July 19, 2009 13:08

Thom Yorke debuts new song at Latitude festival - video Radiohead Tickets

Radiohead man plays an early-afternoon solo set to massive crowd at the festival

Photo Gallery: Radiohead

Radiohead's Thom Yorke debuted a new song during his 12 noon Latitude festival show today (July 19).

Watch fan footage of the track, called 'The Present Tense', by scrolling down now.

Despite the fact Yorke was the first act on the Obelisk Arena (Latitude's main stage) today, a huge crowd turned out to see him run through a range of Radiohead and solo tracks.

Mid-way through the set, Yorke informed the crowd that the next song he would play was unreleased.

"This is a new song, so you know - go for a piss," he joked to the huge audience.

For the track, he sat down and played a simple fingerpicked melody on his acoustic guitar. Lyrically, the song seemed to be one of Yorke's most personal, with the frontman repeating "In You I'm Lost" toward its end.

Yorke was in comedic mood throughout his set.

"Shhhh! There's people sleeping! Have you got any jokes?!" he said as he came onstage. "Ah fuck," the frontman exclaimed at the start of first song 'The Eraser'.

After finishing the track, Yorke launched straight into a solo rendition of Radiohead track 'Weird Fishes/Arpeggi', garnering whoops of delight from the crowd.

Backed by a drum machine, he played the track's lilting melody on a harpsichord-sounding keyboard that was set up in the middle of the stage.

On 'Harrowdown Hill' (Yorke's David Kelly-referencing track) he initially played, recorded and then looped the song's bassline, before putting his instrument down and singing the song while at his keyboard. He ended the track by playing a guitar over the bass loop - the six-stringed instrument having been handed to him mid-song by a roadie.

"Ill be your bitch," the singer joked to the reserved crowd after the track.

He then played an impassioned rendition of rare Radiohead song 'Follow Me Around', saying: "That track's kind of been on the shelf for a while."

One of the best-recieved songs in Yorke's hour long set was Radiohead classic, 'Everything In Its Right Place', which Yorke played on a grand piano, accompanied by a simple beat.

"It'll be a miracle if this works," he said as he drummed out the looped beat to 'Black Swan' on the body of his acoustic guitar.

Despite his reservations, Yorke played a near-perfect rendition of the track, which is taken from his debut solo album 'The Eraser'.

Yorke initially left the stage after playing 'Videotape', though he returned after a short while for a two song encore.

"So, er, did anyone see Grace Jones?" he said upon returning to the stage, referring to last night's Latitude headliner, whose set saw her don several flamboyant outfits. "I want those costume changes," Yorke continued. "A g-string...you think that's a good idea?!"

Yorke then played an impassioned take of Radiohead's 2003 single 'There There', before finishing his set with another Radiohead rarity, 'True Love Waits'.

"This is another song that fell off the shelf once...and it's still there," he said before playing the track on guitar.

Referring to why he decided to play the unusually-timed slot at the festival, Yorke said: "I thought it was a nuts idea, which is why I did it!"

Blog - Highlights of Latitude 2009

Thom Yorke played:

'The Eraser'
'Weird Fishes/Arpeggi'
'Atoms For Peace'
'Harrowdown Hill'
'Follow Me Around'
'Everything In Its Right Place'
'The Present Tense'
'Cymbal Rush'
'Black Swan'
'Videotape'
'There There'
'True Love Waits'

Watch Thom Yorke playing 'The Present Tense' at Latitude below: