Radiohead have announced their first live shows in seven years – but are now facing boycotts from pro-Palestine fans after guitarist Jonny Greenwood performed in Tel Aviv. 

The band confirmed today that they would be playing at venues this winter across Europe and in London, including a four-day residency at The O2 arena in November.

But pro-Palestine fans have threatened to boycott the tour after guitarist Jonny Greenwood performed in Israel in May last year. 

Greenwood played at the Barby Club in Tel Aviv in 2024 with Israeli musician Dudu Tassa whom he had collaborated with on their 2023 album, Jarak Qaribak. 

The album included reworkings of Middle Eastern love songs recorded in Tel Aviv and Oxfordshire and the ensemble also featured musicians from Syria, Lebanon, Kuwait and Iraq.

Greenwood previously defended his choice to play in festivals in Europe with Tassa, saying in a statement: ‘I’ve been collaborating with Dudu and releasing music with him since 2008 – and working privately long before that. 

‘I think an artistic project that combines Arab and Jewish musicians is worthwhile. And one that reminds everyone that Jewish cultural roots in countries like Iraq and Yemen go back for thousands of years, is also important.’

He added: ‘Silencing Israeli artists for being born Jewish in Israel doesn’t seem like any way to reach an understanding between the two sides of this apparently endless conflict.’  

Pictured (left to right): Jonny Greenwood, Dudu Tassa and lead Radiohead singer Thom Yorke

Greenwood played at the Barby Club in Tel Aviv in 2024 with Israeli musician Dudu Tassa whom he had collaborated with on their 2023 album, Jarak Qaribak

The Tel Aviv performance came after Greenwood joined protests in Israel calling for the removal of Israeli president Benjamin Netanyahu and for the release of hostages held by Hamas.

But Pro-Palestine fans responded with plans to boycott before the band had even confirmed the tour dates and venues.

The Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement instructed their followers in a post today to boycott any future Radiohead concerts ‘until the group convincingly distances itself, at a minimum, from Jonny Greenwood’s crossing of our peaceful picket line during Israel’s genocide against Palestinians in Gaza’.

The post, which came before any dates had officially been confirmed, continued: ‘Even as Israel’s genocide against Palestinians in Gaza reaches its latest, most brutal and depraved phase of induced starvation, Radiohead continues with its complicit silence, while one member repeatedly crosses our picket line, performing a short drive away from a livestreamed genocide, alongside an Israeli artist that entertains genocidal Israeli forces.’

Earlier this year, Greenwood and Tassa’s collective had to cancel two UK performances after reports of credible threats to the gigs.

Greenwood said at the time that they ‘dread the weaponisation of this cancellation by reactionary figures as much as we lament its celebration by some progressives’. 

Radiohead performed in Tel Aviv on their last tour in July 2017, despite calls to cancel the performance. 

Lead singer, Thom Yorke, said in response that ‘playing in a country isn’t the same as endorsing its government.’ 

The band confirmed today that they would be playing at venues this winter across Europe and in London, including a four-day residency at The O2 arena in November

Pro-Palestine followers took to social media to encourage a boycott of the upcoming winter tour, with some even calling the band ‘zionists’. 

One user said: ‘Ten bucks to anyone who wears a keffiyeh to the 2025 radiohead tour. Twenty bucks if Thom notices it.’

Another said: ‘I’m glad I saw them when I was 18 – don’t think I can ever listen to Radiohead the same way again.’

In October last year, Yorke walked off stage during a solo concert in Melbourne, Australia, after being heckled with pro-Palestinian remarks by an audience member. 

The lead singer responded: ‘Come up here and say that … hop up on the fucking stage and say what you wanna say.’ 

The protester then yelled back: ‘How many dead children will it take for you to condemn the genocide in Gaza?’ causing Yorke to end the show.

Lead singer Thom Yorke playing in Melbourne, Australia, on October 29, 2024 – a concert he ended early due to a heckler 

Radiohead have not played a live show in seven years – but now face boycotts from pro-Palestine fans 

Fans today met the news of a new Radiohead tour after seven years with mixed emotions. 

Some fans were delighted, with one user posting: ‘At some point I thought I might never see these guys together on a stage again…But they’re back. And I’ll be there.’

