Thom Yorke plays a surprise backstage DJ set at Leopallooza

Thom Yorke played an unannounced DJ set in the backstage area at Leopallooza, at Lower Exe Farm near Bude in north Cornwall, late on Saturday night, 2 August.

The Evening Standard reported that he played to just eight people at about 2.30am. It quoted an unnamed festival-goer who called Yorke probably the most influential artist of the decade and said he was playing to half a dozen drunk hippies. It claimed he had been seen barn dancing with festival-goers, many of them unaware who he was.

Cai Waggett, one of the organisers, has written to Pitchfork to put it right. At least 30 people were there throughout, he says, not counting seven bar staff, the set began at 12.30am, nobody was barn dancing and the air was completely patchouli free⁵.

Yorke is a friend of the festival, Waggett says, and offered the late set as a small exclusive, sharing it with DJ Samo. It was kept quiet until shortly before so that it would not overshadow anyone else on the bill. He DJed at Leopallooza the year before as well, which nobody reported, and a photo of that 2013 set has since been posted.

People knew who he was, but everyone respected his right to have fun & party during his down time

Cai Waggett¹