Noel Gallagher picks his Glastonbury highlight: “I couldn’t believe how enjoyable it was”
Although Noel Gallagher wasn’t performing at Glastonbury Festival this year, he was in attendance, and Irish hip-hop trio Kneecap were among his highlights of the weekend alongside LCD Soundsystem.
Gallagher last played Worthy Farm in 2022 when Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds took to the stage before Paul McCartney delivered a historic headline set on the Pyramid Stage. Furthermore, it’s a festival he headlined twice with Oasis, but this year, he had the chance to go as a festival-goer without the pressure of taking to the stage.
After arriving home from Pilton, Gallagher had a catch-up with his friend, Matt Morgan, on the latter’s Patreon exclusive podcast, and reflected on his experience.
During the television coverage of LCD Soundsystem, Gallagher was picked up by cameras watching on from the side of the stage. On their show, he said, “I always felt they were like Talking Heads without the tunes, but then I seen them and I thought they were fucking brilliant. I’d never seen them before and thought they were absolutely fucking great.”
Gallagher then revealed he saw Jungle who he is a “fan of” and “thought were great” when they headlined the West Holts Stage on June 28th. However, it was Kneecap that shocked Gallagher the most and converted him to a fan on the farm.
While he wasn’t in attendance for their set on the Woodsies Stage, Gallagher made it to their late-night performance in the Shangri-La area, which saw Grian Chatten from Fontaines D.C. perform ‘Better Way To Live’ with Kneecap for the first time.
“We went to see this Northern Irish street kids called Kneecap. They’re kind of pro Republican rappers,” he told Morgan.
The High Flying Birds musician continued: “We get there and the tent is absolutely fucking smashed packed. You couldn’t get in. These three lads walk out, one of them is in a balaclava and they rap in Gaelic. They’ve got a song called ‘Get Your Brits Out’. There’s a lot of humour to it. I mean I couldn’t believe how enjoyable it was. Being of Irish heritage I found that quite funny and they were really, really good.”
However, it was an old friend of Gallagher’s, DJ Goldie, that took the title of his favourite performance of the weekend. “I tell you who was the best that I saw was Goldie,” he said. “He was on at like midnight somewhere in some tent, obviously he does the drum ‘n’ bass thing live with two drummers and it’s a live band. Fuck me.”
Gallagher then went on to describe Goldie’s band as including “two of the most astonishing drummers you’ll ever see in your fucking life”.
The former Oasis guitarist’s likening for Kneecap is no surprise, considering the Irish trio are experts at causing mischief. In a recent interview with Far Out, the band’s Móglaí Bap said: “If art can court controversy, I think that’s a good thing because that is the role of art within society.”
The rapper continued: “I think there is a lack of that (controversy) in the music industry because people want to impress major labels. We were approached by some major labels before we signed with Heavenly, who are amazing and stand by what we do. They said from day one, they’re not going to stop us how we approach art and our politics.”
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