Cascading consequences

Last September I saw the film, Kneecap, and ended my bliptext about it: 'go - for the humour, the seriousness, the politics, the brutality, the music, the multiple irreverences and the cascading consequences of British imperialism.' (That last bit was prescient!)

So as soon as I knew they would be at Glasto, I was determined to hear them live. Because of their seriousness, politics and irreverences, and because of the cascading consequences of British imperialism, there was a pompous furore about them playing being 'inappropriate' from before the festival started and throughout. It was obvious the gig would be full and as Glasto's excellent crowd control means that when certain parts of the site start to fill they are closed off, I made sure I got to West Holts 25 minutes before the gig started. Already there were huge waves of Palestinian flags. 

The set started with a montage of quotes condemning Kneecap, my favourite being the one who said she'd never heard them but... (Sharon Osbourne, I think).

The BBC will not show you what Mo Chara/Liam Óg Ó hAnnaidh, wearing a keffiyeh, said to the 30,000 of us who were there, but at the risk of being charged as a co-conspirator in the terrorism case, I will:
“The prime minister of your country, not mine, said he didn’t want us to play, so fuck Keir Starmer... This situation can be quite stressful but it’s minimal compared to what the Palestinian people are [facing].” 

Móglaí Bap/Naoise Ó Cairealláin called the forthcoming court case "a trumped up terrorism charge", saying, to wry laughter, that it was "not the first time there was a miscarriage of justice for an Irish person in the British justice system". 

Some of the words I could not hear and some I could not understand (not enough of us on this side of the Muir Éireann speak Irish) but under the pounding heat it was a lively, humorous, irreverent and, above all, political gig. I'm sure Keir Starmer was quite happy to miss it.

I took refuge afterwards in the Burmese Tea Tent, bringing myself sadly up to date with the horrors of what is happening to those people I was so happy to visit 12 years ago. I had no idea then how very rapidly things would become so much worse.

But The Ezra Collective brightened me up again. Not just their music but also their generosity, sharing the stage with a host of young musicians from a London youth club who were very clearly buzzing to be there. The Ezra Collective themselves emerged from a Jazz Youth programme and they spoke passionately about the life-changing impact of youth clubs and youth workers. Yup.  Where have all the youth clubs gone?

Next I went to wallow in a time when such things were everywhere, with Neil Young on Pyramid. His performance reminded me that back then, musicians did not roar, 'How you doing Glastonbury? ... I can't hear you. I SAID, 'HOW YOU DOING GLASTONBURY?'' So tedious. Neil Young just said, 'You all fine out there?' then got on with the music.. But this is not how things are any more and we had plenty of room to dance pretty close to the stage.

I ended my day with K.O.G. at Croissant Neuf. A lot more fun paying attention than when I dismissed them wandering past Shangri-La on Thursday. 


Edit: Many thanks to freespiral for drawing my attention to this excellent article from the Irish Examiner