Radiohead to perform in Israel despite industry boycott

PanARMENIAN.Net - Radiohead have announced plans to play a gig in Israel this summer, NME reports.

The band will perform at the Park Hayarkon in Tel Aviv on July 19. They made the announcement on Twitter on February 8.

The gig is a controversial one with many bands urged to avoid performing in Israel in protest of the country’s occupation of Palestinian land.

Former Pink Floyd frontman in particular has been vocal on the subject most recently joining a host of artists who wrote an open letter by Artists For Palestine UK urging The Chemical Brothers to pull out of a recent show.

They wrote at the time: “Tel Aviv’s hipster vibe is a bubble on the surface of a very deep security state that drove out half the indigenous Palestinian population in 1948 and has no intention of letting their descendants back in,” the letter reads. “If you go to Tel Aviv, your presence will be used by the Israeli authorities to reassure their citizens that all’s right with the world and nobody really cares that the Palestinians are suffering… Please don’t go.”

Waters and Artists For Palestine UK have yet to comment on Radiohead’s forthcoming plans.

Guitarist Jonny Greenwood is married to an Israeli artist named Sharona Katan and he recently released ‘Junun’, a collaborative album with Israeli composer/singer Shye Ben Tzur.

Meanwhile, Radiohead are set to headline new Glasgow festival TRNSMT on July 7 alongside Kasabian and Biffy Clyro.

They have also been announced as the first headliner for Glastonbury 2017, alongside a run of other huge European festival dates for 2017.

Meanwhile, Greenwood is set to head out on a solo tour, while rhythm guitarist Ed O’Brien will release his debut solo album in 2017.

“We’ve attempted to do something like a full solo album — you know, stand there on the mountaintop with the hair going and the Les Paul and create a whole Ed O’Brien,” he said. “I haven’t up until two years ago but I am going to now. I’m gonna do one next year.”