More Glastonbury Hysteria?

A few thoughts on the Kneecap and Bob Vylan situations

I was going to save any more comments about Glastonbury for my weekly Newsletter but there’s a lot to unpack with the Bob Vylan and Kneecap sets yesterday.

These last few weeks listening to BBC Radio 4 has been nauseating due to the lack of balanced discussion surrounding Kneecap’s appearance. At best commentators have defended their right to free speech or have pointed out that the genocide in Gaza is the bigger story - but nobody I have heard on there has really understood anything about the group themselves. It’s like they all got their opinion from a story in the Spectator, although I also read a ridiculously tone deaf story about them in the New Statesman.

If you discuss Kneecap without trying to unpack their levels of ironic humour you’ve missed the point. If you talk about them without the context of growing up in West Belfast (and Derry) then you’ve missed the point. That doesn’t just mean labelling them “terrorist sympathisers” because “they” wear balaclavas with the Irish tricolour (I mean no “they” don’t) and are called Kneecap - as I heard on there just this week.

Kneecap are not a “political group” and never have been. They’re lads from republican families in West Belfast (and Derry) mostly rapping about taking drugs and partying. Of course they are influenced by the cultural and political complications that growing up in those areas brings. Rapping in the Irish language is definitely a part of that, the harsh dark undertones to some of their humour is undoubtedly included and there are admittedly some republican references in their lyrics. The first track of theirs I heard was called ‘Get Your Brits Out’ which definitely got my attention but if you look at the translation to it, they’re rapping about taking loyalists out on the town to try and forget about their differences - and taking way too many ecstasy pills. Hardly militant stuff.

Although you could argue that their seemingly controversial stance on Palestine is directly connected to their belief that Northern Ireland is under British occupation, they’re far from alone in feeling the deep sense of injustice at the genocide in Gaza and the way that governments such as our own have handled the situation. Many people joined them at West Holts not for their music, but because they agree with their shouts of “Free Palestine” and are frustrated at the heavy gaslighting from the Labour party and the British press surrounding it. Kneecap have become scapegoats and pawns in a much bigger political game which includes creeping authoritarianism, Islamophobia and ever more war and violence in the Middle East. I still stand by my statement that Kneecap are not a political group, but their very existence has become hugely political. By calling for their Glastonbury set to be pulled, Kier Starmer made their appearance political. I’m grateful that the festival did not bow to that pressure - though will Kneecap be invited back in future? I’m also happy that the BBC did post their set afterwards.

It’s wild to think that just 8 years ago the leader of the Labour party stood on the Pyramid Stage to an over capacity crowd and chants of “Oooooh Jeremy Corbyn” and now the current leader is being lambasted at the same festival with three separate rounds of, “F**k Kier Starmer” in just one performance.

Yesterday in a conversation about the controversy I said, “wait until these people see Bob Vylan.” This was before they’d played, I just knew something would happen. Unfortunately I missed the show itself when it was streamed and they haven’t put it back up at the time of writing this. However I saw and heard all of the news stories afterwards. From my understanding, after getting the West Holts crowd to shout “Free, Free Palestine” Bobby Vylan came up with another chant, “Death, Death, Death to the IDF.”

As usual there’s no sense of nuance or understanding in any of the coverage but to be clear first of all, I don’t back that slogan. I also don’t believe for one second that the majority of people in the crowd would back the actuality of what was said, even if they responded to the call. There is a huge difference between a political rally and a punk performance and frustration expressed as violence in music is rarely an actual call for violence. To treat it as such is disingenuous but with a platform as big as a BBC broadcast then a lot of context can be lost on a wider audience and that should be taken into consideration by both the broadcaster and the band.

I think “Death to the IDF” is too brutal and blunt for a situation where nuance and understanding are everything - but let’s not lose sight of the brutality that led to the chant. Israel has national service and I don’t hold all of the IDF soldiers accountable for the actions of those who are committing horrific war crimes and their ruling government. I can’t speak for Bob Vylan as to their views on that, but I also wouldn’t agree with calling for death to anyone. I believe in resistance but there are many layers to that, just as there are many layers to the rules of war in general - those rules are being broken and frustration is high. There’s a dangerous duality to the discourse now. I’ve seen some horrific anti-semitism dressed up as pro-Palestine sentiment and plenty of awful Islamophobic crap throughout. Nobody is more to blame for this than Netanyahu and the Likud party, though Hamas should never be forgiven for their part in it and anyone propping up the genocide either politically or militarily is complicit.

Bob Vylan should be challenged for what they said for sure and due to the fact it was broadcast on the BBC we should have a national debate surrounding it. However I don’t believe that will happen in a proper and balanced way. People are already being forced into oppositional stances on it and both sides are in danger of compromising their arguments because of that. Glastonbury has once again been dragged into the culture wars and with our political climate being ever pulled further to the right things aren’t looking pretty for the next few years.

Of course there’s been a lot of other great things happening at the festival and I’ll touch on some of those in my Newsletter tomorrow (or Tuesday latest). I’ll leave you with this clip from the Kneecap show, though it’s a shame the BBC haven’t put up ‘Harrow Road’ on its own yet. I love that beat which samples Danny Weed’s classic grime instrumental ‘Creeper’ and Kneecap brought out their only guest on the set for it - Jelani Blackman. You’ll have to watch the whole thing to see it I guess.