Radar festival in Manchester confirmed this week that headliners Bob Vylan had been dropped from the line-up, with co-organiser Catherine Jackson-Smith explaining the decision
Radar festival’s co-organiser has detailed the difficult decision to drop Bob Vylan from the line-up, following the band’s controversial Glastonbury performance. The punk duo cause outrage last weekend inciting chants of “death to the IDF”, with the gig broadcast live on BBC iPlayer. Since, the BBC has issued an apology, while politicians also condemned the broadcast.
The band’s next scheduled gig had been at Manchester’s Radar festival on Saturday, July 5. However just days before their headline slot, the festival confirmed they had been dropped.
Now, festival co-organiser Catherine Jackson-Smith has admitted the festival “didn’t want to pull them”, but “it was out of our hands”.
Speaking on 2 Promoters, 1 Pod, Catherine said: “We have announced that Bob Vylan have had to be pulled. That is out into the ether, has been pretty badly received from our fans which we have every sympathy with.
“We didn’t want to pull them. It was out of hour hands. Sometimes things are bigger than you are and it’s just been a s***-uation.”
Catherine explained that it soon became clear that there was more to think about than just the festival.
“As someone that owns a venue, I completely sympathise and understand the principle that come Monday morning [after the festival], they still have to have an income, they can’t have their license revoked or themselves shut down or police issues,” she said.
Catherine continued: “It became apparent that there was not an option for Bob Vylan to step on stage on Saturday, and that became apparent at the beginning of the week.
“We spoke to Bob Vylan themselves and their team left at that point, and that was categorically one of the most horrendous professional discussions I’ve ever had.
“I cannot express clearly enough that I wanted Bob Vylan to perform at our festival.”
She continued: “We wanted a band to play at our festival and were constrained to the point that there was no option for the other 41 bands to come and play at a festival, if there wasn’t a festival.
“The choice was either, put very bluntly to us – we could continue with Bob Vylan as our headliner, if we continued with Bob Vylan as our headliner we wouldn’t have the festival happening on Saturday. Friday and Sunday would be unaffected. But on Saturday that festival would not be allowed to open doors.
“If Bob Vylan was not on the bill any longer, then everything was carrying on as normal.”
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Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk
