NME Festival Guide
2009

NME News

Glastonbury chief responds to Oasis' criticism

Michael Eavis calls Noel Gallagher's festival views 'weird'

May 4, 2008 | 17 Comments
Oasis news RSS feed
More Oasis news, reviews, videos and tour dates
Post this on Twitter or Follow NME

Glastonbury chief Michael Eavis has hit back at Noel Gallagher's criticism of this year's line-up.

The Oasis guitarist objected to the decision to have Jay-Z headline the event, declaring that there was \"no place for hip-hop music\" at Glastonbury.

Eavis responded to Gallagher's remarks, describing them as "weird" and "disappointing".

He told The Sun: "Why did he need to get involved? It was a bit weird, to be honest. He should give someone else a chance. He needn't have said that and I was disappointed he did.

"He said it's a place for guitar bands - but there are loads of guitar bands playing."

darrenlawrence

May 6, 2008

Noel couldn't be more right though, it's not a place for hip-hop, it's an event that fans of real music wait for, and having Jay-Z there, especially headlining, is a huge disappointment, sorry, it's true. If it ain't broke, don't fix it!

sergejg

May 6, 2008

Gallagher is right. All those execs at Glastonbury only care about money, so in the future probably we'll see mariah carey in the line up or some garbage like that.

cubbeh

May 6, 2008

So true! Gallagher is over-rated and stupid enouth to get involved in this love/hate relationship with glasto fans. Glastonbury is a place for lots of different types of bands, if you dont like one just walk to the next stage.

Jess_a

May 6, 2008

I think Noel needs to open his mind a bit more, the whole essence of Glastonbury is the fact that you can get different acts like James Brown, Paul McCartney, Shirley Bassey and Neil Diamond playing the same stage as bands like Oasis, Muse and Kings of Leon. The variety and choice of different acts is what makes Glastonbury the best UK festival and all this fuss is a bit ridiculous. Jay-Z will be an amazing headliner, much better than the shambolic Oasis headline performance I saw in 2004!

wellduhobviously

May 6, 2008

But how can it possibly be real music without guitars?It's sad to think that Noel talks more sense when it comes to football.

foggyonthenet

May 6, 2008

i agree with noel tbh, there isn't any place for hip hop at glastonbury. in fact, for me, there isn't any place for hip hop at all, talentless, boring musicians most of whom can not even play an instrument. good on you noel!

Gregblade05

May 6, 2008

There are some really narrow-minded people here that have totally forgotten what Glastonbury is all about. It has never been billed as a rock festival. It is a music/entertainment festival. There are a host of different genres of music and acts playing throughout the weekend. I'd personally rather watch Jay-Z than be subject to another shockingly poor Oasis performance......countless sound problems, poor vocal sound and error after error on the instruments......until Oasis get their act together and sort themselfs out I cant see why they have a right to slag off anyone.......

Tiberius

May 6, 2008

I think people are getting distracted by the main issue here, fratellis so high up on the bill? they suck arse.Although i don't agree with noel here, i'm always happy to here what he's got to say, he has earnt the right to comment on on the state of music today because he has helped shape it, if it was the muppet from the enemy running his mouth off again things would be different. Jay-Z will be a good headliner, he has had loads of experiance and knows what he's doing on the stage. It will also be really exciting to see KOL step up to the big time. On The John Peel stage you have the Cribs headlining and if you're not excited by that then you haven't seen the Cribs live before. Finally to the person who said 'All those execs at Glastonbury only care about money' go to the glasto web site and look at the worthy causes section. Then apologise.

lipgloss

May 6, 2008

"There are some really narrow-minded people here that have totally forgotten what Glastonbury is all about."Glastonbury's values are about as far away from those that u.s mainstream hip-hop represent as you can get! I don't particularly agree that Glastonbury should be guitar bands though, the chemical brothers, bjork, the prodigy have all played amazing sets there!

Darth Kopi

May 6, 2008

When will Michael Eavis realize that he should leave the festival?

davethedrill

May 6, 2008

if oasis were playing instead of jayz all the tickets would of sold out immediately.how many people registered and didnt buy tickets when they saw the line up ?

DaveIndieBoy

May 6, 2008

To be fair, while Oasis' performance was (by their own admission) poor, they did come back with a stunning world tour of their own...besides, it can hardly be Oasis' fault if the sound is crap...the Monkeys and the Killers both suffered from it last year.

gonzo77

May 6, 2008

Right firstly, "Glastonbury Festival of Contemporary Performing Arts," the title itself tells you all you need to know it covers pretty much everything from circus' to rock to hip hop to jazz.As for Jay-Z fair play to him for having a go I personally won't be seeing him but hey I probably won't see 75% of the Pyramid Stage acts, why not?, simply that Glasto is not all about that stage or the music alone. Experience, Experience, Experience!!! It cannot be underestated the importance of getting around and sampling everything on offer. As for Noel, well last time I checked we live in a free country and freedom of speach is plus for us, if you don't agree with his comment dismiss it and move on. Personally to me Noel's a legend however I don't necessarily agree with him on this occasion because Glasto is simply more than music.

Soundedd

May 6, 2008

Spot on Mr Gallagher, Hip-Hip, not for me not at this level, Glasto is about quality guitar rock music not absolute drizzle like Jay-Z, Eavis is losing his touch maybe he should step down, I expected like Coldplat, Led Zep and Oasis as the headliners this year not the awful acts that we have, and to the muppet that critisized the fratellis, get your ears tested, world class debut album and a brilliant new sinle.

hness

May 6, 2008

noel is a very blinkered middle aged man..just listen to his one dimensional music, why are oasis held in such regard? the only thing he has going for him is his mono brow xxxx

1306am

May 6, 2008

is noel a member of the ku klux klan? what is so bad with the hip hop? i dont get it

Les Portelli

Oct 23, 2008

First off, you people are giving this monkey way too much credit. Let me get this straight, Noel Gallagher has a beef with Jay-Z playing at Glasto? This coming from a guy who's career has been a play-list of Lennon plagiarisms? A guy who seems to revel in picking fights with artists that clearly exceed his own musical abilities? In case you haven't noticed, Noel is still swinging from a vine for f*#k's sake, the guy is probably our closets living relative to a full-on neanderthal. Please folks, let's not give this guy any more ammunition than they deserve. Their music sucks the proverbial tit and the day that Noel Gallagher can actually spit words the way a seasoned MC does, he should just f*#k right off.