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Glastonbury is no stranger to mixing music with politics, and with the general election just days away and protests against the Israel-Hamas war ongoing, this year has been no exception.
Artists from Damon Albarn to Charlotte Church have been vocal about their thoughts on the war on stage – and reflected back at them, a notable number of Palestinian flags are being held aloft by those in the crowds.
Closer to home, while the looming election means planned visits by Labour’s Angela Rayner and the Greens’ Caroline Lucas were shelved, Mayor of Manchester Andy Burnham did give a speech, and installations such as a large black cube representing a ballot box, by the Just Vote campaign, are here to impress on people there is one way to make a difference.
Elsewhere, during Idles set on Friday night, an inflatable life raft with dummy migrants was propelled into the crowd – a stunt the band have reportedly claimed was orchestrated by Banksy, although there is no official word from the anonymous artist on this yet, which they were not aware of until afterwards.
While Glastonbury is about escapism, what’s going on in the wider world matters also clearly matters to a lot of people enjoying the festival.
Ahead of their set, Gossip frontwoman Beth Ditto told Sky News that as an 18-year-old, voting for the first time, no one explained to her why it mattered so much – and that it is important now to encourage younger people especially.
“Absolutely,” she said. “The hard thing about youth is that you don’t realise how fast that 20 years goes and you’re not 20 anymore. You don’t realise you only have however many elections in the next 15, 20 years, what a big difference they make.”
She continued: “It’s about the money that’s being spent for your future… there’s so much more going on, so much deeper, that really will affect you.”
However, Ditto said…
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