Miquita Oliver has branded Coldplay’s headline slot at Glastonbury 2024 as “snoreville”, joking that she “could have seen them in Luton” at the BBC’s Big Weekend festival.
Talk turned to summer festivals in the latest episode of Oliver and Lily Allen’s podcast Miss Me? ,with Oliver complaining about the lack of excitement around Glastonbury’s headliners and Allen expressing her concerns for the future of live music.
After a conversation about their interest in art, Oliver raised the “steady decline” in arts council funding since 2017, which she branded “terrifying”.
“You feel it everywhere,” Allen agreed. “It’s very middle-class, essentially in order to be able to thrive and to put the time in, in the arts.”
The pop singer and actor went on to discuss how artists had pulled out of festivals such as Download and Latitude in protest at Barclays’ sponsorship, due to its links with companies supplying arms to Israel, as well as fossil fuel firms.
Following a campaign by the group Bands Boycott Barclays, which had been leading the protests, Barclaycard was removed from the websites of Download, Latitude and Isle of Wight last week as it suspended its sponsorship of the events.
Allen pointed out that the festivals owned by major promoter and venue operator LiveNation would likely “be OK”, but expressed her concern for smaller festivals around the UK.
“[There are] much smaller festivals that are going under up and down the country,” she said. “I think that’s more because of inflation and Brexit and the cost of living, the cost of everything has gone up so artists are not able to afford to turn up and play them, which means the promoters are struggling to find people to book, which means it’s harder to sell tickets...”
“Which is why we have the same people playing all festivals,” TV presenter Oliver added. “Coldplay headlining Glastonbury is already such a snoreville, that’s fine, but the fact they played Radio 1’s Big Weekend a couple of weeks ago, it’s like, ooh, this is even less special, I could have seen them in Luton.”
Allen emphasised that she was talking more specifically about the smaller festivals that provide a launchpad for new artists, in order for them to go onto become future Glastonbury performers.
“They serve a purpose,” she said. “Where are the bands that are supposed to end up at Glastonbury or Radio 1’s Big Weekend? They have to start somewhere, and if all these festivals start to go under then where’s their platform?
“Because small music venues up and down the country are going under [as well],” she continued. “There aren’t many places for people to start out their careers anymore.”
Allen’s remarks come after MPs called for a levy on arena concert tickets to raise funds for the grassroots venues struggling with rising costs, after extensive campaigning by the Music Venue Trust.
Dame Caroline Dinenage MP, chair of the cross-party select committee, said: “If the grassroots, where musicians, technicians, tour managers and promoters hone their craft, are allowed to wither and die, the UK’s position as a music powerhouse faces a bleak future.
“It is time that the government brought together everyone with a stake in the industry’s success, including music fans, to address the long-term challenges and ensure live music can thrive into the future.”
Glastonbury Festival takes place from Wednesday 26 June to Sunday 30 June, and will be headlined by Coldplay, Dua Lipa and SZA.
Miss Me? is available on BBC Sounds, with new episodes airing weekly on Mondays and Thursdays.
