News

Pixies Cancel Israel Date In Wake Of Flotilla Incident

3:16 a.m. · June 7, 2010 · by Ethan Stanislawski

One crucial difference between American and British politics is the views on Israel among the left wing—whereas British liberals are overwhelmingly pro-Palestinian, in the U.S. the view is rarer outside of academia, even in liberal circles. The gap is often overlooked in music, where American and British scenes have particularly strong overlap from a national standpoint, and occaisionally it takes politics to show the divide.

The Pixies have decided to follow the lead of several British rock musicians and cancel their planned tour date in Tel-Aviv. The official statement said the cancellation came "at great regret," but did not name the recent political events in Israel as the reason. Nonetheless, commenters on the band's Facebook page as well as Israeli website YNet are already jumping to that conclusion (h/t: L.A. Times)

Multiple artists have cancelled tour dates in Israel recently. Some, like Elvis Costello, abjectly cited politics, while others like Gil-Scott Heron noted the safety concerns following protests in U.S. tour dates. Both the Klaxons and Gorillaz cancelled dates after the flotilla incident, but the Pixies, a product of Five-Colleges area of Western Massachusetts not known for their political beliefs, is the first major American band to cancel dates.

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