Latest news with #ProtectBrockwellPark
The Guardian
24-05-2025
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
‘I honestly don't know what's going to happen next': Brockwell Park festival row ignites debate over public space
Public parks have been a cherished part of British life since the 19th century; for the Victorians they represented a 'commitment to cultivate public good within the public realm'. But differing interpretations of this vision for municipal green space are at the heart of a debate over a very 21st-century issue: music festivals. This week, the row over mass music gatherings in Brockwell Park, south London, has injected fresh impetus into some age-old questions: exactly what are public parks for, who should have access to them and for how long? On one side stand the thousands of festivalgoers who attend the events in south London. On the other is Protect Brockwell Park (PBP), the campaign group that counts celebrities such as Mark Rylance among their number and won a high court victory a week ago against Lambeth council whose decision to grant festival organisers use of the park was deemed 'irrational'. PBP's argument is one of proportion. Festivals are fine in principle, as long as there aren't too many. But their critics have questioned whether a small but powerful group should be able to limit the enjoyment of so many. The author Emma Warren who is attending City Splash at the park on bank holiday Monday, points out that the high court verdict came in the same week the supreme court ruled people have the legal right to wild camp on Dartmoor. 'This is being billed as the need for collective space versus protection of nature,' says Warren. 'But actually, I see it as part of a long-established pattern. This is about a small number of people trying to limit a larger number of people's access to space.' For Jen Hawkins of PBP, however, the ruling represents a much needed marker laid down. 'A few years ago they reached a kind of a happy medium whereby, yes, it annoyed a few people, but it was tolerable, and it wasn't fencing off people from their precious green space,' she says. 'I think this last year was a tipping point when the ground was completely trashed for the whole of spring and summer.' This weekend, thousands will attend the Mighty Hoopla festival in Brockwell Park, when Daniel Bedingfield will belt out his garage classic Gotta Get Thru This. On Saturday, the chorus might just carry a bit more weight than usual for organiser's whose resolve is being tested. The Brockwell Park row is already taking place against a backdrop of the rising costs of putting on events, which led a record 72 events being postponed, canceled, or folded in 2024 as ticket prices soared. Despite the challenges, the festivals persist. Wide Awake and the Mighty Hoopla are part of seven events taking place in Brockwell Park. Victoria Park in Tower Hamlets hosts All Points East and Lido; Gunnersbury Park welcomes several gigs including the Smashing Pumpkins, independent dance music festival Waterworks and Fearne Cotton's Happy Place festival; while Crystal Palace sees a series of concerts, including a sold out show by Deftones and Weezer. Hawkins insists PBP are not 'anti-festival'. The group would like to see the Brockwell Park dates moved to later in the year so the park is accessible in summer, an ecological assessment of the impact the events have and the introduction of 'fallow' years. John Rostron, the CEO of the Association of Independent Festivals, says organisers already have to meet a long list of requirements to get licences. 'You have to go through the local authority, which is a representation of the local community, to get a licence and meet all of the relevant health, safety, crime and disorder targets,' he says. 'You can do all of that work but it doesn't mean that every single person is going to be satisfied. We're giving a lot of air time to the handful that are dissatisfied.' 'Is it a nuisance to gather and listen to music together, or is it a nuisance to complain about that behaviour?' asks Warren. 'It strikes me that the idea that a small number of very opinionated and unelected people can stop collective and communal activity is very culturally specific. Globally, this is not normal.' The issue of who uses public spaces and for how long isn't limited to the capital: in Liverpool there is a live debate about Radio 1's Big Weekend taking over Sefton Park in the city this summer. PBP says their campaign is about holding Lambeth council to account and claiming back space from the big companies that own some festivals. The Mighty Hoopla was bought by Superstruct in 2023 whose parent company was in turn purchased last summer by the American private equity giants KKR and CVC. Some acts have pulled out of Field Day, citing KKR's holdings in Israel, while campaigners called for the event to 'publicly distance itself' from the investment firm. Mighty Hoopla put out its own statement, which said: ' … we wish to state our clear opposition to KKR's unethical investments.' Hawkins argues that only 'a tiny amount of money' is going back into the park, with the vast majority going to the companies. 'They're the real winners out of this,' she says. At present all the scheduled events will take place in Brockwell Park, starting with Wide Awake festival on Friday after the council submitted a new application, but more legal challenges could emerge as the summer progresses. 'I honestly do not know what's going to happen next,' says Hawkins. 'I'd like to think it really has set a precedent for future years, both for Brockwell Park and hopefully other public parks across the country, that councils can't misuse their planning powers and get away with it.' Donatus Anyanwu, a Lambeth councillor and cabinet member for stronger communities, said: 'Overall, we believe our events create an important cultural offer for our young and creative borough, while also enabling us to keep London's biggest free community festival, the Lambeth Country Show, as a free and safe event.'
