Back in October, Thom Yorke played at an event called Letters Live at London’s Royal Albert Hall, which marked his first performance since the onset of COVID-19. Now, footage of Yorke performing a solo rendition of his band the Smile‘s ‘Free in the Knowledge’ has been uploaded online. Watch it below.
In a spoken introduction, Yorke said the song was dedicated to his fellow UK musicians. “I’m a British musician and I was told during the pandemic, along with all British musicians, that we should consider retraining,” he told the crowd. “And then after, uh, when we actually finally left, they told us we didn’t really need to tour anymore anyway, did we? Around Europe. So perhaps I’m one of a dying breed, who knows? I want to perform a song that I wrote with my new band the Smile during that period to all my fellow UK musicians. It’s called ‘Free In The Knowledge’.”
In the Smile, Yorke is joined by his Radiohead bandmate Jonny Greenwood and Sons of Kemmet drummer Tom Skinner. The band debuted at this year’s Glastonbury livestream event in May. Earlier this month, they surprised fans with a practice session on Instagram Live.