Glastonbury 2024: Damon Albarn shows support for Palestine and hits out at “octogenarians in control”
As Damon Albarn joined Bombay Bicycle Club on the Other Stage, he delivered the first major political message of Glastonbury Festival so far this year.
Addressing the crowd following a performance of ‘Heaven’, the former Blur man took a moment to state: “Three things, and you have to show me how you feel about them: Palestine. Are you pro-Palestine? Do you feel that’s an unfair war? Okay,“ he said as his questions were met with resounding affirmative cheers.
He then continued: “The importance of voting next week? Now, I don’t blame you for being ambivalent about that, but it’s still really important. And thirdly, maybe it is time we stopped putting octogenarians in control of the whole world.“
As cheering erupted, Albarn then remained on stage and collaborated on a stripped-back version of the Blur classic ‘Tender’ before departing. Bombay Bicycle Club then finished off with one final track in the sunshine which was very well received by a swollen crowd.
Ahead of their performance, which got underway at 17:15 on The Other Stage on June 28th, guitarist Jamie MacColl spoke exclusively with Far Out and revealed they would be joined by a “very special guest”, which proved to be Albarn.
“It feels like coming home after being away for a long time. We’re bringing a very special guest, but we can’t tell you who,” he said about returning to Pilton for the band’s first Glastonbury appearance since 2014.
MacColl also reflected on Bombay Bicycle Club’s relation with Glastonbury, explaining, “We actually first played in 2009 on the Park Stage. My memories of that gig are quite bad… It was a very sunny day, and I managed to detune the bottom string on my guitar by a semitone for most of the first song, which sounded terrible.”
Meanwhile, organiser Emily Eavis has defended Dua Lipa ahead of her headline set on the Pyramid Stage and said she was “born” to be a headliner.
“I’m looking forward to Dua Lipa tonight, you know, I feel like she’s really born to do this,” Eavis told BBC Radio 2. Eavis continued: “She’s a proper festivalgoer, she comes every year and… you can really tell whether someone really gets the festival and loves it.”
Eavis also defended the festival’s pop-heavy line-up, claiming 2024 isn’t the time to have a line-up that leans towards rock, stating, “I think the line-up reflects what’s happening in the music world at the moment – there aren’t a lot of new rock acts to choose from, if I’m honest.”
Albarn is not scheduled to appear in any other capacity at the festival this year with the main stage headliners consisting of Dua Lipa, Coldplay and SZA.
Wath Albarn’s powerful political message below.
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