The Guardian
24-05-2025
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
Kneecap review – rap trio remain unbowed by terror charge
Wide Awake festival has not been having it easy. It kicks off the Brockwell Live series of one-day festivals, but last week a residents group, Protect Brockwell Park, won a legal case against Lambeth council over the planning of the events. Protect Brockwell Park had argued the live events would damage the south London park's ecology and put the public space out of use for local people; Brockwell Live stated that they 'take our stewardship of Brockwell Park seriously'. Yet the legal travails pale into insignificance next to those faced by today's headliners, Kneecap. The Northern Irish punk-rap trio last month faced outrage after a Coachella set in which they condemned Israeli 'genocide' in Gaza and projected slogans on stage including 'Fuck Israel. Free Palestine'. After this furore, footage emerged of Kneecap's November 2023 UK tour that appeared to show rapper Mo Chara on stage draped in a Hezbollah flag, shouting: 'Up Hamas, up Hezbollah.' Chara was charged this week with expressing support for a proscribed terrorist organisation. Kneecap said in a statement: 'We deny this 'offence' and will vehemently defend ourselves.' Indeed, these setbacks don't appear to have deflated the trio. Following English Teacher's vexed, yearning indie and CMAT's personality-plus, punky take on country and western, Kneecap emerge in front of a collage of recent TV coverage. 'Anybody been watching the news?' inquires Chara. Flanked by fellow rapper Móglai Bap and DJ Próvai, the latter clad in his usual Irish-flag balaclava, Chara reports that tonight's show only just went ahead. 'They tried to stop this gig,' he claims. 'We're being made an example of. The Israeli lobbyists are trying to prove to other artists: 'If you speak out, we're going to hit you where it hurts most.'' The trio started out eight years ago as Goldie Lookin Chain-style comedy rappers performatively lauding Irish republicanism and their own dissolute lifestyles – a style still evident in numbers such as Fenian Cunts and the Garda-baiting Your Sniffer Dogs Are Shite. Chara now jokingly suggests that the 20,000-strong crowd might like to reconvene outside his hearing at Westminster magistrates court on 18 June, 'and bring a nice big bag of ketamine'. Yet the comedy would not work were Kneecap not a great live band: Rhino Ket is a pulsating electro-throb over which they celebrate being 'K-holed off my head'. They indulge their nihilistic whimsy and quest for narcotic oblivion further in Get Your Brits Out, a flight of surrealist fantasy in which they imagine a debauched night out with Arlene Foster and other former leaders of the DUP. 'Guess who's back on the news, it's your favourite republican hoods,' gurns Bap, which certainly has the virtue of accuracy. Their activism is patently heartfelt rather than posturing radical chic. Protesting again that Gaza is being 'bombed and starved', Kneecap lead one final crowd chant of 'free, free Palestine' before declaring on the closing H.O.O.D: 'Lowlife scum, that's what they say about me'. Próvai and his balaclava vanish into the moshpit. What a craic.
