Palladium, Cologne, Germany2nd July 2019
Thom Yorke - “Anima” European Tour 2019 - Special guest: Andrea Belfi
THOM YORKE really needs no introduction. The singer, guitarist and songwriter of RADIOHEAD is already well known and loved all over the world due to the legacy of his band. But maybe that’s what makes his solo appearances such an exciting experience. His last live show in Germany in June 2018, for example, was a visually and sound-aesthetically impressive Electro concert at which Yorke sang and danced to the live mix of house producer Nigel Godrich, while the artist Tarik Barri created the fascinating visuals. Various YouTube recordings testify to this unpredictable and charismatic artist constellation. Which apparently both Yorke and his fans liked very much. Because THOM YORKE has brought Godrich and Barri with him for his current tour.
Andrea Belfi
ANDREA BELFI is a percussionist currently residing in Berlin. He has gained a reputation for his energetic and charismatic performances, both as a solo musician and within numerous collaborations, by combining his drumming with electronic samplings. www.andreabelfi.com / https://www.facebook.com/andreabelfimusic
Music & Performance
At 8pm, the lights went low, ANDREA BELFI walked on stage and positioned himself behind his huge drum set, and pressed a few buttons to initatiate a sequence of soothing electronic sounds, which slowly but surely started to interrupt the chatting concert visitors. After a while, these spherical sounds were complemented drumming patterns, which Andrea performed live and looped partially, ocassionaly altering them with effects, such as delays or distortion. This went on for a straight 30 minutes and unfolded a hypnotic effect on one part of the interested clientele. However, the other part of the audience headed outside the venue to get a beer and/or a smoke, as there was not much to look at.
Rating
Music: 3
Performance: 4
Sound: 4
Light: 3
Total: 3.5 / 10
Thom Yorke
The RADIOHEAD front man has released his third solo album, ‘Anima’, this year, so by now it must be common knowledge that his solo works have very little in common with RADIOHEAD’s early works, which were filed under Alternative Rock. On his latest record, similar to his previous solo albums, THOM YORKE is pushing the limits of any electronic genre to establish his own cosmos. https://www.wasteheadquarters.com / https://www.facebook.com/radiohead
Music & Performance
After the obligatory change-over, the stage setup revealed a giant curved projection wall with three desks with various computers and synthesizers on it. At 9pm, THOM YORKE and his two musicians walked unceremoniously on stage, and kicked off their set with ‘Interference’, a track from THOM YORKE’s sophomore album ‘Tomorrow’s Modern Boxes’ from 2014. And it proved indeed that the technically sophisticated projections of Tarik Barri unfolded a hypnotic impact, as they blended in perfectly with the music. The importance of these visuals could be felt actually, when the projection suffered technical glitches towards the end of the set, but fortunately the stage hands were able to bring it back to life for the encore. Thom Yorke seemed completely unfazed by these developments.
Similar to a kid in a candy store, he wandered back and forth between the different tables for each song, alternating between the different instruments, picking up a guitar for songs like ‘Black Swan’ or ‘Harrowdown Hill’, moving on to base guitar for ‘Not the News’, or focusing solely on his vocal duties, winding his body in sync to the beats behind the microphone. Around 2800 people witnessed THOM YORKE’s boundary-pushing reincarnation of avantgarde electronic music, and it was hard to tell how many actually felt thrilled by this collection of rumbling beats, all sorts of electronic static and distorted voices, as Thom kept interaction with the audience to the bare minimum. However, they can truly pride themselves in partaking in a two hour experimental journey together with one of the most prolific contemporary artists.
Setlist
01. Interference
02. Not the News
03. Impossible Knots
04. Black Swan
05. Harrowdown Hill
06. Pink Section
07. Nose Grows Some
08. Last I Heard (...He Was Circling the Drain) (Live debut)
09. The Clock
10. Dawn Chorus (Live debut)
11. Has Ended (Live debut)
12. A Brain in a Bottle
13. Amok (Atoms for Peace song)
14. Truth Ray
15. Traffic (Screen went out halfway through song)
16. Twist
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17. Suspirium
18. Runwayaway (Live debut; screen was fixed)
19. The Axe
20. Atoms for Peace
21. Default (Atoms for Peace song)
Rating
Music: 6
Performance: 8
Sound: 8
Light: 10
Total: 8 / 10
All Pictures by André Wilms
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