Soft Play withdraw from The Great Escape: “We support the people of Palestine”
Soft Play, formerly known as Slaves, have become the latest act to withdraw from The Great Escape in Brighton amid the festival’s sponsorship with Barclays.
The boycott was initiated by Bristolian punks The Menstrual Cramps along with promoters How to Catch a Pig, who called on The Great Escape to sever their ties with Barclays over the bank’s ties to the Israeli forces and the ongoing attack of Palestinians in Gaza following October 7th.
Speaking exclusively with Far Out last month, The Menstrual Cramps singer Emilia Elfrida said of the boycott, “Music festivals can’t go ahead without musicians, and so musicians are the ones who have the power, even though a lot of time, it doesn’t feel like that”.
The number of acts withdrawing from the festival has continued to grow as the event neared and The Great Escape maintained its partnership with Barclays, with Alfie Templeman, Warmduscher, Opus Kink, and Pop Vulture adding their names to the list.
Before The Menstrual Cramps started the boycott, Elfrida told Far Out they were in contact with The Great Escape “for nine or ten days” over the sponsorship ahead of going public with the statement and accompanying open letter.
Now, over a 100 acts have withdrawn from the new music event, which has previously served as a catapult for careers. Furthermore, notable artists such as Idles, Massive Attack and Idles, who were not set to play The Great Escape, have also supported the cause.
Soft Play, one of the most renowned acts on the line-up, will now no longer be performing in Brighton after joining the boycott. In a statement, Isaac Holman and Laurie Vincent, who are set to release their new album Heavy Jelly on July 19th, said: “We will not be playing The Great Escape festival this weekend. We do not support genocide. We support the people of Palestine and do not support the BDS movement. Apologies to everyone who got tickets to see us.”
Meanwhile, Templeman recently said of his decision not to perform at the festival: “My morals cannot and will not align with the amalgamation of entertainment and human suffering. Solidarity to everyone else on the lineup that has dropped out and used their platform to direct attention to the boycott.”
Despite the ever-growing number of acts who have withdrawn from the event, The Great Escape are still yet to publicly comment on the boycott.
Aside from The Great Escape, Barclays is also a major sponsor of the Isle of Wight Festival, as well as Latitude. Elfrida told Far Out that the boycott will extend to future music events taking place this summer, noting, “Obviously, the boycott target is Barclays, The Great Escape is just the first thing that’s coming up to do with Barclays. So anything else that is funded by Barclays in the music industry, we’re coming for them as well.”
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