Why Kanye West Should Be Allowed To Headline Glastonbury
Rock culture
still seems to be obsessed with some archaic idea of what constitutes ‘real
music’, while the rest of the world has stopped caring and gotten on with
making exciting new sounds. The recent petition against Kanye West headlining
Glastonbury is sad proof of that.
In case you missed it, Kanye West will be headlining this year’s
Glastonbury festival on the Saturday night. While he may not be everybody’s cup
of tea, most festival goers are excited about this as Glastonbury’s past
headliners have been rather dull. They tend to be ‘heritage acts’ that are
considered to be a safe bet (U2, The Rolling Stones) rather than fresh and
exciting musicians who are at the top of their game. You would expect then that
Glastonbury booking Kanye West, a globally recognised and exciting musician
would be greeted with cheers. However, some members of the public are extremely
angry about the news. So much so that one man has gone as far as to create an
online petition to ban Kanye from headlining and asks festival organisers to
let a "rock" band play instead. Neil Lonsdale who started the
petition, wrote that the Kanye booking was not an exciting prospect but in fact
a “musical injustice”.
First of all, Glastonbury festival is a festival for the
contemporary arts. This does not just mean music. Glastonbury is a haven for
the weird and wacky, within five seconds of arriving at the festival you could
see an old man dressed as a baby. This wackiness doesn’t just describe some of
the people at Glastonbury, it also describes what happens on some of the
stages. Why then should a group of people or an artist be excluded from this
festival where they celebrate a variety of things? Kanye West is a
multi-award-winning artist and a global star who has received critical acclaim.
This in itself shows that he is more than worthy to headline Glastonbury.
There are multiple stages at the festival too, it’s not like you
have to watch Kanye perform. So if you along with Neil are really that bothered
about Kanye and you don't want to see him, don't watch him. Just go to a
different stage to witness something you may not have expected or you can simply head to your
tent and attempt to settle down for the night.
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