Soft Play explain decision to play Benicàssim despite controversial KKR ownership: “It’s a very tricky situation”
Soft Play have confirmed they will still play Benicàssim despite the festival’s parent company being bought out by KKR.
KKR became the parent company of Superstruct Entertainment, which owns a whole host of festivals including Field Day, Mighty Hoopla, Benicàssim, Sónar, Sziget, Lost Village, and Boardmasters, after acquiring the company in a deal reportedly worth $1.3 billion in 2024.
KKR is an investment group with financial ties to the Coastal GasLink pipeline and several Israeli corporations operating in the occupied Palestinian territories.
As a result of KKR’s involvement, festivals such as Sónar, Field Day, and Mighty Hoopla all distanced themselves from their owners by releasing statements that clarified that they were still independently run events. Notably, Mighty Hoopla said KKR’s purchase of Superstruct was “a transaction that we were not involved with and had no knowledge of until its completion” and branded it an “unethical” investment group.
Several artists pulled out of performing at Field Day due to KKR. However, Soft Play, who previously boycotted The Great Escape in 2024 due to Barclays’ involvement, remain committed to perform on the Costa del Azahar.
Explaining their position, Soft Play wrote on Instagram: “We are receiving a lot of questions about our performance this weekend at Benicassim. It is important to us and our fans that we share our stance and that is; we are going to play. The investment fund kr, the company in question with ties to Israel, bought a major stake in superstruct, who are a group that own a huge number of major festivals. This includes FiB.”
They continued: “Festivals belonging to superstruct are independently run and they themselves have no control over these ties or who indeed buys the umbrella company. Our concern is that if we start boycotting every festival with ties to these kind of companies, we will deplatform ourselves and not have a stage to shout about the Palestinian people on.”
The duo also honestly explained how the festival circuit is a vital source of income for bands, stating, “It is also important to say at this point these festivals are also the main way a band like ours makes a living to support ourselves and our families. Without them our band couldn’t operate. It’s a very tricky situation but currently we believe getting out there and spreading our continued dismay at the genocide being commited by Israel and our solidarity with the Palestinian people is ultimately going to do more than cancelling our performance and sitting at home.”
Soft Play concluded: “We have asked FiB to directly address the conversation with us too as we want to know their personal stance. However, in reply they sent a blanket superstruct statement. It is not ideal and we would like them to make their personal stance clearer. They should be doing more.”
The punk duo are set to perform at Benicàssim on July 17th. Other acts performing across the weekend include headliners Foster The People, 30 Seconds to Mars, and The Black Keys as well as Bloc Party, Lambrini Girls, Hard Life, Hinds and Olly Alexander.
Far Out has contacted Benicàssim for comment.
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