Thom Yorke interrupted his concert in Melbourne
The finale of the solo concert by Thom Yorke yesterday at the Sidney Myer Music Bowl in Melbourne, Australia, was interrupted by a member of the audience while the frontman of Radiohead he was playing one of the English band’s best-known songs, “KarmaPolice”. According to what can be deduced from the videos and comments of people present at the concert, this person was a pro-Palestinian protester.
After stopping the concert Yorke listened to what was being shouted at him, before inviting that person to come on stage and then leaving.
“Come up and say it. Right here. Get on the damn stage and come say what you want to say. But don’t stand there like a coward, come here and say it. Come on. Do you want to piss on everyone’s night? Come on. Okay, do it. See you later then.”
From some reconstructions made by fans on various social channels it seems that the protester in the audience was shouting in defense of Gaza against Israel’s actions.
Thom Yorke
He has never publicly said anything about what has been happening in the Middle East for a year now.
THE Radiohead in 2017 they were harshly criticized for holding a concert in Tel Aviv, Israel, despite having been invited to cancel the performance to dissociate themselves from the Israeli government’s actions towards Palestine. There was also a request to cancel the concert in an open letter from Artists For Palestine UK, signed by some musicians including Roger Waters, Thurston Moore they Young Fathers. Radiohead Fans for Palestine also took a stand by writing an open letter to Yorke: “It is the Palestinian people who have asked you to boycott and if you are going to justify your concert in Tel Aviv it is them you should turn to.”
The frontman of Radioheadhe responded by saying: “Playing in a country is not the same as supporting its government. We do not support Netanyahu (the Israeli prime minister, ed.) as well as Trump.” At the time, the drummer of Radiohead Phil Selwayhe said about it: “I honestly don’t know. That would not have been the basis for making the decision to play there. You know, I think we stand by what we said and this seems like the right decision.”
This year another member of the Radiohead, Jonny Greenwooddivided the band’s fans by playing in Tel Aviv, the day after participating in protests calling for the release of hostages held in Gaza and for new elections. A month later, Greenwood defended the idea of being part of a musical project with Israeli musician Dudu Tassa and spoke out against “silencing Israeli artists because they were born Jews in Israel.”
Last January on the subject of Israel and Palestine the guitarist of Radiohead Ed O’Brien on his social media channels he had called for a ceasefire. “Like many of you, I found the events of October 7th and what followed too terrible to put into words… everything I have tried to write seems completely inadequate. Cease fire immediately. Return the hostages.”
