Bristol music venue Strange Brew has issued a formal apology to British Jewish band Oi Va Voi, saying it was a “mistake” to cancel their show earlier in the year.
Oi Va Voi – alongside special guest Zohara – were due to play at Strange Brew on May 21, 2025, when the venue says it made a “last minute decision to cancel [the] performance following complaints about the band from activist groups, including about Zohara’s solo album artwork”.
Yesterday, November 19, Strange Brew wrote via Instagram: “We have reflected on this decision and have realised that we made a mistake in doing so. We recognise that Oi Va Voi was likely only subjected to this level of scrutiny, and Zohara’s album artwork interpreted negatively, because they are a Jewish band performing with an Israeli singer.”
The statement continued: “Oi Va Voi are musicians, not activists. They have no political affiliations and, as far as we are aware, have never made any political statements, be it in their music or otherwise.”
We also want to call out to all music venues that, regardless of the tragic events that have unfolded in the Middle East, we should not hold Jewish artists, wherever they may be from, to a higher standard by demanding they account for the actions of others or let the current conflict effectively exclude Jewish acts from our venues
Strange Brew
Strange Brew has commented that the decision to prevent Oi Va Voi from performing on the “basis of conjecture by another group about their views” was “not in line with our values”.
The statement continued: “Even if [Oi Va Voi] did hold such views, we recognise that under the Equality Act performers cannot be excluded from our venue based on their nationality or ethnicity, or their philosophical or religious opinions and beliefs which are worthy of respect in a democratic society, even if some people are opposed to those views.”
The venue has said it has now “implemented compulsory antisemitism training for our senior management via the Antisemitism Policy Trust and have made a donation to the Community Security Trust, which works to protect British jews from antisemitism.”
It says it has “resolved the situation amicably with Oi Va Voi.”
In a statement online, Oi Va Voi said they “welcomed” the apology. You can read the full post below:
6 months to the day from when our show at Strange Brew in Bristol was cancelled, the venue have released a statement accepting that they were wrong to cancel the show.
— Oi Va Voi (@oivavoimusic) November 19, 2025
The venue’s statementhttps://t.co/P7KUNeZIPY
Our responsehttps://t.co/VeoMhQXnUM pic.twitter.com/fp5mXTSOG9
As part of its message, Strange Brew also called on other music venues to take note.
“We also want to call out to all music venues that, regardless of the tragic events that have unfolded in the Middle East, we should not hold Jewish artists, wherever they may be from, to a higher standard by demanding they account for the actions of others or let the current conflict effectively exclude Jewish acts from our venues. Jewish people have greatly enriched the uK’s music and arts scenes, helping shape its sounds and stories. Losing this vital source of creativity would be a real loss for the country.”
