While we all tuned in to watch the ‘surprise’ performance of Lewis Capaldi’s return after an agonising watch two years ago, the camera swept across the sweltering crowd and did its usual pan on the comedy flags. ‘Flags should be banned’ and ‘Gary Linekar shags crisps’ were personal favourites. Thankfully, Capaldi made it through his set triumphantly and with a more restrained interaction with the crowd than the previous spectacle in 2023.
Unsurprisingly, there were some more vocal participants on the stages this year who used their platform to hammer home messaging that was clearly at the forefront of their mind and world perception. War, peace, equality and all the rest.
But why do we need messaging at all? Political or not, isn’t the music enough? In our opinion and in evidence of Glastonbury aiding the vocalisation of such opinions, no, it is not. Outlandish opinions and PR coated in ‘Hope, unity, peace and love’ are seemingly the fundamental ingredients to relevance and high ratings.
We all know Glastonbury is a political petri dish - oh, and there’s music. It’s a sorority of people coming together to celebrate peace and love, but also to have a bit of a winge at the same time about the state of the world. Of course, glamping and extortionate sushi burritos (these are an actual thing) are the only arena to have this mass winge, whether you’re screaming from the left or the right of the political scale.
As you wander through the many different areas of Glastonbury, you can see the blasting artworks in support of Greenpeace and hardcore lefties adorning stages with theatre and spoken word. However, for the landlording, home-county bound attendees, a ‘Fuck the Tory’s speech’ get’s a bit lost on them. But how do you get any messaging out to the mass market without commercialisation of a well-meaning hippie musical festival? Without the togetherness of money from both the politically right and left, in a three-day fantastical bender?
Adorning the walkways is more messaging about protecting the planet, aligned next to a Barclays bus offering glitter face paint. A transgender punk rock band wails on stage about equality out to a sea of hetronormaive yuppies from Fullam. The beauty of Glastonbury lies in the mix of messages, but the messaging you will get.
With over 23 million people tuning in to one of ‘the biggest crown jewels in the BBC’s pop crown’ in 2023, people are hungry to see what's current and what's being said. Through music, through art and the culture of Glastonbury.
As Emily Eavis said, we are about ‘Hope, unity, peace and love’, but it’s hard to see how she would match the ratings or even exceed them year on year without a little controversy. We are yet to see the ratings of the Kneecap performance, but no doubt they were high in anticipation of the controversy that would spill out. It has felt as though Glastonbury has been inviting the messaging to be broadcast and speculated upon, and reported on.
In some strange way, it feels as though Glastonbury is harking back to its origins on September 19th, 1970, to a time when being cancelled wasn’t in existence and free speech was dangerous and provocative and offensive. It feels as though it is a conscious decision for Glastonbury to provide free speech as if it’s a form of wilding over pruned land - just letting it all be wild and free and untamed. In hand with this ‘wilding’ approach, there’s a disregard to cost or offence or PR damage control it may incur afterwards.
Alison Howe is the executive producer of the BBC studios for Glastonbury and in a recent BBC article stated, ‘It’s such a mix of different types of artists which I think could only genuinely exist in BBC coverage’. Quite a seemly wild statement considering the management of output of controversy and the BBC’s continuous need to defend unbiased, inoffensive content ect etc.
She’s right, though; Glastonbury is the only uncensored place to say something, to stand for what you believe. However, you can only really state what you think if you can afford to go. What messaging is that sending over the guise of ‘Hope, peace, unity and love’?
The importance of messaging within any brand and the navigation of PR around it is an incredible dance. Understanding why you want controversy and your plan to deal with backlash is all part of the strategy. No matter how much the backlash of Glastonbury adorns our blogs, feeds and TVs, we can’t help but look and swing in with our messaging and opinions on top.
A big congratulations to the Glastonbury team and all those who participated and attended. We are listening to what you have to say, whether we like it or not.
If you’d like to discuss your brand’s messaging with our team, get in contact with us today by clicking here.
Written by Roberta , No AI. 30th June 2025
