If there’s one musician you wouldn’t expect to find at the forefront of a national controversy, it would be Nick Cave. But now the beloved Aussie icon is at the centre of an international debate in regards to his decision to bring his band to Israel next month.
Currently, Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds are out on tour in Europe in support of their newest album, Skeleton Tree. Next month sees their tour hit up Israel, where the band is set to play two shows in Tel Aviv on November 19th and 20th, a move which has angered many due to these dates being seen as the band supporting the Israeli government’s treatment of Palestinians.
As NME reports, Artists For Palestine UK, which counts Pink Floyd’s Roger Waters, Sonic Youth’s Thurston Moore, and TV On The Radio’s Tunde Adebimpe amongst its members, has released an open letter to Cave, pleading with him to reconsider his choice.
“Domination means Palestinian writers under house arrest. Literary festivals broken up. Travel bans for actors and musicians. Social media under surveillance. Media centres raided and plundered. The normalized use of military force against a captive population. The steady expansion of illegal settlements,” the group wrote in their open letter to Nick Cave.
Read the full article by Tyler Jenke at Tone Deaf.