Just when things have finally quietened down regarding the Ed Sheeran and Macklemore debacle, a new character steps into the “should concerts be a political rally?” debate.
Weeks after the American rapper was removed from Sheeran’s Loop tour by the promoter for shouting “Free Palestine” with accompanying imagery of the devastation of war projected on a screen as he performed the anti-Israel Hind’s Hall, Metallica’s James Hetfield took aim at performers pushing their political agendas.
Thanking the audience for coming to see Metallica play in Las Vegas, the legendary metal band’s co-founder and singer/guitarist said: “I just gotta say, Metallica is not here, like some other entertainers, to influence you with their bulls***, OK?
“We are here… no bulls***… we’re here to forget about all the outside s***, OK? Metallica’s agenda is love, energy and heavy music, baby!”
And in so doing, Metallica ensured that every gig-goer would feel welcome – Jews included. Lately, the prospect of attending a concert only to find yourself at the centre of a baying crowd at an anti-Israel protest has been enough to plunge Jewish music fans into a state of anxiety – or deter them from going altogether.
For 45 years, Metallica have put their music ahead of politics, for the good of the band. Co-founder and drummer Lars Ulrich is a liberal; Hetfield is more conservative. “We came together because we were all a little lost and trying to get a sense of belonging to something bigger than ourselves,” Hetfield said in 2016. What unites them is their love of music.
Incidentally, Ulrich has some Jewish heritage. His paternal grandmother, Ulla Meyer, was Jewish and the family, therefore, faced Nazi persecution; at 15, Ulrich’s father Torben, along with his grandmother and uncle, fled occupied Denmark for Sweden in October 1943 on a fishing boat. But Hetfield’s statement had no need to invoke Ulrich’s roots. It was a universal acknowledgement that there is a time and a place for politics, and it is not in the unifying environment of a music show filled with concert-goers of all backgrounds. It was a statement that they refuse to be pulled onto the political bandwagon.
Others, too, are pushing back against the seemingly obligatory onstage political statements that risk dividing audiences. Nikki Sixx of Mötley Crüe made a similarly impassioned comment that he cares not a jot what his fans’ politics might be.
“It does not matter to Mötley Crüe if you’re a Republican. It does not matter to Mötley Crüe if you’re a Democrat. It does not f***ing matter if you’re gay or if you’re straight or if you go right down the centre of the f***ing lane in line. Because we’re all in this together. Can we agree?” The audience erupted in cheers.
And last month, Goo Goo Dolls’ frontman John Rzeznik told the American YouTube channel Everything Music that in these “weird times” he will not lecture concert-goers because fans are all there simply for the show.
“I’ve got fans from every walk of life, every political stripe, and I always stress we got one thing in common, and that’s we’re all here to see a show, and I’m not going to lecture you people about anything,” he said. “I’m going to play a bunch of songs that you know, and we’re all going to leave here and we’re going to be happier and better for it.”
He added: “I don’t care where you go to church. We all got one thing in common. That’s a start. You’ve got to work within that little Venn diagram.”
It’s a view shared by The 1975’s Matty Healy, who explained the lack of politics at his band’s own Glastonbury show in 2025 when he said, “I think we don’t need more politics – we need more love and friendship.”
So, while rock group Fontaines DC are booked to play two shows including one on Shabbat at Heaton Park – the vicinity of the murderous attack on the shul where Melvin Cravitz and Adrian Daulby were killed – where they will no doubt fill the space with keffiyehs, flags and “Free Palestine” slogans, it is a welcome reminder that not all bands feel the need to use their stage for anti-Israel propaganda.
And we have Boy George. The Culture Club’s singer’s new single, We Will Dance Again, a tribute to the victims of the October 7 Nova festival massacre inspired by his visit to the exhibition about the pogrom, was released last Friday to digital platforms Spotify and Apple Music.
While the BDS movement bangs its drum loudly, Boy George is also set to perform in Tel Aviv next month in a true show of solidarity. As he told Ireland’s The Late Late Show, “I think music is about bringing people together not separating them.”
What’s to argue about that?
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