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Glastonbury Good for these guys. - Kanye West is known for rankling people on stage. Now it's his turn to get a virtual smackdown. One music fan in the UK wants him out of the Glastonbury Festival so bad, he's started a petition to make it happen. In his petition, Neil Lonsdale describes the rapper as an "egotistical, maniacal, disgrace." He calls on organizers to replace the "Yeezus" singer at the Glastonbury Festival this summer. West is booked to headline the festival, which runs between June 24-28. His performance is Saturday. "Kanye West is an insult to music fans all over the world," Lonsdale says in the change.org petition. "We spend hundreds of pounds to attend glasto, and by doing so, expect a certain level of entertainment."The petition urges West to "pass his headline slot on to someone deserving."Lonsdale is not the only music fan upset by his scheduled performance. By early Friday, the petition had nearly 80,000 signatures. West and the festival's organizers have not responded to the petition. The festival is held in Somerset, England, and features various types of music. Past performers have included the Gorillaz and Stevie Wonder. | |
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I don't usually pull the race card, but why is it that in the last few years, the biggest complaints people have had about Glasto are Kanye performing, and before that, people were complaining about Jay-Z?
Kanye's just as qualified to headline as any of the countless stale rock bands that have performed in the past. |
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moderatorThen don't pull it. There have been people of colour perform at this festival in the past. Kanye is just a straight up asshole and these folks know it. | |
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Liam Gallagher is even more of an asshole. |
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If it was Alabama Shakes performing (guitars, black lead singer), I don't think people would mind. But making these hip hop "kings" the headliner is what makes everyone say ENOUGH. |
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"Countless stale rock bands"
That's the very demographic that Glasto usually plays to.
Honestly I understand why some rock fans who are used to getting what they want would be complaining. Part of the problem is the fact they sell tickets before announcing the lineup.
I do think the complaint on the petition is silly though, Kanye is absolutely a "major act" just not the particular kind of major act favored by pasty old rock fans. Where are Pearl Jam and the Arcade Fire when you need them? | |
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btw... I know people of colour have played at Glastonbury before. I'm one of them.
In 2007, the official Glastonbury miniguide listed my band as one of the Top 5 acts to see at the entire festival, alongside Amy Winehouse and the Arctic Monkeys. And we're a British-Asian act, and MIA was in the same Top 5 and is also British-Asian. We've played there twice.
You can't say it's about being an asshole, because this happened when Jay-Z headlined and he's never acted like an asshole. It's about a combination of race, class and genre, and I don't like it. |
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I think they should start a competing festival called COUNTLESS STALE ROCK BANDS. People would buy tickets for that without knowing the lineup, I guarantee it! | |
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It's a rock audience. Maybe some interesting alt acts with beats come through (ie. King Krule) but for the most part it is rock. Don't put race into this one. |
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How about the "overexposed" card? |
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Someone has to be a superstar to make that argument - and thus more likely to be someone you'd book to headline a festival. |
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Glastonbury is not a rock festival. If it were, my band wouldn't stand a chance in hell at being named as one of the Top 5 acts to see at the festival. And yet that's exactly what happened in 2007.
I remember kicking it with Damien Marley who was playing the same tent we were. He ain't a rock act either. |
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Let's face it,guys....Kanye West has a very divisive personality.His crazy antics make people despise him.The man has talent but too often,his behavior gets in the way and takes the focus off his music.If he would just focus on making great music and stop acting like an asshole,he wouldn't run into these problems. | |
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Petition to Pull Kanye West from Glastonbury Hits 90,000, Author Admits He's Never Been There
By Megan Buerger, New York | March 20, 2015 2:06 PM EDT
Petition to Pull Kanye We... Billboard
Neil Lonsdale, who started the petition, told NME that having the rapper in the company of The Rolling Stones is "an outrage."It seems that teaming up with Paul McCartney isn't enough to please the thousands of rock fans who flock to Glastonbury every year. A petition to cancel Kanye West's forthcoming headlining performance at the country's historic music festival has reached more than 90,000 signatures since it was posted on Monday, March 16. The letter, written by a man named Neil Lonsdale on the website Change.org, calls West "an insult to music fans all over the world" and suggests he be replaced with a rock band. But in an interview with NME, Lonsdale admitted he's never actually attended the festival before, calling himself a "Glastonbury virgin." He also said he initially started the petition as a joke, but would be "more than happy" if it was successful. The petition continues to recieve thousands of signatures every hour. My petition started as a joke," he told NME, "and I never thought it would make a difference. I don't think it would make a difference if 200,000 people signed it. Anyway, Kanye's a big boy, I'm sure he can take a bit of banter." Glastonbury, the UK's largest music festival, brings about 135,000 attendees to Worthy Farm each year, and has a history of resisting mainstream, American hip-hop. While Lonsdale stressed that his outrage is about artistry, not race, the topic has been hard to avoid given the prior Glastonbury-related petitions that boycottedJay Z in 2008 and Beyonce in 2011. In a 2008 interview with the BBC, Oasis guitarist Noel Gallagher famously sad the festival has a "tradition of guitar music" and that booking a hip-hop artist at Glastonbury was "wrong." "I'm sorry, but Jay Z? No chance," he said. | |
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"Author admits he's never been there".
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Pretty much, yeah. Also, one thing I just don't understand is that apparently these people don't want him there because of his arrogant attitude. Now what the fuck does that have to do with his suitability for gracing the stage at a (very mainstream nowadays) pop festival? It's a completely irrelevant thing to complain about. I wonder if these people would have made the same fuss if Lou Reed had been booked in the past (one of my favourite musicians btw, but also an extremely arrogant man, and I dare say something of an asshole at times.) Heavenly wine and roses seems to whisper to me when you smile...
Always cry for love, never cry for pain... |
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This. Kanye is very deserving of headling the festival. He's one of the biggest stars on the planet and has a stellar run of albums. Yeezus is the shit (and I'm someone who is initally very turned off by Kanye). Hundalasiliah! |
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It's just hard not to get the feeling that they're kissing American music industry's ass by having Kanye as a headliner there. | |
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Calls it! |
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Okay, then I guess it's not race! |
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And I know it's not a rock festival, but I think the audience is.there aren't enough decent acts to go round all these festivals these days,thats why they are scraping the barrell with second-rate acts like kanye west and the vastly over-rated foo fighters.it shows how bad the music scene is in britain when a pub band like foo fighters gets to top the bill at our biggest festival.. | |
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norbertslimeball said: there aren't enough decent acts to go round all these festivals these days,thats why they are scraping the barrell with second-rate acts like kanye west and the vastly over-rated foo fighters.it shows how bad the music scene is in britain when a pub band like foo fighters gets to top the bill at our biggest festival.. Sure, his last album blew and his upcoming one looks like it'll suck to but second-rate? Oh, you... | |
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Of course u r spitting that truth....The funny thing is Kanye is a supreme asshole. But people need to chill with hiding behind dude being a dickhead in this instance. They started that petition because he represents hip-hop (i.e. HE BLACK and doesn't fit in that traditional "rock" slot of Glastonbury..l)....
Because if this is about Kanye being a self absorbed asshole than most of the past Glastonbury headliners (especially the boys from Oasis) then there would be few headliners.... | |
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