The Guardian
24-05-2025
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
Those who object to music events shutting off parks are branded nimbys. But this time, I'm on their side
A grassy south London oasis erupted into a turf war this week. From Monday, visitors to Brockwell Park would have seen calling cards left by both sides. The provocation? A sturdy 3-metre-high boundary fence, encircling large swathes of the 50-hectare (125-acre) stretch that has been designated for music festivals this summer. Daubed on the structure were signs of discord: graffitied messages in stark white lettering. 'You fucked our park,' read one. 'We fucked your wall.' Brockwell is now the hottest front in a conflict that has started to rear its head in the capital every summer. A week ago, it made the front pages in the form of a bombshell high court ruling against Lambeth council. The authority responsible for the park lost a case brought by Protect Brockwell Park (PBP), a group of local residents and park users who argued that the council had not obtained the proper planning permissions for the back-to-back run of events scheduled to take place behind the boundary fence. It had used permitted development rules to rubber-stamp the events quickly, on the basis that they would only block off a substantial section of the park for 28 days. In reality, this wasn't true, the residents argued. Factoring in erecting and dismantling festival infrastructure, it was actually more like 37 days where public park access would be restricted. The council should have been subjecting these events to a full planning application process – including public consultation – before granting approval. The judge found in PBP's favour. Yet the festivals remained on the park's summer schedule. As the date of the first event – Wide Awake, an alternative music shindig headlined by the rappers Kneecap – approached, Lambeth rushed through a certificate of lawfulness, allowing for public comment, and on Friday the festival opened its gates. The clash has captured public imagination, igniting a now well-worn narrative of nimbys versus nightlife. The PBP campaigners are being cast by some as meddling, out-of-touch 'gentrifiers', akin to affluent folk moving into a buzzy area and immediately lobbying for a beloved local pub or scrappy independent music venue to shut down because they want to retire to bed by 10pm. As a left-leaning millennial, I'd normally be inclined to side with the festivals. After all, we must protect our endangered cultural sphere from further attacks. Except what is happening here isn't so clear-cut. Over the past few years, the city's parks have become increasingly available for hire. The London summer day festival, as in other cities, is now an institution and there has been a proliferation of commercial events concentrated in certain large parks: Victoria, Finsbury and Brockwell are top of the list. Behind every 'summer series' of festivals is an unhappy residents' group. People who live near to and rely on these green spaces feel they are being shut out of public land that should be for all of us to benefit from, in favour of what they perceive to be commercial interests. Many of the large events being objected to are not even remotely close to resembling the accessible, community space of a local pub. The heart of this issue seems to be how cash-strapped councils are becoming increasingly beholden to commercial interests to the detriment of the public. A weekend festival that welcomes 50,000 people can expect to raise about £500,000 for local authorities. Councils argue that this money goes back in the public purse, allowing them to continue funding free community events such as Lambeth's beloved Country Show, though there doesn't seem to be much transparency over exactly how much cash is raised or where it is allocated. But when you strip away the jargon, what is essentially happening is the privatisation of local parks. As well as concerns about the long-term impact on ecology, campaigners point out this often takes place in boroughs where many don't have access to private green space. In Lambeth, with its many flats, this counts for 60% of households. Adding salt to the wound for residents is the lack of opportunity for public interjection. In the neighbouring borough of Southwark, the council conducts consultations for events proposed for local parks. Residents have their say, and recently indicated their approval for a music festival in Southwark Park. No high court battles there. As for arguments about gentrifiers shutting down fun, they seem rather misplaced. The objectors are local people; the festivals are the interlopers, attracting tens of thousands of mostly young revellers who swoop in for the day (with daily ticket prices for the events starting from about £80), have their fun, then leave again. Complaints about such events may have once been the preserve of the nimby contingent, but the movement has grown in line with the increasing length and impact of the park takeovers. That's not to say the festivals have no benefit. They provide secure summer work in an increasingly unstable industry. Small businesses – such as food trucks serving attenders – obviously do well out of them. And they are undoubtedly popular – there's a reason big companies have snaffled up events such as Field Day and Mighty Hoopla. But the involvement of such corporations has kicked an existential threat into high gear. The ultimate issue is the way that private interests have managed to successfully position themselves as the gatekeepers of possibility. That cultural events can only happen if we sell off public space. That we can't maintain local services without money from private equity. That we should just accept the routine privatisation of taxpayer-funded assets as the price of having a good time. Is this a model we want to entrench? London may be ground zero, but what is happening here is likely to be the bellwether for cities across the UK in the coming years. Very few want to see the festivals scrapped altogether. But a worrying precedent is being set. One long-term Brixton resident, himself a dedicated organiser of parties, reluctantly conceded to me recently: 'I'd welcome smaller, better-managed events that don't disrupt access or damage the park and that benefit the borough. But this current situation has become unbearable.' Moya Lothian-McLean is associate editor at Mill Media
