The bandmembers themselves didn't talk to us for hours. The show has been organized by an external promoter. They only talked to him. He told us that they knew about our no national flag policy but they don't care. We asked to talk to the band by ouselves to explain and to find a solution but they refused.

They didn't want to speek with us. The band just started talking to us around 7pm (when the doors should open for the show) to let us know that they will not play without the flag on stage.

We tried to explain our policy to them by ourselves and assured them several times, that they are free to speek on stage as long as it it not inhumane. We didn't censore the band neither their political message. We also told them that we support the Palestinian community (and others) since years, therefore we regularely offer our space and pesent artists from various regions, so that the band can get an impression about us, our space and our aims. Also therefore we talked about our past and upcoming events, who played at Gretchen and which crews did or do their events here. And that lots of them support Palestinians or express solidarity for them on stage. They insisted on the flag. They didn't ask us for a banner.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 week ago

So the venue says they have a consistent no-flag policy that all performers are made aware of in advance (via their management). They venue also says clearly that they were never asked by the band if an alternative banner could be flown.

The band makes a statement on TikTok, which to me sounded a little performative, that contradicts the venues statement. They begin with the unusual disclaimer that they don't speak on behalf of their management. Also, the flag which they say is so important to them, they are holding upside down. Their support of Palestine began around December 2024.

Something is really off here.