Thom Yorke joined Flea on stage at KOKO in London for their recent song ’Traffic Lights’ and a Marvin Gaye cover – watch below.
The Red Hot Chili Peppers bassist released his debut solo album ‘Honora’ in March, and it included ‘Traffic Lights’, a song that he wrote alongside his former Atoms For Peace bandmate Yorke, as well as Josh Johnson.
Flea is playing the European leg of his ‘Honora’ tour at the moment, and last night (May 26), he played his sole UK show at KOKO, and welcomed Yorke as a surprise guest.
They played a wiry, funky rendition of ‘Traffic Lights’, and also took on Gaye’s 1977 disco-funk classic ‘Got To Give It Up, with Yorke on electric guitar. Check out footage here:
Flea will play two further shows on his ‘Honora’ tour European leg, both at Paris’ Alhambra on May 28 and 29. Find any remaining tickets here.
‘Honora’ also saw guest appearances from Nick Cave on a cover of the Glen Campbell staple ‘Wichita Lineman’, and also included covers of Frank Ocean and Funkadelic tracks.
NME‘s four-star review of ‘Honora’ earlier in the year described ‘Traffic Lights’ as “a fluid, sexy romp that wouldn’t sound out of place in a Thundercat set”, and went on to say: “By far and away the standout moment on ‘Honora’, however, is the devastatingly beautiful reimagining of Frank Ocean favourite ‘Thinkin Bout You’, from 2012’s ‘Channel Orange’. Stripping the track of its vocal, Flea instead alternates between picking out the verse melody on his four-string and swapping to trumpet for those sublimely comforting chorus lines. The effect is glorious, like slipping into a warm bath after a long run. It makes ‘Honora’ totally worth the wait.”
Yorke, meanwhile, was honoured with the Academy Fellowship at the Ivor Novello Awards last week, where he was introduced by Harry Styles, who said he lost his virginity to Radiohead’s ‘Talk Show Host’.
The Ivors also saw him debut new song ‘Space Walk‘, and he used his speech to call for better treatment for artists from the music industry.
Asked after the event if he would tour again with Radiohead soon – after guitarist Ed O’Brien shared that the band were planning to “20 shows each year” on a different continent starting in 2027 – he coyly replied “yeah, maybe”, but he did give a lot more away about his incoming solo album, due later this year.
“I’m trying to finish some stuff,” shared Yorke. “It’s a solo thing. I’m trying to figure out what it is, I’m trying to mix it. I did it with Sam Petts-Davies [The Smile, Frank Ocean]. It’s been a really fun process and it’s pretty fucking different for me.
“I’m too close to it to know for certain. I get moments of going, ‘This is good, I like this’. That’s enough for me. What else can I say about it? There’s a song called ‘Arse-Kissers’.”
