The group played out their set in full despite pro-Israel, anti Kneecap protests within the crowd. Whistles and flags were amongst the methods used by to shortly disrupt the beginning of the gig. The protesters were identified and removed quickly by security, whilst being serenaded with chants of “free free Palestine” by a crowd largely stood in solidarity with Kneecap’s perspective. 

Moglai Bap, a rapper from the band, took the opportunity to speak at length on the matter. He said “They wanna try and stop us. They don’t want us to play the festival. We’re not going to allow them to get away. We’re not like them. We’re not like Israel. We’re not here to cause fights. We’re here to have a good time. If anyone blows whistles, let security know, we’ll get rid of them. No aggravation. It’s all love, all support for Palestine”

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The festival boasted a mammoth set of headliners with acts like Fontaines DC, Chappell Roan and Queens of the Stone Age drawing people back to the annual festival. However it was the inclusion of Kneecap on the lineup that caused the most conversation.  Rock En Seine stood with the group despite calls for them to do the opposite and in doing so the mayor of Saint-Cloud redacted €40,000 worth of funding for the festival. Mayor Eric Berdoati said in a public statement that this was because the festival was “no longer in line with their objectives.” This comes amidst the ongoing trial of group member Mo Chara who allegedly displayed a Hezbollah flag at a London show last year. Kneecap have constantly defended themselves on social media since the allegations, on one occasion labelling them a “carnival of distraction”

Kneecap will wrap their summer up on August 29, when they support Fontaines DC at a gig in their home city of Belfast.

Both artists performed on Saturday afternoon (June 28), playing back-to-back sets on the West Holts stage.

Bob Vylan came on first, with a set that saw frontman Bobby Vylan speak out in solidarity with bands that “use their platform to speak up for the Palestinian people”, mentioning Kneecap, Amyl & The Sniffers and The Murder Capital.

@gbnews Punk band Bob Vylan have sparked uproar after they used their Glastonbury set to leads chants of “Death to the IDF” and “Free, Free Palestine”. The group also expressed solidarity with Irish rap trio Kneecap, who were scheduled to perform 30 minutes after them on the West Holts stage, after it was confirmed the BBC would not be broadcasting their set live. #Glastonbury #BobVylan #Israel #Gaza #BBC #GBNews ♬ original sound – GB News

During their set, the crowd started a chant of “free, free Palestine”. In response, Bobby asked, “Have you heard this one?”, before leading a new chant saying “death, death to the IDF”, in reference to the Israeli Defense Forces, the armed forces of Israel who are currently part of the war in Gaza.

Kneecap’s set saw them take aim at their critics and opposition, including Prime Minister Keir Starmer and Sharon Osbourne. While onstage, they thanked Glastonbury for keeping them on the bill and told the crowd that the “prime minister of your country, not mine, said he didn’t want us to play”, referring to Starmer.

They also touched on the ongoing war in Gaza, with Mo Chara saying “We understand colonialism and we understand how important it is to support each other internationally.” He then led the crowd into another chant of “free, free Palestine” after accusing Israel of genocide.

@.thebasementpeople Roll on Finsbury Park #fyp #glastonbury #glasto2025 #kneecap ♬ original sound – The Basement People

Since both politically charged performances, Avon and Somerset Police have said they will be investigating both sets from Bob Vylan and Kneecap. On social media, they posted: “We are aware of the comments made by acts on the West Holts Stage at Glastonbury Festival this afternoon.

“Video evidence will be assessed by officers to determine whether any offences may have been committed that would require a criminal investigation.”

We are aware of the comments made by acts on the West Holts Stage at Glastonbury Festival this afternoon.

Video evidence will be assessed by officers to determine whether any offences may have been committed that would require a criminal investigation. pic.twitter.com/w2RQ4LdQf3

— Avon and Somerset Police (@ASPolice) June 28, 2025

Lisa Nandy, the Culture Secretary, has ordered Tim Davie, the BBC’s director-general, to explain why the performance by Bob Vylan was streamed on iPlayer. Prior to Kneecap’s performance at Glastonbury, she voiced her opposition to their inclusion on the bill during an episode of Politics Live, saying “This is a band that has thrived on the oxygen of publicity”.

In response to the controversy around Bob Vylan’s onstage comments, a BBC spokesperson has said that their set, which was livestreamed on iPlayer, won’t be available on demand: “Some of the comments made during Bob Vylan’s set were deeply offensive,” they told the Independent.