North Wales Chronicle
23-05-2025
- Entertainment
- North Wales Chronicle
Kneecap release new song ahead of headline performance at London's Wide Awake
The band, made up of Liam O hAnnaidh, Naoise O Caireallain and JJ O Dochartaigh, thanked the '25,000 legends' who will be attending Friday night's performance, in a post on Instagram, before releasing the track. The band's post read: 'Well well London heads. Some day coming up. 'We've a brand new track landing in our WhatsApp channel at 1pm. 'Kemi Badenoch you might wanna sit down for this one, if you've any seats left. A post shared by KNEECAP (@kneecap32) 'Then we're at Wide Awake in Brockwell Park London for a headline show to 25,000 legends tonight.' Conservative Party leader Badenoch has called for Kneecap to be banned and suggested they should be dropped from the Glastonbury Festival line-up. A number of other politicians have made the same demand. Last year, Kneecap won a discrimination case against the UK Government in Belfast High Court after former business secretary Badenoch tried to refuse them a £14,250 funding award when she was a minister. The new song, The Recap, opens with a sample of a news report about the counter terrorism police investigation into the group, and mocks Badenoch's attempts to block their arts funding and the Conservative Party's election loss. The song also features DJ Mozey. In another post, the band showed a short clip of their soundcheck at the Brockwell Park festival. It comes after O hAnnaidh, who performs under the stage name Mo Chara, was charged over the alleged display of a Hezbollah flag at a gig at the O2 Forum in Kentish Town, north London, in November last year, the Metropolitan Police said on Wednesday. The band held a surprise gig at the 100 Club on Oxford Street on Thursday, where O hAnnaidh could be seen in videos on social media arriving on stage with tape covering his mouth. He then joked about being careful about what he said, adding that he wanted to thank his lawyer. The rapper said: 'I need to thank my lawyer he's here tonight as well.' In video footage posted to YouTube, the band led the audience in a chant of 'free Mo Chara' and joked about the police presence at the venue. Police said they were at the central London venue on Thursday evening to manage visitors to the sold-out event. The band said on X that the event sold out in 90 seconds, with 2,000 people on the waiting list. On Monday, a spokesperson for several planned music festivals due to take place in Brockwell Park in Lambeth said none will be cancelled following a High Court ruling over planning permission. Last week Rebekah Shaman, a resident in the area and a member of the Protect Brockwell Park group, successfully brought legal action against Lambeth Council over the use of parts of the park for the festivals. In a ruling last week, Mr Justice Mould said that the authority's decision to certify the planned use of the land as lawful was 'irrational'. Lawyers for Ms Shaman and the Protect Brockwell Park group wrote to the council following the ruling, asking it to 'confirm that the event has been cancelled' and to clear any fencing or infrastructure, and stating that Brockwell Live did not have planning permission. But on Monday, a spokesperson for Brockwell Live said no events would be cancelled, with Lambeth Council confirming that the event's organisers, Summer Events Limited, had reapplied for planning permission. O hAnnaidh, 27, was charged by postal requisition and is due to appear at Westminster Magistrates' Court on June 18, the Metropolitan Police said. In response to the charge, the group said in a social media statement: '14,000 babies are about to die of starvation in Gaza, with food sent by the world sitting on the other side of a wall, and once again the British establishment is focused on us. 'We deny this 'offence' and will vehemently defend ourselves, this is political policing, this is a carnival of distraction. 'We are not the story, genocide is, as they profit from genocide, they use an 'anti-terror law' against us for displaying a flag thrown on stage. A charge not serious enough to even warrant their crown court, instead a court that doesn't have a jury. What's the objective? 'To restrict our ability to travel. To prevent us speaking to young people across the world. To silence voices of compassion. To prosecute artists who dare speak out. 'Instead of defending innocent people, or the principles of international law they claim to uphold, the powerful in Britain have abetted slaughter and famine in Gaza, just as they did in Ireland for centuries. Then, like now, they claim justification. 'The IDF units they arm and fly spy plane missions for are the real terrorists, the whole world can see it.' Officers from the Met's Counter Terrorism Command were made aware on April 22 of an online video from the event, police said. An investigation led to the Crown Prosecution Service authorising the charge. Earlier this month, the Metropolitan Police said Kneecap were being investigated by counter-terrorism police after videos emerged allegedly showing the band calling for the deaths of MPs and shouting 'up Hamas, up Hezbollah'. The rap trio have had gigs cancelled after the footage emerged but are still listed to headline Wide Awake. They apologised last month to the families of murdered MPs but said footage of the incident had been 'exploited and weaponised'. Kneecap also said they have 'never supported' Hamas or Hezbollah, both of which are banned in the UK. In 2024, the band released an eponymous film, starring Oscar-nominated actor Michael Fassbender, a fictionalised retelling of how the band came together, and follows the Belfast group on their mission to save their mother tongue through music. Formed in 2017, the group are known for their provocative lyrics in both Irish and English, and merchandise. Their best-known tracks include Get Your Brits Out, Better Way To Live, featuring Grian Chatten from Fontaines DC, and 3Cag.
