Radiohead frontman Thom Yorke has opened up about the band’s extended break from touring, revealing that personal loss and emotional burnout contributed to the group’s seven-year absence from the stage.
In a new interview with The Times, Yorke reflected on the final days of the band’s A Moon Shaped Pool tour in 2018, which ended with a show in Philadelphia in August that year.
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“I guess the wheels came off a bit, so we had to stop,” Yorke said. “The shows felt great but it was, like, let’s halt now before we walk off this cliff.”
The band recently announced their return to live performance with a limited run of 20 shows across five European cities — Madrid, Bologna, London, Copenhagen and Berlin — kicking off Nov. 4. All dates sold out shortly after going on sale.
Yorke also addressed his personal grief following the death of his first wife, Dr. Rachel Owen, in late 2016. “I needed to stop anyway, because I hadn’t really given myself time to grieve,” he said. “My grief was coming out in ways that made me think, I need to take this away.”
He added that while music was a source of healing, it also became a painful reminder. “There have been points in my life where I’ve looked for solace in music and played the piano, but it literally hurts. Physically. The music hurts, because you’re going through trauma.”
Guitarist Ed O’Brien also spoke candidly about the toll the band’s last tour took on him, admitting that by the end of it, “I was effectively over Radiohead.” He continued, “I enjoyed the gigs but hated the rest. We felt disconnected, f—ing spent.”
That distance eventually gave way to reflection and reconnection. “I hit the bottom in 2021. And one of the things that was lovely coming out of it was realising how much I love these guys. I met them when I was 17 and I’ve gone from thinking I can’t see myself doing it again to realising that, you know, we do have some stellar songs.”
While the band is preparing for its return to the spotlight, past controversies continue to follow them. In the interview, members addressed criticism over their 2017 performance in Tel Aviv, Yorke’s confrontation with a protester during a 2024 solo show in Melbourne, and Jonny Greenwood’s collaboration with Israeli artist Dudu Tassa.
Yorke said the “low-level Arthur Miller witch-hunt” surrounding their stance on Israel and Palestine “wakes me up at night,” though Greenwood said he “politely disagreed” with boycotts of Israeli artists.
Radiohead’s upcoming European tour will be their first run of shows since 2018. Their return begins Nov. 4 in Madrid, with additional stops in London, Berlin, Bologna and Copenhagen through December.
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