Radiohead's Philip Selway & Adem played Music Hall of Williamsburg (pics)

August 7, 2015

photos and words by Sachyn Mital

Philip Selway @ Music Hall of Williamsburg 8/6/2015

Philip Selway is one of the nicest folks on stage and off. Mingling with fans before and after his August 6 show at Music Hall of Williamsburg, the Radiohead drummer and solo artist cordially spoke with all who approached him and signed merchandise if requested. On stage, he mentioned he went to his first ballgame, the Yankees, the night before and noticed how the screens prompted fans to cheer and such, eliciting a loud response from the crowd. Selway continued, if he were to make his shows similar to that experience, he would request a “quiet ripple of applause” and would charge $50 for hot dogs (to pad up for his wallet again after spending a considerable amount on stadium concessions).

Selway’s solo tour brought him back to NYC (he played LPR in April) following festival gigs at Lollapalooza. Selway, with Adem (who also opened for him), Kath Mann (Quinta) and Chris Vatalaro, performed a selection of songs from his two albums Familial and Weatherhouse as well as from his EP, reworking a few of them over his nearly ninety minute set. For those looking for Radiohead material, they came to the wrong place. The closest Selway came might have been “Ghosts” but the music was more a reflection of Selway’s own tastes, allowing him to get out from behind a drum kit to play guitar, sing and to do his own style of shuffle on songs like “Drawn to the Light”, “The Ties that Bind Us” and “It Will End in Tears”.

For his encore, Selway returned to perform “Broken Promises” and “Let It Go”, as the crowd called it for “more saw”, which led Quinta to switch out her violin for the saw and Selway to jest if she could play it behind her head with her teeth. Pics from the whole night, including ones of Adem’s opening set, are in this post and continue below…

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Adem