Bob Vylan no longer supporting Gogol Bordello on European tour following Glastonbury controversy

Bob Vylan will no longer be supporting New York punks Gogol Bordello on their upcoming European tour, both bands have announced.

The news, which Bob Vylan first shared on Instagram this afternoon (July 14), comes amid the fallout from their Glastonbury Festival set last month in which they voiced support for Palestine, criticised Israel and led the crowd in a chant calling for death to the Israel Defence Forces.

In response to Bob Vylan’s set, a music venue in Cologne, Germany announced that they would no longer be supporting Gogol Bordello there in the autumn. And now, both bands have announced that Bob Vylan will no longer be supporting them on the tour at all.

The punk rap duo wrote in a statement: “Due to logistical complications, we have decided not to join our friends Gogol Bordello on their upcoming European tour. However, we will be heading to Europe in the coming months for both festivals and headline shows.”

They then further hinted in their caption: “Keep posted for headline EU announcements soon👀.”

For their part, Gogol Bordello wrote in their own statement that the decision to remove Bob Vylan from their Cologne show “was not our decision and beyond our control,” but added: “In the aftermath, we needed to evaluate the situation, and we decided to remove BV from the tour until we could fully comprehend the situation.”

They said that, after the duo “posted a more in-depth explanation”, they re-opened discussions with a view to them supporting on other tour dates, but that it would be “logistically impossible … given the circumstances.”

They finished: “We worked diligently with our friends Bob Vylan to find a solution but in the end it didn’t work out. Gogol Bordello is comprised of members from various nationalities and celebrates international understanding consequentially, we value freedom of speech from all perspectives.”

Gogol Bordello are coming to Europe in September for a series of shows culminating a run of UK dates, including a London show at Electric Ballroom on November 1. Buy tickets here.

Since Bob Vylan’s performance on Glastonbury’s West Holts Stage, they have come under a criminal investigation, had their US visas revoked and were removed from their headline slot at Manchester’s Radar Festival. Their agents also reportedly cut ties with them.

A few days ago, Damon Albarn described Bob Vylan’s comments as “one of the most spectacular misfires I’ve seen in my life” in an interview, while they’ve been defended by the likes of Chuck D and Massive Attack, the latter urging the media to direct their attention towards “what is happening daily to the people of Gaza” instead.

Bob Vylan themselves played their first UK show since Glastonbury at London’s 100 Club last week, and urged fans to stop repeating the “death to the IDF” chant after a group of attendees tried to start it.

They addressed their Glastonbury set and the subsequent controversy in a statement, too, writing: “We are not for the death of Jews, Arabs or any other race or group of people. We are for the dismantling of a violent military machine. A machine whose own soldiers were told to use ‘unnecessary lethal force’ against innocent civilians waiting for aid. A machine that has destroyed much of Gaza. We, like those in the spotlight before us, are not the story. We are a distraction from the story. And whatever sanctions we receive will be a distraction.”