Radiohead's Lost Decade: Grief, Gaza, and the Surprise Return

In November 2025, Radiohead surprised everyone with a return tour, their first in nearly a decade after quietly slipping away in August of 2018. What was behind this departure was a blend of grief, controversy, and the feeling that they had pushed themselves too far. Thom Yorke's previous partner and the mother of his children had passed earlier that year, a continuing controversy behind a 2017 performance in Tel Aviv kept rearing its ugly head, and the other members, Colin and Jonny Greenwood, Phil Selway, and Ed O'Brien, seemed to feel they'd had enough. It's time to look back over the past decade... Radiohead's Lost Decade. 👉 Subscribe for More Videos: https://youtube.com/c/AndyFenstermaker/?sub_confirmation=1 ✉️ Read the transcript & hear the music on the Poetic Wax Substack: https://poeticwax.substack.com WATCH NEXT: ✓ https://youtu.be/UjzAvjWhuCA ✓ https://youtu.be/cgviPLd7-XI ✓ https://youtu.be/zSLlfuatiQc 🎥 Radiohead on Poetic Wax: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLylroYWVYWWVUIWVFqMuPRxWfHae3_CBr Get Radiohead on Vinyl 🎧 https://amzn.to/4nMEvk2 Get The Smile on Vinyl 🎧 https://amzn.to/3XiL7Mh Poetic Wax is hosted by Andy Fenstermaker. CHAPTERS: 0:00 Radiohead's Lost Decade (2018–2025) 3:02 Rachel Owen & The Half-Life (December 2016) 6:55 The Scattering (2018–2024) 11:08 Tel Aviv & The Witch Hunt (2017–2025) 16:23 The Return (Summer 2024–Fall 2025) REFERENCES: The Sunday Times Interview: https://www.thetimes.com/culture/music/article/radiohead-tour-2025-interview-israel-fn0bmdzl8 NME https://www.nme.com/news/music/thom-yorke-on-radiohead-not-playing-live-for-seven-years-i-guess-the-wheels-came-off-a-bit-so-we-had-to-stop-3902261 Billboard Interview: https://www.billboard.com/music/rock/thom-yorke-rachel-owen-interview-8530753/ Radiohead Live at Wells Fargo Arena, August 1, 2018 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wIgETJC0mzE The Smile: The Smoke (Music Video) by Mark Jenkin https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tEPEqZnTwdo The Smile: You Will Never Work In Television Again https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-EB5NhI2RQQ Karma Police (Live in Tel Aviv 2017) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fmM_A51iRS0 Radiohead - Daydreaming (Dir. Paul Thomas Anderson) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TTAU7lLDZYU Exit Music (Live in Madrid, Nov 4, 2025) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X1EA7HAniQo Karma Police (Live in Madrid, Nov 4, 2025) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lRvVJ-GhBt0 #radiohead #thomyorke #jonnygreenwood #radiohead2025 #edobrien #vinylcommunity #vinylrecords #vinylcollection #andyfenstermaker #fensepost #vinylchannel #poeticwax #musicessay #musicstory #albumstory #musichistory #albumhistory #musicdocumentary