Others added: ‘Radiohead is a bucket list show for me’ and begged for Radiohead to play in their countries. 

But pro-Palestine fans responded to the new tour confirmation with plans to boycott the band. 

One X user said: ‘Everybody’s free palestine until it’s time to give hundreds of euros to radiohead, lmao – clowns.’

Another said: ‘I love radiohead’s music and they’re one of the bands I’ve always wanted to see but they’ve been specifically called out to be boycotted by palestinians and the BDS and we can’t just ignore that.’

In May this year, Thom Yorke released a statement about the war in Gaza, saying that Netanyahu and his administration ‘need to be stopped’ and that Hamas ‘chooses too to hide behind the suffering of its people’. 

Yorke said that the Melbourne concert had not seemed like the right moment to ‘discuss the unfolding humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza’ and that afterwards he was shocked to see his ‘supposed silence … somehow being taken as complicity’. 

Thom Yorke previously walked off stage after an encounter with a pro-Palestine audience member

He added that he thought it would be ‘self-evident’ from his music ‘that I could not possibly support any form of extremism or dehumanisation of others.’

Radiohead’s Ed O’Brien did an Instagram post in July in support of the controversial Irish rap trio Kneecap – which similarly drew comment from a fan about Radiohead’s stance on Israel. 

O’Brien replied: ‘My brothers abhor what is going on in Gaza. 

‘Just because they aren’t all over social media or using the exact wording that some feel is necessary does not mean they aren’t genuinely upset and angered by what is going on.’ 

O’Brien added that ‘the algorithm feeds division and it’s not a place that many of us feel comfortable expressing our anger’. 

The plans by pro-Palestinians to boycott Radiohead’s new tour follows accusations that Coldplay lead singer Chris Martin ‘dehumanised’ Jewish fans he brought on stage last Sunday after they were booed for revealing that they were from Israel. 

The singer, 48, brought two gig-goers on stage on Sunday evening after apparently catching sight of their sign which read ‘We Believe In Magic’ – a reference to the band’s hit song.

But the pair, named as Avia and Tal, were booed by the audience for revealing they were from Israel. 

Coldplay’s Chris Martin has been accused of ‘dehumanising’ a pair of Israeli fans on stage after describing them as ‘equal humans on Earth’

After learning that they were from Israel, Martin said he wanted to greet any Palestinian fans in the crowd too, which drew loud cheers

Martin then appeared to attempt to placate the crowd by also greeting Palestinian fans in the audience, which drew what sounded like louder cheers. But this was also criticised by Jewish groups.

The awkward exchange at Wembley began as the singer told the fans: ‘I’m going to say this: I’m very grateful that you’re here as humans, and I’m treating you as equal humans on Earth regardless of where you come from or don’t come from.

‘Thank you for being here. We’re grateful. And thank you for being loving and kind.’

The singer then inspected their sign and added to the crowd: ‘Although it’s controversial maybe, I also want to welcome people in the audience from Palestine, out of the belief we’re all equal humans.’

Addressing the pair, Martin continued: ‘I believe that we’re all… that people are human. Thank you for being here. We’re very happy to see you.

‘Look at your beautiful green eyes. We have a song called Green Eyes. We should re-sing it for you.’

After the show, one of the Israeli women who went up on stage told broadcaster, Kan, that she had had doubts about revealing her identity to the crowd.

‘There was a split second that we considered saying we are from Malta, and then I said Israeli,’ she said in the interview, per the Jewish Chronicle.

‘We couldn’t and didn’t want to lie. It was a bit scary that 90,000 people know we are from here, but we said it.’

The footage, which has since gone viral, has enraged a host of pro-Israeli social media users who criticised Martin for failing to defend the girls when they were met with the sound of boos.

The Creative Community for Peace, which works to counter antisemitism, branded the moment as ‘shameful’. It had previously praised Martin’s comments at a Toronto concert.

They wrote on X: ‘At a Coldplay concert, two Israeli girls were booed simply for saying they were from Israel. And instead of defending them, Chris Martin ‘balanced’ it by greeting ‘Palestine’ then told the girls, ‘we are treating you as humans of this earth.’