Imagine Dragons defend gigs in Israel, Azerbaijan

Imagine Dragons frontman Dan Reynolds has responded to the criticism the band have received for performing concerts in Israel and Azerbaijan.

Last year, System Of A Down’s Serj Tankian publicly petitioned the band to cancel their September 2023 concert in Azerbaijan’s capital city, Baku, citing the country’s campaign of ethnic cleansing against Armenians.

Further pressure came from Brian Eno, Thurston Moore and Pink Floyd’s Roger Waters, who shared an open letter asking Imagine Dragons to pull the show.

“Performing in Baku under these circumstances, regardless of intent, can only help the government of Azerbaijan cover up its crimes,” a section of it read.

The Las Vegas band went ahead with the Baku concert, drawing criticism from Armenian-American musician Tankian, who said he has “zero respect for those guys”.

“There are corrupt leaders and warmongers all over the world – and where do you draw the line?”

“When there’s a government that’s about to commit ethnic cleansing, when Azerbaijan was starving the 120,000 Armenians in Nagorno-Karabakh, and not allowing any food or medicine in… you know, as an artist, if I found that out, there is no fucking way I could have gone and played that show. But some artists do,” he said.

Imagine Dragons also played Israel last August – before the Supernova festival massacre – despite calls from pro-Palestine campaigners to ditch their show in Tel Aviv over the country’s human rights record.

In an interview published yesterday (2 July) on Rolling Stone, the band’s frontman Dan Reynolds addressed those decisions.

“I don’t believe in depriving our fans who want to see us play because of the acts of their leaders and their governments,” said Reynolds. “I think that’s a really slippery slope. I think the second you start to do that – there are corrupt leaders and warmongers all over the world – and where do you draw the line?”

Responding to Tankian’s comments specficially, Reynolds reiterated his position: “I think I just said it. It’s a slippery slope, and I’m never going to deprive our fans of playing for them.”

Get more stories like this in your inbox by signing up for IQ Index, IQ’s free email digest of essential live music industry news.