Gig review: The Smile, Jordan Rakei at O2 Victoria Warehouse, Manchester

What began as project hatched in lockdown by Radiohead’s Thom Yorke and Jonny Greenwood with the assistance of Tom Skinner, drummer with jazz group Sons of Kemet, continues to gain legs, with a second album out in January and this headline slot at the BBC 6 Music Festival in Manchester, accompanied by the London Contemporary Orchestra.

Augmented by American musician and composer Robert Stillman on clarinet and saxophone, they are a frequently astonishing proposition live, filling the cavernous surroundings of the O2 Victoria Warehouse with an epic sound that simply refuses to flag during the hour and 45 minutes that they are onstage.

As intense as they undoubtedly can be, particularly in the second half of the show when the LCO’s 17-strong string section departs and the focus is then on the musical connection between Yorke, Greenwood, Skinner and Stillman, there is also a deftness of touch at work in the acoustic bossa nova of Wall of Eyes, the title track of their new album, or Speech Bubbles, during the early stages of which Greenwood plays piano with his left hand and harp with his right.

As-yet unreleased song Tiptoe summons the romantic yearnings of Scott Walker’s early solo albums; Friend of a Friend seems almost Beatles-like; in You Know Me! the ever-versatile Greenwood accompanies Yorke’s piano-playing with an electric cello.

Skinner switches to modular synthesiser for Waving a White Flag, where the live strings bolster its delicate tune. Another new song, Instant Psalm, indicates that their third album could be just as good as the first two, while Bending Hectic ends the orchestral part of their set with a dizzying flourish.

Reduced to a quartet, they shapeshift between the funky strut of The Smoke, intricate math rock in The Opposite and feisty no-wave rock in You Will Never Work in Television Again. At one point Greenwood saws at his bass guitar with a bow as Yorke snarls “Take your dirty hands off my love”.

If Radiohead’s hiatus continues, The Smile is a tremendous alternative vehicle for Yorke and Greenwood’s talents.

Earlier in the evening, New Zealand singer-songwriter Jordan Rakei might not have been able to summon quite the same fire with his supporting set, but his burnished nu-soul/R&B stylings have a pleasant air and his best songs Flowers, Family and Freedom – the last of which he performs with Stockport singer Pip Millett – are enjoyably melodic and radio-friendly.