Rhyl Journal
23-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Rhyl Journal
Kneecap release new song ahead of headline performance at London's Wide Awake
The band, made up of Liam O hAnnaidh, Naoise O Caireallain and JJ O Dochartaigh, thanked the '25,000 legends' who will be attending Friday night's performance, in a post on Instagram, before releasing the track. The band's post read: 'Well well London heads. Some day coming up. 'We've a brand new track landing in our WhatsApp channel at 1pm. 'Kemi Badenoch you might wanna sit down for this one, if you've any seats left. A post shared by KNEECAP (@kneecap32) 'Then we're at Wide Awake in Brockwell Park London for a headline show to 25,000 legends tonight.' Conservative Party leader Badenoch has called for Kneecap to be banned and suggested they should be dropped from the Glastonbury Festival line-up. A number of other politicians have made the same demand. Last year, Kneecap won a discrimination case against the UK Government in Belfast High Court after former business secretary Badenoch tried to refuse them a £14,250 funding award when she was a minister. The new song, The Recap, opens with a sample of a news report about the counter terrorism police investigation into the group, and mocks Badenoch's attempts to block their arts funding and the Conservative Party's election loss. The song also features DJ Mozey. In another post, the band showed a short clip of their soundcheck at the Brockwell Park festival. It comes after O hAnnaidh, who performs under the stage name Mo Chara, was charged over the alleged display of a Hezbollah flag at a gig at the O2 Forum in Kentish Town, north London, in November last year, the Metropolitan Police said on Wednesday. The band held a surprise gig at the 100 Club on Oxford Street on Thursday, where O hAnnaidh could be seen in videos on social media arriving on stage with tape covering his mouth. He then joked about being careful about what he said, adding that he wanted to thank his lawyer. The rapper said: 'I need to thank my lawyer he's here tonight as well.' In video footage posted to YouTube, the band led the audience in a chant of 'free Mo Chara' and joked about the police presence at the venue. Police said they were at the central London venue on Thursday evening to manage visitors to the sold-out event. The band said on X that the event sold out in 90 seconds, with 2,000 people on the waiting list. On Monday, a spokesperson for several planned music festivals due to take place in Brockwell Park in Lambeth said none will be cancelled following a High Court ruling over planning permission. Last week Rebekah Shaman, a resident in the area and a member of the Protect Brockwell Park group, successfully brought legal action against Lambeth Council over the use of parts of the park for the festivals. In a ruling last week, Mr Justice Mould said that the authority's decision to certify the planned use of the land as lawful was 'irrational'. Lawyers for Ms Shaman and the Protect Brockwell Park group wrote to the council following the ruling, asking it to 'confirm that the event has been cancelled' and to clear any fencing or infrastructure, and stating that Brockwell Live did not have planning permission. But on Monday, a spokesperson for Brockwell Live said no events would be cancelled, with Lambeth Council confirming that the event's organisers, Summer Events Limited, had reapplied for planning permission. O hAnnaidh, 27, was charged by postal requisition and is due to appear at Westminster Magistrates' Court on June 18, the Metropolitan Police said. In response to the charge, the group said in a social media statement: '14,000 babies are about to die of starvation in Gaza, with food sent by the world sitting on the other side of a wall, and once again the British establishment is focused on us. 'We deny this 'offence' and will vehemently defend ourselves, this is political policing, this is a carnival of distraction. 'We are not the story, genocide is, as they profit from genocide, they use an 'anti-terror law' against us for displaying a flag thrown on stage. A charge not serious enough to even warrant their crown court, instead a court that doesn't have a jury. What's the objective? 'To restrict our ability to travel. To prevent us speaking to young people across the world. To silence voices of compassion. To prosecute artists who dare speak out. 'Instead of defending innocent people, or the principles of international law they claim to uphold, the powerful in Britain have abetted slaughter and famine in Gaza, just as they did in Ireland for centuries. Then, like now, they claim justification. 'The IDF units they arm and fly spy plane missions for are the real terrorists, the whole world can see it.' Officers from the Met's Counter Terrorism Command were made aware on April 22 of an online video from the event, police said. An investigation led to the Crown Prosecution Service authorising the charge. Earlier this month, the Metropolitan Police said Kneecap were being investigated by counter-terrorism police after videos emerged allegedly showing the band calling for the deaths of MPs and shouting 'up Hamas, up Hezbollah'. The rap trio have had gigs cancelled after the footage emerged but are still listed to headline Wide Awake. They apologised last month to the families of murdered MPs but said footage of the incident had been 'exploited and weaponised'. Kneecap also said they have 'never supported' Hamas or Hezbollah, both of which are banned in the UK. In 2024, the band released an eponymous film, starring Oscar-nominated actor Michael Fassbender, a fictionalised retelling of how the band came together, and follows the Belfast group on their mission to save their mother tongue through music. Formed in 2017, the group are known for their provocative lyrics in both Irish and English, and merchandise. Their best-known tracks include Get Your Brits Out, Better Way To Live, featuring Grian Chatten from Fontaines DC, and 3Cag.
