Bob Vylan frontman asks fans to stop IDF chants amid Glastonbury controversy
The frontman of the punk duo Bob Vylan has spoken out in their first headline show since the Glastonbury controversy to urge fans to stop chanting anti-IDF sentiment, which will likely “get me in trouble”.
During their livestreamed set at Glastonbury on June 28th, Bob Vylan led the crowd through a chant of “Death to the IDF”, referencing the Israel Defence Forces. They also chanted “Free Palestine” and “From the river to the sea”. Behind them, political messaging that referenced the “genocide” and called out the BBC’s complicity in it was entirely visible.
In response, police have launched an investigation into the set. Glastonbury quickly distanced themselves from the band, while the BBC condemned this as “hate speech” and a host of senior workers at the BBC relinquished duties while an investigation persists.
Bob Vylan was also dropped from Manchester’s Radar Festival, where they were set to be the Saturday night headliners; despite this, organiser Catherine Jackson-Smith has insisted that she “wanted Bob Vylan to perform at our festival.” On Friday, however, the band flew to Greece to open for The Prodigy.
On July 9th, the band announced an intimate gig with a capacity of 320 at London’s famous 100 Club. Tickets sold out quickly, and their album Humble As The Sun has re-entered the UK charts despite the musicians being dropped from their former management company, United Talent Agents.
During the show, the two musicians had the chance to address the ongoing controversy. Bobby Vylan, the frontman’s musical alias, urged fans to be careful with their words at the show. Some excitable fans began to repeat the “death, death to the IDF chant”.
Vylan responded with the admission that “you are going to get me in trouble”.
He continued, “Apparently every other chant is fine but yous (sic) will get me in trouble.” Instead, he led the crowd in chants of “Free, free Palestine”.
The rapper also added: “I am pretty tired. It’s been a busy week, been a busy couple of days do you know what I mean? Just putting out fires you know? “We never ever could have imagined that we would create a conversation that needed to be created and needed to be had.”
Addressing the full venue, he added, “It kind of feels like we have completed punk rock just a little bit. We set the game on the hardest level and just went fucking let’s just go all in, shall we? He added: “What is happening over there is an absolute mess, it is fucking criminal what is happening to these people, they are now being concentrated into camps.”
Addressing their recent removal from Radar Festival, he added, “They have been trying to silence us, they thought that this would shut us up, but the album is back in the charts. We just want to see the liberation of the Palestinian people. That’s it. I don’t think it’s too crazy a thing to ask. I don’t think it’s a violent thing to ask, right? The liberation of the Palestinian people from a tyrannical fucking oppressor. That’s all we want.”
At the end of the show, the two musicians held the Palestinian flag up high. Bobby concluded, “We are a loving band, we love you lot for being here with us. We love the Palestinian people.”
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