The Smile sell out the Agora on their first Cleveland night

The Smile, the trio of Thom Yorke, Jonny Greenwood and Tom Skinner, played their first Cleveland show on Tuesday 11 July, to a sold-out Agora. When they came back for the encore, Yorke sat down on the piano stool, folded his arms and let the applause run.

They had started at 9pm on the dot with “Pana-Vision”, Yorke at an upright piano with his back to the room. He said little between songs. The three set up in a line at the front of the stage, facing one another under a few bright light panels.

Only “Free in the Knowledge” was left out from A Light for Attracting Attention. Of the songs played that are not on the album, the new single “Bending Hectic” came in the encore, and the night closed with Yorke's solo song “Feeling Pulled Apart by Horses”. Robert Stillman, who opened with a half-hour set, came back to play saxophone on five songs.

Eric Heisig reviewed the night for Cleveland Scene. He picked out the noisy start of “A Hairdryer”, Yorke's bass line on “The Smoke” and the heavy ending of “Bending Hectic”, and thought the band were loosest in the last song of all. Cleveland Scene also ran photographs of the night.

Setlist, Agora, Cleveland, 11 July 2023