A government spokesperson has also provided a statement against Vylan’s controversial crowd chant: “We strongly condemn the threatening comments made by Bob Vylan at Glastonbury.

“The Culture Secretary has spoken to the BBC Director General to seek an urgent explanation about what due diligence it carried out ahead of the Bob Vylan performance, and welcomes the decision not to re-broadcast it on BBC iPlayer.”

It’s been an exciting weekend of music at Glastonbury 2025. As well as standout sets from headliners like Olivia Rodrigo and The 1975, there were a number of secret sets that took place. Click to read our coverage on sets from Skepta, Lorde and Lewis Capaldi.

The group were performing at Manchester’s Co-op Live arena when Sinwar, who was killed by Israeli troops last year, appeared on screen during a montage featuring other world leaders such as Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin.

This lead to Hen Mazzig, an Israeli writer and influencer, taking to social media where he directly called out the trip-hop veterans and accused them of “celebrating” the former Hamas leader.

Mazzig shared an 11-second clip from the live show and captioned it with: “Why is the self proclaimed ‘pro peace’ band @MassiveAttackUK screening footage of Yahya Sinwar during their concert? Sinwar masterminded the slaughter of innocents at a music festival, yet they’re celebrating him at a similar event.

“If you’re booking the UK’s largest arena, you should care a lot more about the message you’re spreading. Encouraging 23,000+ people to sympathise with Hamas is more than irresponsible – it’s incitement.”

As expected Massive Attack did not take this claim lightly and responded within hours, warning Mazzig to delete the post or risk legal action: “@hearnimator must delete the original post & issue an apology or further action will follow.”

The post has since been deleted.

For obvious, ethical reasons relating to its owner, Massive Attack do not use ‘X’. However, no email contact is presented for the author of this post, which we consider defamatory, & has been passed to the band’s lawyers. @hearnimator must delete the original post & issue an… https://t.co/1TlKO3TBou

— Massive Attack (@MassiveAttackUK) June 9, 2025

The Bristol band did not stop there though. As a group known for their activism and especially their support for Palestine – they have boycotted performing in Israel since 1999 – Robert Del Naja and co issued a further statement, calling out their critics for “deliberate context removal”.

The statement explained in detail what was intended by the footage being played at their Manchester show, saying: “In the specific case of the film loop that includes reportage of Yahya Sinwar, the entire sequence interplays with scenes from Jean Cocteau’s film Orpheus, creating both a placement and implicit tone of horrified lament; that an individual of power can take people down to hell.”

They continued: “It would be bizarre (and perhaps revealing) that any observer of the live show films would solely home in on the Sinwar/IDF footage and completely overlook all other controversial figures feature in the reportage loops.

“Would ‘x’ observer suggest we sought to glorify Vladimir Putin, who appears in four loops? Or Donald Trump who appears in several? Or J Edgar Hoover? Or indeed the IDF soldiers who feature in the exact same location reportage as the Yahya Sinwar footage cited by various social media accounts?”

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Massive Attack are not the first group to be ‘targeted’ for showing their support for Palestine. Irish rap trio Kneecap and their controversies have been extensively talked about since they called for a “Free Palestine” at Coachella.

The Bristol group ended their statement with a message relating to Kneecap’s recent ordeals, saying: “In a highly charged atmosphere, public figures including artists who consistently speak out against Israeli war crimes, apartheid and human rights abuses, and in defence of the Palestinian people are subjected to determined and spurious attempts to discredit us, as a deterrent to us from speaking out.

“These spurious attempts will always fail.”

Even before taking to stage in Manchester, the show was already marred in controversy. The recent sponsoring of the venue by Barclays led to Massive Attack almost cancelling the gig, check out mxdwn coverage of what transpired here.

The British rockstar has been criticised and questioned before by fans for his silence on the issue. Yorke was heckled at a solo gig in Melbourne last October, where a crowd member screamed at the singer, “How can you be silent?”. Yorke then invited the heckler up to say his piece, before leaving and then returning to the stage to play the Radiohead hit ‘Karma Police’.

@apnewsentertainment Thom Yorke left a stage mid-show in Melbourne, Australia after challenging a heckler to take his mic over comments on the Israel-Hamas conflict. #thomyorke ♬ original sound – AP Entertainment

In a long post on Instagram, Yorke addressed the Melbourne moment: “Some guy shouting at me from the dark last year when I was picking up a guitar to sing the final song alone in front of 9000 people in Melbourne didn’t really seem like the best moment to discuss the unfolding humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza.

