egafd.com

I think Noel Gallagher is spot on.........fans don't want any hip hop bollocks at Glastonbury, hence many unsold tickets.
All this crap about mud and rain does'nt wash with me, fans don't give 2 fucks about the weather at this event.
Always known for good solid acts and a lot of new acts as well as off-the-wall acts, Hip Hop, to me, just doesn't fit well in any of these types.
And you can imagine all the residentsin and around the area with the thought of hip hop fans turning up in their thousands must fill them with more dread than usual!

Minority Report: Why is hip-hop 'wrong' for Glastonbury, Noel?
By Jerome Taylor

There's something rather unpleasant in Noel Gallagher's remarks that hip-hop and Jay-Z are "wrong" for this year's Glastonbury.

Over the past week there has been a lot of hysteria in the press about how the decision to award Jay-Z the headline act may have contributed to sluggish ticket sales this year at the normally sell-out three day event.

That hysteria, of course, largely ignored the fact that the ludicrous price of tickets for Glastonbury and the fantastic explosion in recent years of smaller, cheaper festivals has meant that paying ?150 for sitting in a field of mud isn't perhaps as appealing as it once might have been.

But what concerns me is this weird suggestion that somehow hip-hop is not right for Glastonbury.

Noel Gallagher's argument is that Glastonbury was "built on a tradition of guitar music" and therefore hip-hop has no right to be included at the festival - conveniently ignoring the many hip-hop acts that do in fact use guitars; Rage Against the Machine, for instance, played in 1994. It also ignores the fact that over the years some of the biggest hip-hop acts of the time - De La Soul, Cyprus Hill and The Roots to name three - have also played sets there.

But while Glastonbury may well have its roots in predominantly guitar driven music isn't it also an innovative festival, unafraid to evolve and pick headline acts that break the festival's more traditional mould? Emily Eavis, the daughter of Glastonbury founder Michael, writes about this in today's Indy.

The way I see it, if non-guitar acts like Shirley Bassey, Kylie Minogue, Basement Jaxx and Fatboy Slim were fine to headline, then why not Jay-Z?

Oh, I forgot, Jay-Z is one of the richest men in hip-hop and therefore must be too commercial for Glastonbury. But if Jay-Z is commercial then what the hell is Kylie?

Or is it because white guitar maestro Noel is simply not ready yet to give a warm welcome to the predominantly black urban music that now outsells him every day?

I fucking can't stand hip hop.A load of talentless fuckwits and admired by 'wannabee' hard nuts that could'nt really fight their way out of a paper bag.

Glastonbury is all about Rock music,old and new.Last year's Glastonbury was top draw,with the Arctic Monkeys,The Killers and The Who being the best of a good bunch.

I think Radiohead are one of the headliners for this year.Should be another good one !happy!

Glastonbury went to shite over thirty years ago.

At least you have a choice with a festival like that

Dont like it dont listen/watch it
http://www.glastonburyfestivals.co.uk/p ... spx?id=520

I'd guess they've named him headline act to try and broaden their base appeal.All about the money

True.At least BBC-I has a split screen option,where you can view the stage or band you want.So i'll definetley be giving Jay-Z and his rudeboys a wide berth.

Punk crossed with hip hop doesn't sound too bad in small doses


straight hip-hop is an aquired taste

I'd be taking the ear plugs/blind fold just incase the headline act is the only one on

Inevitable but still very sad.

Rap & R'n'B is in decline creatively as a whole and has been for the past 7/8 years, but Noel Gallagher has no room to talk in that department! The only problem I would have with HipHop at Glastonbury is sorting the wheat from the chaff, when it's good it is very very good but far too much is mediocre, and most of the best rappers are, by virtue of being good, multi-millionaires now. But, having said that, music as a whole is in the doledrums

I can see what Eavis is (quite bravely) trying to do, and laying the blame at Jay-Z's feet is way too much, though there's no denying he dosen't quite have the repetoire of easily identifiable radio hits to strike a chord (ho-ho) with the current Glastonbury demograph. He isn't particulary prominent on Radio 2, shall we say, and asking his audience to shell out hundreds for a three day ticket when he's also playing elsewhere for far less is a simple 'do the maths' thing.

And the other headliners don't inspire either. Kings of Leon are pretty good, and probably the right idea, but The Verve is the wrong sort of nostalgia and having them headline feels like charity. Will it embrace Ashcroft's Titanic-alike solo career?

But the real blame lies with the BBC. Over the last decade their overly chummy, middle class 'here's the highlights' coverage has gradually attracted the sort of thirtysomething, on-site banking crowd that has all but ruined it. More so than the corporate backing nearly all festivals need to survive these days. The Killers really put their backs into it last year, but the crowd just stood there.

Eavis obviously wants 'The Kids' to return, but with the industry itself being so fractured and other festivals catering to individual and specific tastes far more comprehensively, he's got a lot of catching up to do. But this non-sellout might be the shake-up it needs, and lead to better things.