Thom Yorke's Atoms for Peace

Thom Yorke's newly named solo band Atoms for Peace consisting of Radiohead producer Nigel Godrich, Beck/R.E.M. drummer Joey Waronker, percussionist/multi-instrumentalist Mauro Refosco, and Flea will be hitting the road for a string of shows in April. The band will also be playing the Coachella Festival.

Atoms for Peace:

04-05 New York, NY - Roseland Ballroom *
04-06 New York, NY - Roseland Ballroom *
04-08 Boston, MA - Citi Wang Theatre *
04-10 Chicago, IL - Aragon Ballroom *
04-11 Chicago, IL - Aragon Ballroom *
04-14 Oakland, CA - Fox Theatre *
04-15 Oakland, CA - Fox Theatre *
04-17 Santa Barbara, CA - Santa Barbara Bowl
04-18 Indio, CA - Coachella

* with Flying Lotus

Thom Yorke's New Band

Radiohead's Thom Yorke has enrolled a new band to perform his solo material. The band (pictured above) consists of himself, Radiohead producer Nigel Godrich, Beck/R.E.M. drummer Joey Waronker, percussionist/multi-instrumentalist Mauro Refosco, and Flea of the Red Hot Chili Peppers on bass. Two shows have been scheduled for October 4 and 5 at the Orpheum Theatre in Los Angeles. Yorke is quoted saying ""the set will not be very long cuz ..well ...we haven't got that much material yet!" It will be interesting to see how Flea's slap bass, funk styling will mesh with Yorke's psychadelic crooning. Perhaps the eccentric bass player will hold back a bit and mostly stay in the pocket.

The Grammys 2009

Although I didn't watch the majority of the Grammys for obvious reasons, I did tune in and out in an attempt to catch Radiohead play. I caught a few performances including "The Rap Pack" which featured M.I.A. who looked like she was absolutely ready to burst at any given second. I truly believe she agreed to perform on her due date because if she did go into labour on live television, the rest of the Grammys wouldn't have mattered. Every headline on every website, newspaper and blog today would have been about M.I.A. Luckily for all of us she made it through the performance. Unlucky for her, the performance, like 99% of all live hip-hop performances stunk. Having Lil' Wayne, Kanye West, Jay-Z, and T.I. on stage at once as hip hop's answer to Dean Martin's "Rat Pack" could not have been a worse idea. 4 of hip hop's biggest egos on stage at one time? Who in their right mind thought that would be a good idea. I'm sure Kanye hated sharing the stage. Each rapper seemed to be trying to 1 up the next, and it was really just shameful.
The next performance I saw was Sir Paul McCartney featuring Dave Grohel on drums. McCartney played "I Saw Her Standing There" and his voice sounded the worst I have ever heard it sound. It was probably just an off night for the living legend, and every performer is entitled to one. Dave Grohel really added nothing out of the ordinary on drums, but it did appear as though he was having a great time. It was an average performance at best.
Radiohead was the last performance I saw. They brought out the USC Marching Band to add percussion and horns to the incredible "15 Step". The extra drums really helped the already prominent drumline to shine, and Yorke really looked like a rock star out there in his leather coat. It was a fantastic performance of a fantastic song. So much so that I am going to post it here for everyone to watch, just in cased you missed it.

Radiohead To Play At The Grammys

This year, Radiohead will share the stage with such acts as Paul McCartney, Jay-Z and Kanye West. This will be Radiohead's first Grammy performance, and 3rd nomination for Album of the Year.