Thom Yorke, frontman of Radiohead surprised fans at the Soundhearts Festival in Rio De Janeiro this week, when he performed a rare acoustic of the band’s classic song “True Love Waits.” The song has been a long time favorite for fans going back two decades as a familiar song played during Radiohead’s shows.
Nigel Godrich, the band’s producer as well as the band attempted to get the song recorded for the albums Ok Computer (1997), Kid A (2000) and Amnesiac (2001) but never could come to terms with an arrangement. During the band’s live shows, “True Love Waits” was performed by Yorke as a solo acoustic arrangement, there is also a version of the song on 2001’s I Might Be Wrong live album. A studio version of the song eventually ended up on the Radiohead’s acclaimed 2016 album A Moon Shaped Pool, though as a low key piano ballad. It was the latter version that gets often played during tours.
Yorke’s solo performance in Rio de Janeiro yesterday was the first time in 15 years that the singer performed the original acoustic version with Radiohead. It was played as part of a second encore set which included other songs such as “Present Tense,” “Paranoid Android,” and “Karma Police.”
Radiohead is set to embark on a North American tour this summer in support of their latest album, A Moon Shaped Pool. The tour starts July in Chicago and will continue through August until wrapping up in Philadelphia. The band recently performed their first show in Argentina this past week where they played “The Gloaming.” A crowd barrier malfunction occurred, the band continued with an acapella version.
Watch fan footage of Yorke’s acoustic performance of “True Love Waits” below.
Photo credit: Raymond Flotat
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