of New York‘s most famous musicians including R.E.M‘s Michael Stipe, David Byrne, Antony Hegarty and Nick Valensi of The Strokes.

Despite the rapturous reception, bassist Flea explained to NME.COM after the show that he was not as happy as the crowd were.

“I made so many mistakes tonight,” he said. “It’ll be better tomorrow night. It was the same when we played those shows in LA [in October 2009]. The first show was full of mistakes but it got better for the second and third. It’s OK though because Thom is such a natural musician. Everything he does sounds beautiful.”

Last night’s (April 6) New York show was delayed by half-an-hour due to several buildings near the venue being evacuated because of nearby exploding manholes, reports fan site Ateaseweb.com.

As well as playing ‘The Eraser’ album at the gig Yorke played ‘All For The Best’, ‘Fog’ (another Radiohead B-side), ‘Everything In Its Right Place’, ‘Judge, Jury And Executioner’, ‘The Hollow Earth’ and ‘Feeling Pulled Apart By Horses’.

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Atoms For Peace played (Tuesday April 5):

‘The Eraser’
‘Analyze’
‘The Clock’
‘Black Swan’
‘Skip Divided’
‘Atoms For Peace’
‘And It Rained All Night’
‘Harrowdown Hill’
‘A Walk Down The Staircase’
‘The Daily Mail’
‘Everything In Its Right Place’
‘Judge, Jury And Executioner’
‘The Hollow Earth’
‘Feeling Pulled Apart By Horses’

Atoms For Peace played (Wednesday April 6):

‘The Eraser’
‘Analyze’
‘The Clock’
‘Black Swan’
‘Skip Divided’
‘Atoms For Peace’
‘And It Rained All Night’
‘Harrowdown Hill’
‘A Walk Down The Staircase’
‘The Daily Mail’
‘All For The Best’
‘Fog’
‘Everything In Its Right Place’
‘Judge, Jury And Executioner’
‘The Hollow Earth’
‘Feeling Pulled Apart By Horses’

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