Thom Yorke to play solo at Neil Young's Bridge School Benefit

Thom Yorke will play on his own at Neil Young's Bridge School Benefit, two acoustic concerts at the Shoreline Amphitheatre in Mountain View, outside San Francisco, on 26 and 27 October. NME expects him to use them to try out songs meant for Radiohead's sixth album, which the band have just spent two weeks recording in the US with Nigel Godrich.

Young and his wife Pegi founded the Bridge School for children with severe speech and physical disabilities, and this 16th annual benefit raises money for it. Young heads the bill with Foo Fighters, Ryan Adams, James Taylor, Vanessa Carlton, Jack Johnson, Tenacious D and the Other Ones, the surviving members of the Grateful Dead.

Radiohead have covered Young's “Cinnamon Girl” on stage. For Yorke, Billboard notes, these will be the first solo shows of his career, leaving aside a set at the 1998 Tibetan Freedom Concert in Washington and a handful of one-offs with his bandmates.