Noel Gallagher brands Glastonbury Festival 'woke' as Oasis star blasts 'virtue-signalling' acts
Oasis' Noel Gallagher branded Glastonbury Festival as 'woke' amid political statements chanted on stage by some acts.
Oasis star Noel Gallagher has described Glastonbury Festival as "kind of preachy and a bit virtue-signalling," even though the festival has supported left-wing political causes for over 50 years.
The guitarist previously spoke about the festival in a podcast interview, stating: "It's getting a bit woke now, that place, and a bit kind of preachy and a bit virtue-signalling.
"I don't like it in music - little f**king idiots waving flags around and making political statements and bands taking the stage and saying, 'Hey guys, isn't war terrible, yeah? Let's all boo war. F**k the Tories man,' and all that. It's like, look – play your f**king tunes and get off."
Noel, continued speaking to Matt Morgan on his podcast, saying: "Donate all your money to the cause – that's it, stop yapping about it"
"Let's just say, for instance, the world is in a bit of a f**ked up place … what's all the kids in a field at Glastonbury going to do about it? Everybody knows what's going on in the f**king world, you've got a phone in your pocket that tells you anyway," he expressed.
"What is the point of virtue-signalling?'
The 58-year-old regularly attends the festival at Worthy Farm, and made his first solo appearance in 2022 fronting Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds, the Express reports.
Noel's opinion on the festival, and his comments from the podcast have resurfaced on X, formally known as Twitter. With one user writing: "He's spot on, same goes for actors. Stick to supporting cancer or animal shelters."
As a second said: "Not the greatest Oasis fan but agree 100 percent with Noel."
A third user simply stated: "He's 100% right. The US has become like that at shows. Just play your music we came to see. If we wanted to hear about the news we would have stayed home and watched the news on tv. Concerts are where we escape that s**t and come as one to hear great music."
The comments resurfacing come after Glastonbury organisers themselves said they were "appalled" by the statements made by Bobby Vylan, of punk duo Bob Vylan, during their set on Saturday.
The performer led crowds at the West Holts Stage in chants of "death, death to the IDF," meanwhile Irish rap group Kneecap performance is reportedly being assessed by police following an X-rated blast aimed at Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer, and leading chants of "F**k Starmer."
As the festival released a statement, earlier today which stated: "With almost 4,000 performances at Glastonbury 2025, there will inevitably be artists and speakers appearing on our stages whose views we do not share, and a performer's presence here should never be seen as a tacit endorsement of their opinions and beliefs."
"However, we are appalled by the statements made from the West Holts stage by Bob Vylan yesterday. Their chants very much crossed a line and we are urgently reminding everyone involved in the production of the Festival that there is no place at Glastonbury for antisemitism, hate speech or incitement to violence."
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South Wales Guardian
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Glasgow Times
22 minutes ago
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