Thom Yorke brings back the acoustic “True Love Waits” in Rio

Thom Yorke came back alone for Radiohead's second encore at the Jeunesse Arena in Rio de Janeiro on Friday 20 April and played “True Love Waits” on acoustic guitar. It is the first time he has done it at a Radiohead show since Paris-Bercy on 17 November 2003, more than 14 years ago.

That solo acoustic version is the one the band played on stage for years and put on the live record I Might Be Wrong in 2001. The song goes back to the sessions for The Bends; the studio recording that finally came out on A Moon Shaped Pool two years ago was rebuilt around piano and sounds nothing like it.

It was Radiohead's first concert in Brazil since March 2009. Amanda Cavalcanti of Noisey Brasil reports that in the month before, the show moved indoors from the open-air Parque Olímpico, and that many standing ticket holders ended up in seats because the arena floor could not hold them all.

“Optimistic” was on the printed setlist, but the band played “Street Spirit (Fade Out)” in its place. Cavalcanti puts the crowd at about 15,000, and much of it followed Yorke through the falsetto of “Idioteque” in the first encore. The night ended with “Karma Police”, and the crowd was still singing its last line after the band had gone.

Setlist, Jeunesse Arena, Rio de Janeiro, 20 April 2018