Noel Gallagher has griped about what he deems to be a “preachy” and “virtue-signalling” atmosphere at this year’s Glastonbury Festival, claiming that he was perturbed by the political statements made ahead of the general election.
The rock’n’roll star has a long history with the legendary music festival, having first played there with his band Oasis in 1994. They returned a year later to headline the Pyramid Stage, then again in 2004; Gallagher has also performed at the festival as a solo artist.
This year, the High Flying Birds frontman spent Glastonbury watching bands including dance-pop group Jungle and Irish punks Kneecap, while hanging out with his friend, House of the Dragon star Matt Smith.
“Don’t get me wrong, I f***ing love Glastonbury,” he told The Sun after the festival had concluded.
“I think it’s one of the most important things. In fact, it’s probably the best f***ing thing about Britain apart from the Premier League.”
He continued: “It’s getting a bit woke now, that place, and a bit kind of preachy and a bit virtue-signalling. I don’t like it in music, little f***ing idiots waving flags around and making political statements and bands taking the stage and saying, ‘Hey guys, isn’t war terrible, yeah? Let’s all boo war. F*** the Tories man,’ and all that.
“It’s like, look, play your f***ing tunes and get off.”
Gallagher suggested that he would prefer people “donate all your money to the cause” and “stop yapping about it”.
“Everybody knows what’s going on in the f***ing world, you’ve got a phone in your pocket that tells you anyway,” he said. “What’s the point of virtue-signalling?”
Glastonbury has a long history of hosting political debates, and this year was particularly engaged due to the then-impending general election of 4 July.
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Festival founder Michael Eavis has long been a staunch campaigner for peace, and famously donated festival proceeds to the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND) in 1981.
He introduced the Green Fields three years later to raise awareness of environmental issues. Other notable campaigns having included 2005’s Make Poverty History, and 2009’s partnership with the White Ribbon Alliance’s Million Mums campaign, collecting thousands of signatures to call for an end to the needless deaths of women in childbirth.
Glastonbury has also hosted a number of political speakers, including then-Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, who appeared on the Pyramid Stage in 2017 to deliver a rousing speech that condemned nationwide poverty and paid tribute to the victims of the Grenfell Tower tragedy, which had taken place just two days earlier.
Despite MPs being forced to pull out ahead of the general election on 4 July, stars engaged in debates this year about everything from the climate crisis to the Israel-Palestine conflict.
Musicians were more succinct: rock band Idles raised eyebrows as they led their audience in chants of “F*** the King” while a small boat with models depicting young refugees – later revealed to be the work of enigmatic street artist Banksy – was floated over the crowd.
Damon Albarn appeared to swipe at both Joe Biden and Donald Trump after their dismal CNN debate performance, as well as calling on his audience to express their support for Palestine.