On Sunday, the 80-year-old rock legend Rod Stewart played Glastonbury in the main-stage legend spot. Not everyone was happy to have him there. Shortly before his set, Stewart endorsed right-wing UK politician and Brexit architect Nigel Farage in a Times interview. When asked about the UK's political future, Stewart had this to say:
It’s hard for me because I’m extremely wealthy, and I deserve to be, so a lot of it doesn’t really touch me. But that doesn’t mean I’m out of touch. For instance, I’ve read about [Prime Minister Kier] Starmer cutting off the fishing in Scotland and giving it back to the EU. That hasn’t made him popular. We’re fed up with the Tories. We’ve got to give Farage a chance. He’s coming across well... What options have we got? I know some of his family, I know his brother, and I quite like him... Starmer’s all about getting us out of Brexit and I don’t know how he’s going to do that. Still, the country will survive. It could be worse. We could be in the Gaza Strip.
Stewart didn't talk about Farage during his Glatonbury set. GBN reports that he did once pause his performance to say, "There's been a lot about the Middle East in the news recently, quite rightly so. I want to draw your attention to Ukraine for a minute," before dedicating his cover of the O'Jays' "Love Train" to Ukraine. As previously reported, Kneecap mentioned Stewart during their own attention-grabbing Glasto set: "Anybody going to Rod Stewart tomorrow? The man is older than Israel!" I'd say that's less a shot at Rod Stewart, more a talking point about Israel displacing people who have been on that land for generations. But when Kate Nash performed, she really did diss Rod Stewart.
The UK singer-songwriter Kate Nash started off as a teenage hitmaker, and her 2007 debut album Made Of Bricks reached #1 in her homeland. But Nash left mainstream music behind entirely after her manager stole a ton of money from her. Last year, she signed to Kill Rock Stars and released her album 9 Sad Symphonies. Nash played Glastonbury on Sunday, and her set included "GERM," her recent anti-TERF single.
As Rolling Stone points out, Nash took a shot at JK Rowling from the stage: "The loudest feminist voice in the UK is currently transphobic, and that is something that I take very fucking personally, as a feminist and a feminist with trans friends in my life, trans people that I love and that are very important to me. Dismantling systems of oppression lies at the very core of feminism, so transphobia is not fucking feminist. And just because you’re a fucking millionaire and a fucking bully with an army of trolls on the fucking internet, I don’t give a fuck, mate." Nash also took a slightly puzzling shot at British TV personality Denise Welch, whose son Matty Healy headlined Glastonbury with his band the 1975: "The music industry doesn’t know what to do with me. They tried to get rid of me, but they didn’t. There is a record executive sweating their tits off with Matt Healy’s mum." That must be some deep lore that I just don't know. Finally, Nash talked her shit about Rod Stewart before performing her song "Dickhead": "Fuck Rod Stewart. This one goes out to Keir Starmer, JK Rowling, Rod Stewart, and Nigel fucking Farage."
Nash also joined the Irish post-punk band Sprints during their Glastonbury set on Sunday. Together, Nash and Sprints performed a joyous, freewheeling version of Nash's 2007 "Foundations," adding in a bit of the Ting Tings' "That's Not My Name." Check it out.
Sprints just announced their sophomore album All That Is Over; it's out 9/26 on Sub Pop.
