Thom Yorke dedicates “The Bends” to Tony Blair at the Santa Barbara Bowl

Thom Yorke dedicated “The Bends” to Tony Blair at the Santa Barbara Bowl in California on Friday 29 June, three weeks after Blair's Labour government was re-elected. It was the first of two sold-out nights there, and it ran past two hours and three encores. For the third, only Yorke and Jonny and Colin Greenwood came back, to play “Motion Picture Soundtrack”.

The shows were two of the North American dates announced in May, the band's first full US tour in three years by Robert Hilburn's count. Reviewing that night for the Los Angeles Times, Hilburn saw Yorke, usually stone-faced on stage, grin as the band came back for the second encore and ask the crowd whether it really wanted more. To him the band were as keen to keep playing as the crowd was to hear them. He and Troy J. Augusto of Variety both set the night against the Greek Theatre in Los Angeles last October, where the band had seemed tentative to Hilburn and detached to Augusto.

Hilburn names Jonny Greenwood, on guitar and keyboards, the tour's most valuable player. The computer sounds mostly punctuate the guitars of Yorke, Ed O'Brien and above all Jonny.

The Friday set had a verse of “Follow Me Around”, a song never released, leading straight into “I Might Be Wrong”, and the B-side “Pearly*” straight after “Karma Police” in the first encore. Yorke brought in “Lucky” with this is a song about hanging out with your heroes².

Saturday was a different show, with two encores, not three. “Pearly*” came round again, and the second encore was Neil Young's “Cinnamon Girl” followed by “Fake Plastic Trees”. The first opened with Yorke alone playing “True Love Waits”, its first outing since Tel Aviv last July.

Setlists, Santa Barbara Bowl