Stevie G: Controversy reigns at Glastonbury

Glastonbury 2025 proved to be hugely controversial last weekend. 

For many members of the 200,000 strong crowd, they were probably too busy enjoying themselves to even have been aware of this controversy, which raged online for most of the weekend. Thankfully, watching a gig in the real world is immeasurably better than watching clips on the BBC, but at times at the weekend, many of us were left wondering just how far much of the commentary is removed from the real world itself.

Music artists did what music artists have always done. Many spoke out on the situation in Palestine, many did not, but the UK establishment failed miserably at trying to censor the message. Most notably at the outset of this weekend, Kneecap were the obvious target. Even the British Prime Minister Keir Starmer had weighed in beforehand, saying they should not play, and he was one of many who was subjected to ridicule by the Belfast group on stage.

After the weekend, on Monday morning, Kneecap announced another high-profile gig, headlining the Electric Picnic here in Ireland at the end of the summer.

Kneecap at Glastonbury had been a dominant story for weeks, and looked set to continue to be the story, as the BBC censored their set and refused to show it live. Performing in front of a sea of Palestinian flags and many Irish tricolours, Kneecap were typically unfazed and started their set with a Public Enemy or NWA-styled montage of negative media clips about the group on the big screen. In the rap game, it’s always been a case of valuable publicity that money can’t buy, and all the while, the BBC’s attempt to control the narrative fell flat on its face when some random lady (Helen from Wales) live-streamed the set on TikTok to a huge audience.

Then, against all the odds, at one point on Saturday evening, Kneecap were not even the main story any more. To Kneecap’s own credit, they have consistently advocated for Palestine and other subjects, and never wanted to be the story anyway. The situation over in Palestine is the real story, not Kneecap or Glastonbury or the BBC. 

As the BBC censored Kneecap an even bigger controversy erupted when little-known British punk rapper Bobby Vylan led crowds in a chant against the IDF that went out live on the BBC. The fake moral outrage that followed from the British establishment was predictable, as they responded to what was a figurative statement by again steering the conversation away from the real victims of this situation in Gaza. The moral hand wringing and faux outrage has hardly let up since, and the campaign again Vylan has spread to the US, who have revoked his working VISA ahead of a forthcoming tour.

Meanwhile, the regular generational arguments continued as many of the younger artists refreshingly added to prime slots were dismissed by mainly middle-aged men because they weren’t the same kind of music that they grew up to 30 years ago. It’s a boring argument, that’s been waging for decades, and it’s mad that the ‘real music’ argument still exists 60 years after Dylan went electric at Newport.

I guess the sight of many young people enjoying Charli XCX was too much for some grumpy old men.

Robert Smith of the Cure is certainly not one of them, and rather than moan about the new generation, he gracefully joined Olivia Rodrigo for her headline set, where the duo performed two of his classics in what was one of the weekend’s highlights.

Meanwhile, online, the old men were embracing Rod Stewart, who bizarrely recently asked his fans to support Nigel Farage’s right-wing Reform platform. Kneecap pointedly responded that “Rod Stewart is older than Israel”.

I didn’t watch much of the festival myself but was delighted to see Doechii win some more fans over on her own headlining set, which showed her vocal prowess against the backdrop of an impressive stage show. Doechii hasn’t even released her own full album yet, but she’s got a big catalogue of music, and her ability on the mic is first class.

On a weekend where many viewers were complaining about the lack of authenticity amongst the younger acts, even some of the older critics were impressed. And to be fair, it was mostly the younger acts using and risking their platform to speak up too, regardless of the consequences.