Noel Gallagher claims Glastonbury acts should focus on the music (Picture: Jim Dyson/Getty Images)
Noel Gallagher has blasted performers at Glastonbury Festival for growing too ‘woke’ and ‘preachy’.
The outspoken Oasis legend, 57, is a regular at the Worthy Farm event and partied on site over the weekend while headliners including Coldplay and Dua Lipa took to the Pyramid Stage, with artists made a string of political statements.
From flags in support of Palestine seen in the crowd to Banksy’s migrant dinghy protest, people made a stand on a number of issues – but Noel thinks enough is enough.
‘Don’t get me wrong, I f***ing love Glastonbury. 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 said on his friend Matt Morgan’s Patreon podcast.
‘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**k the Tories man,” and all that.
Palestine flags were flown at the festival (Picture: Jim Dyson/Redferns)
Serbian artist Marina Abramovi led a seven minute silence for peace (Picture: Jim Dyson/Redferns)
‘It’s like, look – play your f***ing tunes and get off.’
The Don’t Look Back In Anger hitmaker argued that the crowds listening to political messages from bands weren’t in a position to do anything about the world’s problems.
‘It’s too much. Donate all your money to the cause — that’s it, stop yapping about it. Let’s just say for instance the world is in a bit of a f***ed up place and you’re all in a field in Glastonbury.
Glastonbury is regarded as one of the most peace-loving festivals in the world (Picture: Joe Maher/Getty Images)
‘What’s the problem with that? I haven’t got a problem with it. I guess if you’re 18 and you’re middle class you might have a problem with it. But what’s all the kids in a field at Glastonbury going to do 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. What is the point of virtue-signalling?’
This week, Banksy fired back at criticism of his small boat artwork at the festival, which saw n inflatable boat filled with migrant dummies wearing orange life jackets hoisted above the crowd last Friday as Idles played, and then during Little Simz’s set the next night.
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Outgoing home secretary James Cleverly accused the iconic street artist of ‘trivialising’ migrant crossings with the artwork, telling Sky News: ‘People die in the Mediterranean, they die on the Channel. This is not funny. It is vile. This is a celebration of the loss of life in the Channel.
‘Something like that, I think, is deeply distasteful. I mean children die in the Channel because of the actions of these vile criminals and joking about it and celebrating, I think it is completely unacceptable.’
On Instagram, Banksy argued: ‘The Home Secretary called my Glastonbury boat “vile and unacceptable” which seemed a bit over the top.
‘The real boat I fund, the MV Louise Michel, rescued 17 unaccompanied children from the central Med on Monday night. As punishment, the Italian authorities have detained it – which seems vile and unacceptable to me.’
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