Thom Yorke's new band play The Eraser at LA's Orpheum

Thom Yorke's new band played two nights at the Orpheum Theatre in downtown Los Angeles on Sunday 4 and Monday 5 October, and on both the band played The Eraser, his 2006 solo album, in its running order. The Orpheum is a 1920s movie palace that holds about 2,000. Each set ran to nearly 80 minutes, and the Los Angeles duo Lucky Dragons were billed in support.

Flea of the Red Hot Chili Peppers played bass and Nigel Godrich guitar and keyboards. Joey Waronker, who has drummed for Beck and R.E.M., was on drums, and Mauro Refosco, a regular with David Byrne, on percussion. They had rehearsed for about three weeks.

Yorke announced the shows on Dead Air Space on 29 September. we don't really have a name and the set will not be very long cuz ..well ...we haven't got that much material yet!⁵ The post's title was six question marks, and so was the Orpheum's marquee. The news release for the shows, sent out the next morning, told fans that Radiohead were not breaking up.

On the first night the seated crowd stood for the band's entrance and sat back down when Yorke went to the piano. He got them up again for “Skip Divided”, saying he had always thought of The Eraser as a dance album, and Flea played its slow melodica theme. To the Beats Per Minute reviewer, Flea was the liveliest player all night, dancing and jumping. He drove a new groove under “Harrowdown Hill”. The sets were almost the same as at the Echoplex warm-up on Friday. The same reviewer, who was at both, rated the Orpheum band tighter but missed the club's raw energy.

The band's four-song encore took in “Paperbag Writer”, a B-side of the “There There” single in 2003, and both sides of the 12-inch Yorke put out on 21 September.

Before the encore the band left the stage to Yorke. He played “Lotus Flower” on guitar, telling the crowd he didn't even know what it was called yet; it might be “Moon Upon a Stick”. Then he went to the piano for “Open the Floodgates” and “Super Collider”, a Radiohead song not yet released. On the second night “Skirting on the Surface” took the place of “Open the Floodgates”.

Setlists, Orpheum Theatre, Los Angeles