The Smile Makes US Debut In Providence: Recap, Photos & Setlist

The Smile, the new group consisting of Radiohead‘s Thom Yorke and Jonny Greenwood, with Tom Skinner, made their United States debut last night at Veterans Memorial Auditorium in Providence, Rhode Island with a rousing 18-song show. The trio sounded terrific after a summer across Europe touring together.

The evening started with Yorke at the piano for “Pana-Vision” as his voice echoed throughout Veterans Memorial Auditorium with Greenwood and Skinner slowly joining in. With little time to waste they moved right into “Thin Thing” and “The Opposite” with Greenwood really letting loose on his guitar for the first time of the night, which made the crowd go absolutely wild.

“It/Flangers” came next on the setlist followed by “Speech Bubbles.” An amazing thing to watch all night was how the trio constantly changed instruments, sometimes mid-song. Yorke constantly moved from bass to guitar to piano to synthesizer to acoustic guitar, while Greenwood went from all those as well but included a harp in his repertoire. Even Skinner got into the action by playing both drums and synthesizers during the course of the evening. Despite all of these changes by The Smile, the roadcrew effortlessly wheeled the various instruments to different parts of the stage or brought out new guitars like clockwork.

“Free in the Knowledge” gave us the first true jaw-dropping point of the night where you could have heard a pin drop as Yorke sang. The attention the audience gave during the show was some of the best concert-going witnessed since the pandemic. Everyone who was there came for the music, not to catch up or talk, and it was great to see. “A Hairdryer” was next and showed the full display of the simple but beautiful light show including some wild strobing effects.

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“Colours Fly” saw the opener Robert Stillman, who also played on the album, come out to help. Stillman’s 30-minute opening set was stunning as he looped his saxophone and synthesizers into a kaleidoscope of noise that you could easily get lost in. It was the perfect opening set for the show and got everyone’s ears and minds ready for the onslaught that was to come.

“We Don’t Know What Tomorrow Brings” was an all-out rocker that fans of Radiohead will go crazy for. While that band hasn’t written one like this in a bit, it’s great to see that it’s still in Yorke and Greenwood’s wheelhouse and that they can absolutely still go hard when they want to.

Yorke finally spoke to the audience after a rollicking “Skrting on the Surface” thanking the crowd for coming to see the new band. He also spoke about how the music was made through the pandemic and they were happy to be touring again. Mentioning that it was their first U.S. show got a big reaction from the crowd as did the fact that he said they had already written more music other than “our one little quick album because that’s what new bands do” and followed that with “Just Eyes and Mouth” that had Yorke dancing around the lip of the stage at the beginning.

“The Smoke” saw some of the best guitar playing Yorke has done live in some time. He was really attacking the solo as Skinner and Greenwood kept it steady underneath him. One thing that shouldn’t be lost is how Skinner holds his weight in The Smile. Most people coming to these shows are already Radiohead fans and will be focusing on Yorke and Greenwood, but they should also make sure to take notice of one of the best drummers in the United Kingdom right now.

The set closed with Robert Stillman coming back out to help on “You Will Never Work in Television Again.”

Coming back out to start the encore, Greenwood sat at the piano, but as the song started it wasn’t working, which led to a quick scramble by the crew while Yorke made jokes about this is what live music is, not a garage band. Greenwood wound up moving to Rhodes for “The Same,” which definitely gave the song a slightly different feel. Maybe they’ll use this configuration going forward. “Bending Hectic” was the last original played before the band closed the night by covering Yorke’s “Feeling Pulled Apart by Horses.”

It was a triumphant first night and the crowd let them know it as the song ended. This is surely a tour not to be missed.

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Setlist

Source: JamBase.com