Amyl and the Sniffers come out in support of Bob Vylan and Kneecap
In what might have been the most divisive Glastonbury Festival to date, the punk band Bob Vylan have come under scrutiny for leading pro-Palestinian chants during their set on Saturday, June 28th.
The BBC was streaming the band’s set when they led the chant “death to the IDF.” In response to the chant, the festival released a statement condoning Bob Vylan. They admitted that while Glastonbury Festival has historically been a place of peace, where people have embraced politics, they thought Bob Vylan’s chants went too far.
“Glastonbury Festival was created in 1970 as a place for people to come together and rejoice in music, the arts and the best of human endeavour,” the statement read. “As a festival, we stand against all forms of war and terrorism. We will always believe in—and actively campaign for—hope, unity, peace and love.”
Glastonbury also confirmed that, given the number of performers attending over the weekend, there will inevitably be some whose opinions they disagree with. “However,” they continued, “we are appalled by the statements made from the West Holts stage by Bob Vylan yesterday.”
A number of artists have since come forward in support of Bob Vylan, criticising Glastonbury and the coverage of the festival for focusing predominantly on artists speaking out about political events as opposed to the political events themselves. Fellow punk band Amyl and the Sniffers confirmed that they believe the coverage of the festival on UK media has been biased.
In a post shared to their social media, they commented on how singling out a couple of bands made it seem as though these political opinions were not shared by the majority of those in attendance at the festival.
“The British media in a [frenzy] about Bob Vylan & Kneecap but artists all weekend at Glastonbury from pop to rock to punk to rap to Djs spoke up on stage & there were tonnes of flags on every streamed set,” they wrote. “Trying to make it look like a couple of isolated incidents and a couple of ‘bad bands’ so that it appears the public isn’t as anti genocide as it is, and trying to make it look like Bob and Kneecap are one offs, instead of that the status qup has shifted majorly and that people are concerned and desperate for our govs to listen.”
The band concluded, “And if you don’t want politics in music, don’t blame the musician, blame the politicians and journalists, and the political landscape in general, for not doing their job, there’ll just be more [and] more of it until it stops.”
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