“Come up here and say it”: Radiohead’s Thom Yorke loses his temper in the middle of a concert after being arrested on Gaza

“Come up here and say it”: Radiohead’s Thom Yorke loses his temper in the middle of a concert after being arrested on Gaza
“Come up here and say it”: Radiohead’s Thom Yorke loses his temper in the middle of a concert after being arrested on Gaza

The British singer was attacked by a spectator over the situation in Gaza during a concert in Melbourne on Wednesday.

Annoyed, the musician asked him to go on stage, before leaving his musicians for several minutes.

Since a controversial concert in Tel Aviv in 2017, the members of Radiohead have regularly been targeted by pro-Palestinian activists.

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Israel and Hamas at war

Unexpected image this Wednesday October 30 in Melbourne. Iconic frontman of Radiohead, Thom Yorke (new window) was performing with his solo group when he stopped singing while he had just started the hit “Karma Police”, challenged by a pro-Palestinian spectator who accused him of “stay silent” in the face of the deaths of thousands of children in Gaza since the Israeli response to the October 7 attack.

On several videos circulating on social networks, we can see and hear the 56-year-old British rocker responding scathingly. “Come up here to say it, here! Get on the fucking stage and say what you have to say. But don't just stand there like a coward“, exclaims the artist, who clearly does not obtain a response. “Do you want to ruin everyone's evening? Come on ! Okay, you made it. See you later“, he says, removing his guitar before heading backstage.

The departure of Thom Yorke will then provoke cries from the public, surprised by his radical reaction. The singer will return a few minutes later to finish the song, then the concert. The angry spectator would have been evacuated in the meantime by the security service. Contacted by the local press, the artist's management has not reacted to the matter for the moment. But this incident is only half a surprise, given recent news.

Last May, Radiohead guitarist Jonny Greenwood was denounced by a group of pro-Palestinian activists after joining Israeli rocker Dudu Tassa at a concert in Tel Aviv. The musician reacted at the time by explaining that during the concert, the two men had performed love songs in Arabic, from a joint album released in 2023, in order to encourage rapprochement between peoples.

In 2017, a controversial concert in Tel Aviv

In 2017, Radiohead was criticized for playing a sold-out outdoor concert in Tel Aviv, despite an open letter from pro-Palestinian British artists asking them to desist, including Pink Floyd's Roger Waters, Thurston Moore by Sonic Youth or even director Ken Loach. The performance ultimately went as planned, before Thom Yorke responded in a statement: “Playing in a country is not the same as supporting its government. We do not support Netanyahu any more than we support Trump.”

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Thom Yorke and Jonny Greenwood just released Cutoutsthe third album from their side project, The Smile. Unlike many Anglo-Saxon artists, they refuse to comment on current events in the Middle East during their promotion. Last week, the shady singer also cooled fans about an upcoming Radiohead comeback, suggested by his accomplice in The Guardian. “I don't know and I don't really care” he told Australian media Radio J.


Jérôme VERMELIN

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