Afterwards I remained in shock that my supposed silence was somehow being taken as complicity, and I struggled to find an adequate way to respond to this and to carry on with the rest of the shows on the tour.

That silence, my attempt to show respect for all those who are suffering and those who have died, and to not trivialize it in a few words, has allowed other opportunistic groups to use intimidation and defamation to fill in the blanks, and I regret giving them this chance. This has had a heavy toll on my mental health.”

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Later in the statement, Yorke criticized Israeli prime minister Benjam Netanyahu and his administration: “I think Netanyahu and his crew of extremists are totally out of control and need to be stopped, and that the international community should put all the pressure it can on them to cease. Their excuse of self-defence has long since worn thin and has been replaced by a transparent desire to take control of Gaza and the West Bank permanently.

I believe this ultra-nationalist administration has hidden itself behind a terrified & grieving people and used them to deflect any criticism, using that fear and grief to further their ultra-nationalist agenda with terrible consequences, as we see now with the horrific blockade of aid to Gaza.”

He also condemned Hamas, similarly calling out the militant movement/terror group for using Gaza’s pain to further their own agenda: “Why did Hamas choose the truly horrific acts of October 7th? The answer seems obvious, and I believe Hamas chooses too to hide behind the suffering of its people, in an equally cynical fashion for their own purposes.”

Radiohead have a long history with Israel – it was the first country to give widespread radio airplay to their debut single ‘Creep’ after it failed to generate buzz anywhere else.

In 2017, the band played a concert in Tel Aviv against the advice of the pro-Palestine BDS (Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions) movement. After BDS director Ken Loach wrote an op-ed for The Independent pleading for Radiohead to join the boycott, Yorke stood firm in his impartiality to Israel’s conflict: “Playing in a country isn’t the same as endorsing the government.

“We’ve played in Israel for over 20 years through a succession of governments, some more liberal than others. As we have in America. We don’t endorse [Israeli prime minister Benjamin] Netanyahu any more than [Donald] Trump, but we still play in America.”

Recently, Radiohead guitarist Jonny Greenwood has had to cancel UK shows with Israeli-born rock musician Dudu Tassa due to “credible threats” to their safety. You can read more on that here.

ᴏɴᴇ ʟᴀꜱᴛ ᴋɪꜱꜱ, ᴛʜɪꜱ ᴋɪꜱꜱ ꜰᴏʀ ᴛʜᴇ ᴡʜᴏʟᴇ ᴡᴏʀʟᴅ.

ᴡᴇᴍʙʟᴇʏ, ʏᴏᴜ ɢᴀᴠᴇ ᴜꜱ ᴇᴠᴇʀʏᴛʜɪɴɢ ᴀɴᴅ ᴡᴇ ꜰᴇʟᴛ ɪᴛ. ᴛʜᴀɴᴋ ʏᴏᴜ ꜰᴏʀ ʏᴏᴜʀ ᴘᴀꜱꜱɪᴏɴ, ᴇɴᴇʀɢʏ, ᴀɴᴅ ꜱᴡᴇᴀᴛ. pic.twitter.com/pP8rE75a0Q

— ENTER SHIKARI (@ENTERSHIKARI) February 18, 2024

The St Albans based band started their captivating speech by stating: “We cannot just enjoy this moment without acknowledging the fact that there are children being blown to pieces by a government and a country that has been completely lost in nationalistic and religious fervour.”

Continuing to express his support of Palestine, Reynolds said: “with the activists and actionists up and down the country who have been blocking and targeting the Israeli weapons manufacturing factories. Our country is very complicit in this atrocity, and supports those who are targeting the investment banks that are effectively bankrolling genocide. We have been yelling ‘Free Gaza’, ‘Free Palestine’ for 15 years. I just hope to God that there is still a Gaza and a Palestine left when this fucking nightmare ends. So let us be grateful for tonight, we have safety. We have community, we have love, we have human connection. Let us treasure this feeling that we all have tonight.”

The current death toll of Palestinians in Gaza stands at 28,775, with around 1,410 Israelis killed and around 100 Israeli hostages still remaining in Hamas captivity after the October 7 attacks. Israel is currently being urged by many Palestinian supporters not to send ground forces into Rafah on the Egyptian border, where many of the strip’s citizens are now living after areas closer to their homes became engulfed by fighting. Around 1.5million people are living in Rafah, among fears that there are few to no other places for Palestinians to seek refuge. The BBC reported “tens of thousands” gathered in London yesterday for pro-Palestine rallies.

