Vampire Weekend express support for The Mary Wallopers at Victorious Festival: “That is wrong”
Vampire Weekend used their set at Victorious Festival to express support for The Mary Wallopers, after the Irish group’s set was cut short due to them displaying a Palestine flag.
The band’s performance on August 22nd was over almost immediately due to a dispute over their display of a Palestinian flag on stage led to their sound being cut off, preventing them from playing.
The Mary Wallopers later shared video footage on social media of a crew member coming on stage as the band played their first song. The crew member began interfering with the show, removing the flag from the stage. Soon after, the sound was cut, and a “Free Palestine” chant followed from the audience.
As a result of the incident, The Last Dinner Party led a boycott of the festival, which also saw The Academic and Cliffords refuse to perform. The Last Dinner Party had been due to play before Vampire Weekend on the Castle Stage, which caused Victorious to move set times around and place unknown singer-songwriter Marley Blandford in a prominent slot.
During their headline set, Vampire Weekend frontman Ezra Koenig defended The Mary Wallopers and called out Victorious for their decision to cut the set, telling the crowd in Portsmouth: “If someone was punished for flying a flag, that is wrong and they deserve an apology.”
The Vampire Weekend frontman continued (via Portsmouth News): “The terrible suffering of the Palestinian people deserves all of our sympathy.”
Earlier in the day, Rizzle Kicks’ Jordan Stephens made a similar point at Victorious, saying, “Before we get into getting down with that, I want to tell you something else we’re down with. We are down with The Mary Wallopers.”
Stephens continued, “Any band that stands up against ethnic cleansing, apartheid, genocide, starvation, and famine should be respected, especially if they’re fucking Irish.”
Yesterday (August 23rd), Victorious issued a new statement apologising for cutting The Mary Wallopers’ set, sharing, “We didn’t handle the explanation of our policies sensitively or far enough in advance to allow a sensible conclusion to be reached. This put the band and our own team in a difficult situation which never should have arisen.”
They concluded, “We would like to sincerely apologise to all concerned.”
Victorious Festival is set to continue today with sets from Kings of Leon, Bloc Party, Reytons, Gabrielle, Melanie C, Reverend and the Makers, The Zutons, Craig David, and many more.
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