Bob Vylan has hit back at Damon Albarn – calling him an “out of touch 90s musician” – after the Blur frontman commented on Vylan’s controversial Glastonbury performance.
The rap-punk band stole all the attention on Glastonbury weekend. Whilst everyone was talking about Kneecap going into the festival, it was Bob Vylan who led the crowd into chants of “Death, death to the IDF”, leading to politicians and media calling the duo out.
The aftermath of the gig led to a criminal investigation, shows being cancelled, and their US visas being revoked. Frontman Bobby Vylan then urged fans to stop the chant at the bands first show since Glastonbury, saying they’ll “get him into even more trouble”.
Blur and Gorillaz frontman, Damon Albarn, then had his say on the situation. In a new interview with The Times, Albarn said: “It was one of the most spectacular misfires I’ve seen in my life. Especially when he started to goose-step in tennis gear. I mean I’ve had my moments – not quite as catastrophic as that but you do get carried away. The old testosterone gets you going. But it’s unfortunate. Everyone’s just so hysterical.”
Bobby Vylan didn’t take long to respond to Albarn, posting to Twitter/X last night (July 16): “A little help for any other out of touch ’90’s musician asked about Bob Vylan at Glastonbury.
“Your response should probably resemble something to the affect of: ‘Over 58k Palestinians killed since Oct 7th 2023. Over 700 killed while attempting to get aid. Over 1400 medical workers killed since Oct 7th.
“Genocide is being live streamed for all to see and the UK is not simply allowing it to continue but facilitating it, along with the United States. Why are we talking about a punk band? End.”
1/2. A little help for any other out of touch 90s musician asked about Bob Vylan at Glastonbury. Your response should probably resemble something to the affect of:
“Over 58k Palestinians killed since Oct 7th 2023.
Over 700 killed while attempting to get aid…— Bob Vylan (@BobbyVylan) July 16, 2025
Despite the claims from Vylan of Albarn being “out of touch”, the Blur frontman has repeatedly expressed a similar level of support for Palestine, even in the same interview with The Times, where he said: “Part of the huge issue of Palestine is the way their identity is being eroded so brutally.
“I’ve been doing this a very long time and I still haven’t got the bloody answers. You want to say what you believe in and what you feel. That’s important, but it comes with huge caveats. We live and learn, or not.”
The controversial Bob Vylan performance was streamed live on BBC iPlayer which led to much criticism aimed at the broadcasting company.
The Chair of the BBC, Samir Shah, responded to the problems facing the company by declaring that actions will be taken to stop such future performances from being broadcast, saying: “The BBC Board met on Thursday to hear what actions will now be taken. The Executive have agreed to put in place a set of strengthened editorial practices and policies for live music programming. These will be important measures to safeguard future live broadcasts from a failure such as this.”
Despite all the criticism Bob Vylan have faced, they have also found support from many of their peers. The likes of Massive Attack, Soft Play and Amyl And The Sniffers have shown solidarity with the punk-rap duo. Check out full mxdwn.co.uk coverage of the controversial performance here.