This is not the first time the British rockers have spoken out about the horrors of war and their distaste for modern day worldwide conflicts. Their 2012 song Stalemate depicts this, with lyrics such as “Money is made when bombs are dropping in Afghanistan, and when phosphorous falls in Palestine.” The four-piece also signed an open letter for ceasefire in November of last year, alongside other artists such as Architects and The Last Dinner Party.

The conflict between Israel and Gaza has been ongoing for decades, however the latest escalation occurred recently on October 7th, when Hamas, an Islamic Resistance Movement governing the Gaza strip of the Palestinian territories, launched an unprecedented attack on Israel killing 1,400 people and taking more than 200 hostages. Israel retaliated by launching air strikes, and as it stands, the United Nations have reported 4,200 deaths in Gaza over the last 10 days.

The MTV EMAs, which were set to be held in Paris on November 5th, have now been cancelled “out of an abundance of caution”, according to a BBC statement from the event’s organisers Paramount.

Paramount describes the annual event as “an annual celebration of global music”, but said as “events in Israel and Gaza continue to unfold, this does not feel like a moment for a global celebration. With thousands of lives already lost, it is a moment of mourning”.

In a social media post from Paramount, the event organisers issued a declaration saying “Given the volatility of world events, we have decided not to move forward with the 2023 MTV EMAs out of an abundance of caution for the thousands of employees, crew members, artists, fans, and partners who travel from all corners of the world to bring the show to life.”

Given the volatility of world events, we have decided not to move forward with the 2023 MTV EMAs out of an abundance of caution for the thousands of employees, crew members, artists, fans, and partners who travel from all corners of the world to bring the show to life.

— MTV EMA (@mtvema) October 19, 2023

MTV announced the list of performers for the awards show previously this week. Acts on the line up include the likes of Anne Marie, David Guetta and Thirty Seconds To Mars, all of which are also 2023 MTV EMA nominees. You can view the full list of performers and nominees here. The EMAs were set to broadcast on MTV in more than 150 countries, as well as stream on Pluto TV and Paramount+.

Paramount have announced that voting for the awards show will continue, and the event will be rescheduled to November 2024 with all the original performers.

Voting is continuing and the winning artists will receive their MTV EMA Awards.

We look forward to hosting the MTV EMAs again in November of 2024.

— MTV EMA (@mtvema) October 19, 2023

We will be canceling our 2 shows in Tel Aviv. pic.twitter.com/ocSFtgnYz4

— Big Thief (@bigthiefmusic) June 9, 2022

Despite their best efforts to defend their decision to play Tel Aviv with an initial statement clarifying their impartiality in the ongoing conflict, it seems Big Thief have had to cancel their plans to play the Barby. A mounting amount of pressure from the band’s fans and others that support the BDS movement is likely the reason, with bassist Max Oleartchik’s father Alon Oleartchik recently telling Haaretz “they were under very heavy pressure – hateful mail and threatening posts”. It’s a tumultuous and problematic subject that often incites serious reactions from both sides, with the venue’s reaction being case and point.

In a quite stunning response, the Tel Aviv venue Barby issued an incredibly angry and spiteful response to the band for cancelling their two shows on June 6th and 7th this year. They posted a long message on their Facebook denouncing the bands professionalism and labelling them a “bunch of miserable spineless musicians who are afraid of their own shadow” before going on to say “I wish you all the evil in the world just as you did to your fans in Israel” whilst also scribbling out lead singer and songwriter Adrianne Lenker’s face in red. See below:

It’s a wild and passionate response typical of the emotional territory that surrounds Palestine and Israel. With many social media comments replying to the band’s statement labelling them anti-semites for cancelling, it seems Big Thief are stuck between a rock and a hard place in this ongoing debate.

They do however have a UK date coming up in the neutral fields of Worthy Farm at Glastonbury Festival on Saturday 25th June at 18.15 on The Park Stage. So if you’re lucky enough to have a ticket, make sure you check them out.

It will mark the second time the indie folk outfit have played the venue in Tel Aviv and the second time they have had to put out a clarifying statement regarding the gig’s position in the ever turbulent political climate of Israel. Recent campaigns such as the BDS (Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions) movement have rallied for the global boycotting of Israel in relation to their treatment of Palestinian citizens in the ongoing conflict between Palestine and Israel. However, many believe the movement to be anti-semitic, with the resulting back and forth causing a difficult political rift to navigate as a touring musician or band wishing to play in Israel.

