Thom Yorke and Jonny Greenwood finish “Tell Me Why” at the Hollywood Bowl

Thom Yorke and Jonny Greenwood played Neil Young's “Tell Me Why” at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles on Monday night, five nights after the song fell apart on them in Auburn, Washington. At White River Amphitheatre on 20 August, Yorke forgot the words to “Faust Arp”, laughed, and slid into “Tell Me Why” instead. The two could not get through that either, and went back to play “Faust Arp” properly.

On Monday, the second of the band's two nights at the Bowl, the cover came in the same place, straight after the “Faust Arp” duet and before “No Surprises”, and this time they played it all the way through. It was not on the printed setlist. “Tell Me Why” opens After the Gold Rush, Young's 1970 album. Stereogum posted a YouTube video and an MP3 of it on Tuesday, and Uncut has the clip today.

Radiohead have covered Young before. “Cinnamon Girl” turned up on a handful of nights in 2001, in Paris, London, Yokohama and at the Santa Barbara Bowl, and “After the Gold Rush” was played at the band's Electric Lady Studios session in New York in June 2003. Its opening lines were worked into “Everything In Its Right Place” at several shows in 2003 and 2006.

The rest of the second Bowl night was long and not much like the first; LAist counted about ten changes from Sunday's set. Yorke's solo “Cymbal Rush”, from The Eraser, opened the second encore, and “Everything In Its Right Place” came in on a passage of “True Love Waits”.

Setlist, Hollywood Bowl, 25 August 2008