Jonny Greenwood headlines End of the Road and speaks only on screen

Jonny Greenwood headlined the Garden Stage at End of the Road, at Larmer Tree Gardens in Wiltshire, on Saturday night, and never said a word to the crowd. Before the music began a message on the screen read They offered me a microphone, but I'm more happy typing… and playing¹. Later notes asked for patience while the players tuned, and gave each piece's title, composer and date as it began.

He played with five string players and the pianist Katherine Tinker. Most of the music came from his scores for Paul Thomas Anderson's films, There Will Be Blood and Phantom Thread above all, and romantic cues from those two opened and closed the set. From There Will Be Blood came “Future Markets”, “Prospectors Arrive” and “De-Tuned Quintet”. In between he chose pieces by Shostakovich, Berio and Messiaen, and solo piano showpieces. He also showed the crowd a droning tanpura and the ondes Martenot, the early electronic keyboard he has used on Radiohead records since Kid A.

Sleaford Mods were closing the main stage at the same time, but he still drew a large crowd. Sam Walton, reviewing for Loud And Quiet, heard grumbles afterwards that the set belonged in a concert hall, and argues the field did the music good, freeing it from concert-hall manners and letting people cheer in the middle of a piece.

Greenwood did not touch a guitar for 50 minutes; then, alone at the centre of the stage and lit from behind, he played all three movements of Steve Reich's Electric Counterpoint, for solo guitar against a recorded part. A crowd that had been near silent began whooping at every change in the music. About 20 minutes later he gave a shy wave and walked off down the ramp at the back of the stage.