Noel Gallagher says Glastonbury has gone a “bit woke”: “Play your fucking tunes and get off”

Noel Gallagher has opened up on his experiences of Glastonbury this year, claiming it has got “a bit woke” for his liking.

The Oasis legend and Glasto veteran admitted the festival was “probably the best fucking thing about Britain apart from the Premier League,” but still wasn’t without criticism.

“Don’t get me wrong, I fucking love Glastonbury,” he told The Sun. 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 fucking 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. Fuck the Tories man,’ and all that. It’s like, look, play your fucking tunes and get off.”

It comes after the 2024 festival saw Glastonbury play host to its usual mix of music and political discussion – with Damon Albarn memorably popping up during Bombay Bicycle Club’s Other Stage performance to encourage the crowd to vote.

Gallagher added: “Everybody knows what’s going on in the fucking world, you’ve got a phone in your pocket that tells you anyway,” he said. “What’s the point of virtue-signalling?”

He was, however, a fan of Irish rappers Kneecap. He told the Matt Morgan Podcast: “We went to see this Northern Irish street kids called Kneecap…they’re kind of pro Republican rappers…

“We get there and the tent is absolutely fucking smashed packed – you couldn’t get in. These three lads walk out, one of them is in a balaclava and they rap in Gaelic. They’ve got a song called ‘Get Your Brits Out’. There’s a lot of humour to it…I mean I couldn’t believe how enjoyable it was.

“Being of Irish heritage I found that quite funny and they were really, really good.”

Glastonbury also took in a pop masterclass from Dua Lipa, Coldplay’s record-breaking headline set and SZA valiantly battling through a small crowd to deliver an arena-sized production.

You can catch up with all the action from Glastonbury 2024 here.