Noel Gallagher has shared his thoughts on Guns N’ Roses headlining Glastonbury this weekend, describing the bill topping slot as “crazy shit”.
The US band will perform on the Pyramid Stage this Saturday (June 24), in between Arctic Monkeys on Friday (23) and Elton John on Sunday (25).
The former Oasis musician, however, has questioned the thinking behind the decision, suggesting that the honour could have gone to a British act instead.
“I thought, ‘What? Are you being serious? That’s crazy shit’,” he told the Daily Star‘s ‘Wired’ column, recalling the moment he found out Guns N’ Roses were headlining the iconic British festival.
“When you think of all the huge British artists who’ve had albums out this past year, having Guns N’ Roses headlining the Saturday is mad.”
Explaining his own absence from Worthy Farm this year – as both a performer and a punter – Gallagher, who released his new album ‘Council Skies’ with the High Flying Birds earlier this month, said his schedule didn’t allow for it.
“I would have been smart to play Glastonbury this year, but I played it last year because I’d been booked to do it in 2020 and everything got pushed back,” he said.
“There’s always next year to go back to Glastonbury – I’m not going anywhere.
“Because of lockdown, the band hadn’t played together for ages – and touring again is joyous.”
The singer also explained that he’ll be performing at some smaller festivals instead this year, including PennFest in Buckinghamshire, Splendour Festival in Nottingham and West Yorkshire’s Bingley Weekender.
“What I like about boutique festivals is that pretty much everyone will go to see you,” he said.
“That makes the festival more like one of our own gigs. You won’t get new fans out of it, but you’ll have a great night.”
Earlier this month, Gallagher said that songs he’s performing live off his latest album ‘Council Skies‘ weren’t getting a good reception from his US audiences.
Elsewhere, the musician also recently said The 1975 were “shit” and “not rock”.
Speaking to NME‘s for the In Conversation series, Gallagher said: “I was watching [The 1975 at the BRITs] with my kids, two teenage lads, thinking, ‘Is it me being a grumpy old man, or is this shit?’ They were both going, ‘Oh no, this is fucking shit’. The 1975, Best Rock Band? Someone needs to re-define that immediately, because that is… I don’t know what that is, but it’s certainly not fucking rock. Whatever rock is, that’s not it.”
In other Glastonbury news, Emily Eavis has said she is confident Arctic Monkeys will play Glastonbury – after they cancelled a show this week due to frontman Alex Turner dealing with an acute case of laryngitis –but they “have a couple of back-up plans”.
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