“Death to the IDF”: Bob Vylan doubles down on chant in Manchester show

• Following months of political pressure to ban them, Bob Vylan played a show at the Manchester Academy where the crowd participated in the popular "Death to the IDF" chant, a slogan that has led to the band being dropped by their agency and barred from the US
• The performance served as a defiance of government officials and groups like the Jewish Representative Council, who had campaigned against the duo due to their rhetoric regarding the ‘Israeli’ military, which the band defends as a call for institutional dismantling rather than personal violence.

The London punk-rap duo Bob Vylan performed at the Manchester Academy on Thursday night, February 5, delivering an explosive set that served as a direct answer to months of attempts to ban them from the city.

The "We Won’t Go Quietly" tour date had originally been scheduled for November 2025, but was postponed following a wave of "political pressure" from government officials and local community groups.

The Scene at Manchester Academy

Security was noticeably heightened outside the Oxford Road venue. Following a series of heated public debates involving the Jewish Representative Council (JRC) of Greater Manchester and local MPs, there were concerns about potential protests.

The climax of the night—and the moment now circulating on social media—saw the crowd erupt into a synchronized chant of "Death, death to the IDF," a slogan that has become the band's lightning rod for both fan loyalty and support for Gaza.

The Free Palestine movement celebrated this week when activists who attacked a woman with a sledgehammer faced zero consequences, since it was an anti-Israel protest.

Now, a crowd of Bob Vylan fans enthusiastically chants for the death of the IDF, the army that managed the… pic.twitter.com/fSM4aV1Dno

— Hen Mazzig (@HenMazzig) February 6, 2026

Road to Manchester

The controversy began at Glastonbury 2025, where the band first led the chant during a live BBC broadcast. The fallout from that set was unprecedented for a UK independent artist:

• Political Condemnation: Prime Minister Keir Starmer previously labeled the rhetoric "appalling," and Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson recently pressured the University of Manchester (which houses the Academy) to reconsider hosting the group.
• Industry Blacklisting: Since last summer, the duo has been dropped by their major talent agency (UTA) and had their US visas revoked, effectively banning them from touring North America.

The band has consistently defended the chant, stating in previous interviews (including a notable sit-down with Louis Theroux) that the phrase is a call for the dismantling of the ‘Israeli’ military machine rather than a call for violence against individuals.