Blur bassist Alex James has claimed that Glastonbury Festival is “overrated” and gets more coverage than it deserves.
The British musician, 57, shared a number of blunt opinions in an interview with The Times, including that the Beach Boys album Pet Sounds – regarded by many critics as one of the greatest of all time – is “s***”.
Turning his ire to Glastonbury, which is taking its traditional fallow year before returning in 2027, James complained about the “hagiographic treatment” he believes the festival receives from the BBC.
“You’d think it’s the only festival in the world,” he remarked. Singling out an event he believed was “underrated”, he named Roskilde festival in Denmark, which typically takes place on the same weekend as Glastonbury.
“Glastonbury is a gory drugs bender,” he said. “Roskilde’s got amazing food because it’s Denmark, it’s just really civilised and the toilets are nice. It’s a wonderful, magical, Hans Christian Andersen fairytale of an event.”
The Independent has contacted Glastonbury and the BBC for comment.
Blur have played Glastonbury on four occasions. They made their debut in 1992 and have headlined twice, first in 1998 and then again on the Pyramid Stage in 2009.
Frontman Damon Albarn’s other band, Gorillaz, also headlined the festival in 2010, as a replacement for U2 after Bono injured his back. He then made a surprise appearance in 2024 during Bombay Bicycle Club’s set, in which he led cheers of support for Palestine and called out the “octogenarians” in power.
Blur reunited for the release of their ninth studio album, The Ballad of Darren, in 2023, and toured in support of the new music.
Their latest hiatus, announced by Albarn in December 2023, was briefly interrupted when the band received a last-minute offer to play Coachella the following year.
The performance made headlines after footage showed Albarn attempting to lead a singalong of the band’s hit “Girls & Boys”, only to grow frustrated by the notoriously lacklustre crowd.
“You’re never seeing us again so you might as well f***ing sing it. Know what I’m saying?” he eventually told the audience.
Their rendition of “Song 2” was met with a much bigger reaction, prompting Albarn to remark: “This song has been so good to us. But I did get shown a TikTok of it being kind of performed by a vacuum cleaner which is you know…. It is humbling and inspiring at the same time.”
The 10 best music festivals in Europe for 2026
The 11 best UK music festivals for summer 2026
Britpop icon says he took his daughter to North Korea on holiday
Dolly Parton reveals ‘bad news’ about her health
George Michael song named UK’s favourite track for eighth year in a row
Kid Cudi fires MIA from tour after she rants about being a ‘brown Republican’
