The organisers of a music festival have issued an apology to a band which claimed its set was axed when a Palestinian flag was displayed on stage. A string of bands pulled out of the Victorious music festival hours before they were due to perform after Irish folk music band, The Mary Wallopers, claimed they had been “cut off”.
The Last Dinner Party, Cliffords and The Academic announced yesterday (August 23) that they wouldn’t perform at the Portsmouth festival after what happened on Friday. Along with their apology, festival organisers pledged to make “a substantial donation to humanitarian relief efforts for the Palestinian people”.
The organisers had claimed the band saw their set cut short for using a “discriminatory” chant.
After The Mary Wallopers’ set, a spokesperson for Victorious said: “We spoke to the artist before the performance regarding the festival’s long-standing policy of not allowing flags of any kind at the event, but that we respect their right to express their views during the show.
“Although a flag was displayed on stage contrary to our policy, and this was raised with the artist’s crew, the show was not ended at this point, and it was the artist’s decision to stop the song.”
In response, The Mary Wallopers claimed the festival had released a misleading statement to the press claiming they cut its sound because of a discriminatory chant and not the band’s call to Free Palestine.
The band’s statement added: “Our video clearly shows a Victorious crew member coming on stage, interfering with our show, removing the flag from the stage and then the sound being cut following a chant of ‘Free Palestine’. The same crew member is later heard in the video saying ‘you aren’t playing until the flag is removed’.”
As bands announced they would no longer perform at the festival, the organisers posted another statement on Instagram which read: “The Mary Wallopers are a fantastic band and we were very much looking forward to their performance at Victorious on Friday.
“We didn’t handle the explanation of our policies sensitively or far enough in advance to allow a sensible conclusion to be reached.
“This put the band and our own team in a difficult situation which never should have arisen. We would like to sincerely apologise to all concerned.”
The organisers said they “absolutely support” the right of artists to freely express their views from the stage “within the law and the inclusive nature of the event”. They said their policy of not allowing flags of any kind is “not meant to compromise that right”.
They accepted that sound for The Mary Wallopers’ audience was cut and comments afterwards were not audible to the public.
The statement ended: “We are sorry that this situation has come about and will be making a substantial donation to humanitarian relief efforts for the Palestinian people.”
The festival is set to feature Vampire Weekend, The Kaiser Chiefs and Kings Of Leon over the weekend. Starting Vampire Weekend’s headline set on the Common Stage, lead singer Ezra Koenig said: “If someone was censored for flying a flag then that’s wrong and they deserve an apology.” He added the people of Palestine “deserve our sympathies”.
