Manchester’s Radar Festival has addressed the decision to remove Bob Vylan from their lineup.
The band performed at Glastonbury over the weekend and made several controversial remarks during their set at the West Holts Stage.
Bob Vylan criticized their former manager – referring to him as "a Zionist" – before chanting “death to the IDF” and labeling themselves as “violent punks,” stating that “sometimes you gotta get your message across with violence because that is the only language some people speak, unfortunately…”
Bob Vylan has been dropped from several festivals across the continent, with their next performance scheduled at Radar Festival at Manchester’s O2 Victoria Warehouse.
Ultimately, a brief statement was released: “Bob Vylan will not be appearing at RADAR Festival this weekend.”
Bob Vylan responded, stating: “Silence is not an option. We will be fine, the people of Palestine are hurting. Manchester, we will be back.”
Radar organizer Catherine Jackson-Smith appeared on the recently released episode of the Two Promoters One Pod podcast, discussing the timeline and circumstances that led to Bob Vylan's removal from the lineup.
“It became increasingly frustrating because there were ongoing discussions above us, as a venue and between ourselves, regarding whether Bob Vylan could perform,” she explained.
The options were presented to her “very bluntly” by those in charge: “We could proceed with Bob Vylan as our headliner. However, if we chose to do so, the festival would not take place on Saturday.”
“It became clear early in the week that there was no option for Bob Vylan to perform on Saturday,” she stated.
“[It was] undeniably one of the most dreadful professional discussions I have ever encountered,” Jackson-Smith continued. “I cannot emphasize enough how much I wanted Bob Vylan to perform at our festival.”
“The headlines will read ‘Radar Festival pulled Bob Vylan.’ Unfortunately, there isn’t space in journalism to convey the nuance of what is happening in a headline, so it likely won’t. It gives the impression that we have aligned with certain consequences, but that is not the case.”
Watch the podcast below.
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Manchester's Radar Festival addressed their choice to remove Bob Vylan from the line-up. The band performed at Glastonbury over the weekend and issued a