Bands on The Great Escape boycott: “Artists are realising they’re the ones with the power”

nme.com:

The Great Escape Festival 2024 line-up have pulled out of the festival with over 125 artists joining the boycott, a number of the acts have spoken to NME about their decision and showing solidarity with Palestine.The Great Escape kicked off last night (May 15), but every artist booked to play the opening party canceled their appearance at the festival, alongside more than 100 others including Picture Parlour, Miso Extra and Alfie Templeman – while Big Special will be playing but donating their fee from the festival to the Palestine Child Relief fund.Festival sponsors Barclays are accused of investing in a number of companies that supply arms to Israel, with over 35,000 Palestinians killed in Gaza since the historic conflict escalated last year, with Hamas committing the October 7 attacks.

The bank also sponsors a number of other festivals, including Latitude, Download and Isle Of Wight.We've pulled out of this year's @thegreatescape due to their ongoing partnership with Barclays- who have, and still are, investing billions in arms companies involved in the genocide on Palestinians.

We shouldn't just accept the corporate stranglehold on music, read more below- pic.twitter.com/xHYDKyRhzk— Other Half (@OtherHalfUK) April 9, 2024“My morals cannot and will not align with the amalgamation of entertainment and human suffering,” said Templeman in a statement announcing his decision to pull out of The Great Escape. “I really hope that together, our absence from the festival will make other events around the world prioritise being ethical when choosing their partners.”Over 1,200 artists including IDLES, Squid and Massive Attack have also signed an open letter addressed to The Great Escape, asking them to remove Barclays as a.