Big Thief have addressed the matter for the second time with a statement that mirrored its predecessor in expressing the band’s desire to play Tel Aviv being directly attributed to their bassist Max Oleartchik’s and his hometown origins being with the city. It’s a classy move from the candid and thoughtful band from Brooklyn and a welcome reminder that art should still breath freely and be given an impartial voice in the increasingly outspoken and volatile political world that we traverse.

Their statement read: “We are excited to announce two shows in Max’s hometown, Tel Aviv, Israel, Barby on July 6th and 7th. Accompanying this announcement, we would again like to clarify our motivations and intentions for playing in Tel Aviv, Israel, with as much transparency as possible.”

ICYMI the Israel and Palestinian flag was shown briefly on the back of two of the performers at the end of Madonna’s performance.

The EBU and broadcaster KAN have said they were unaware that this was going to happen and that it didn’t occur during rehearsals. pic.twitter.com/iBi6HKZK8c

— Scott Bryan (@scottygb) May 18, 2019

Celebrating the 30th anniversary of her 1989 album, ‘Like A Prayer’, Madonna dawned a black cape and eyepatch before performing a re-worked version of its title track atop a high, staircase stage. The singer was surrounded by hooded dancers in monk-like outfits, which when ripped off revealed dancers wearing gas masks adorned with flowers. During her politically charged performance, two of her dancers could be seen with Israel and Palestinian flags on their backs.

As well as being off-key and a poor performer, Madonna managed to violate the EBU’s principle of non-political engagement by adding the Israeli and Palestinian flags to the back of two dancers backs. What a waste of money she was #Eurovision2019 https://t.co/jCsK1YcUq8

— Luke Baker (@BakerLuke) May 18, 2019

Speaking about the political charged performance, the Israeli culture minister, Miri Regev, has criticised the display of Palestinian flags during the Eurovision song contest final, in Tel Aviv, on Saturday the 18th of May 2019.

Regev, a right-wing minister, known for his provocative stances, told journalists, before a cabinet meeting, on Sunday that, “It was an error! Politics and a cultural event should not be mixed, with all due respect to Madonna.” Regev also criticised the Israeli public broadcaster ‘Kan’, for not preventing the flags from being shown, though it was unclear what could have been done.

During Madonna’s performance of her new single ‘Future’, at the final, two of her dancers could be seen in an embrace walking side by side, with Israeli and Palestinian flags on their backs. The gesture, an apparent call for unity, has received backlash as Eurovision organisers seek to keep politics out of the event, and the display of Palestinian flags inside Israel is deeply controversial.

Madonna followed up her controversial statement, she said: “They are so naïve – they think we are not aware of their crimes. We know, but we’re just not ready to act. The storm isn’t in the air, it’s inside of us. I want to tell you about love and loneliness. But it’s getting late now. Can’t you hear outside of your Supreme hoodie, the wind that’s beginning to howl?”

However, that was not the only controversy of the night. In a separate politically charged statement, the Icelandic group Hatari displayed scarfs with Palestinian flags on them, when the results were being announced.

The European Broadcasting Union (EBU), which organises the event, condemned both displays. Referring to Madonna’s dancers, the EBU, said: “This element of the performance was not part of the rehearsals. The Eurovision song contest is a non-political event and Madonna had been made aware of this.”

Madonna’s appearance at the annual singing competition, which was started to bring Europe together, saw her resist calls from pro-Palestinian activists to boycott the event over Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territory. In a statement before the finals, the American singer, said: “I’ll never stop playing music to suit someone’s political agenda, nor will I stop speaking out against violations of human rights wherever in the world they may be.”

#Madonna may have sounded flat but she won my heart tonight – being an artist is not always about having a perfect voice, but having something inspiring to say, and knowing how to deliver the message. She did outperform everyone else and she was #ArealQueen. #MadonnaEurovision pic.twitter.com/GE6Axyr6XX

— Rosa Martinez (@RosaMartinezUK) May 18, 2019

Love or hate her perfomance, Madonna made her point. I thought it was great. #Eurovision pic.twitter.com/CvS4Occ1XY

— ɢᴀᴠɪɴ (@gavinworby) May 18, 2019