Amsterdam concert hall offers a show to anti-Israel duo Bob Vylan
Paradiso, a feted concert hall in Amsterdam, announced on Wednesday it had offered a solo show to Bob Vylan, a British duo that recently highlighted the chant “Death to the IDF.”
Bob Vylan perform on the West Holts Stage, during the Glastonbury Festival at Worthy Farm in Somerset. England, Saturday, June 28, 2025. (Yui Mok/PA via AP)
The duo was originally scheduled to perform at the Paradiso venue with another band as part of a joint European tour that also included Germany, but the German venues had cancelled the show because of the “Death to the IDF!” chants led by Bob Vylan at the Glastonbury festival last month, Paradiso wrote in a statement.
Two other Dutch venues—in Tilburg and Nijmegen—also invited Bob Vylan to perform there to allow them to hold a European tour, the De Telegraaf daily reported on Wednesday.
“Paradiso has now scheduled Bob Vylan for a standalone headline show in the Main Hall on Saturday, 13 September 2025,” said the management of the venue, which has hosted The Rolling Stones, David Bowie, Nirvana, Lou Reed and U2.
“We are aware that a debate arose following their performance at Glastonbury, in which they strongly criticized the actions of the Israeli army in Gaza. Those words are not ours, but we recognize the right to be outraged by war and mass human suffering,” Paradiso added.
Earlier this week, Amsterdam Mayor Femke Halsema accused critics of Bob Vylan of “intimidation” against Paradiso and equated them with people who seek to boycott Israelis, because people opposed to the concert had placed a banner vowing to “fight” against the duo’s
hosting there.
The banner read: “If Bobby plays that night, Amsterdam will stand and fight.”
Bob Vylan is the subject of a criminal investigation for their “Death to the IDF” chants, which they led thousands to repeat.
Paradiso is also hosting Kneecap, a British band whose singer, Liam O’Hanna, is standing trial in his native United Kingdom for displaying in public a flag of Hezbollah, which Britain considers a terror organisation. Kneecap is scheduled to perform eight days ahead of Bob Vylan.
The U.S. State Department has revoked visas for Bob Vylan’s band. This was “in light of their hateful tirade at [the] Glastonbury [music festival], including leading the crowd in death chants,” Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau said in a post on X. “Foreigners who glorify
violence and hatred are not welcome visitors to our country,” he added. Bob Vylan had a U.S. tour scheduled for November.
Their former agency, United Talent Agency, removed their page from the agency’s website, the LBC radio station reported.
Glastonbury is the largest music festival in the United Kingdom, attracting some 200,000 revellers.
A British government spokesperson condemned the rhetoric used on stage by Bobby Vylan, which was aired on the BBC, as did the organisers of the Glastonbury festival. (The Bob Vylan punk duo consists of singer/guitarist Bobby Vylan and drummer Bobbie Vylan. They use stage names to hide their real names.)
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