The Bristol-band’s set was the main talking point from the first day of the festival.
The inflatable rubber dingy holding dummy migrants that was seen crowd surfing during Idles Glastonbury set last night has been revealed as a Banksy stunt.
Many believed the controversial spectacle was a part of the show, reflective of the punk band’s lyrics about immigration, criticism of rightwing governance and calls for empathy for the Palestinian people.
Idles have been praised for their ‘legendary’ performance on the Other Stage, where they conveyed pro-immigration and anti-monarchy messages and called for a ceasefire in Gaza.
Their set, which was broadcast on the BBC, was full of energy from start to finish. One one occasion, lead singer Joe Talbot led the crowd in a mass chant of ‘F**k the King’, and described one of the group’s most popular songs as an ‘anti-fascist song, an anti-Farage song’.
Idles teaching everyone at Glastonbury the new National Anthem.
— Supertanskiii (@supertanskiii) June 28, 2024
I think it’ll catch on.#Glastonbury2024 pic.twitter.com/X5yz3LoDoI
The standout moment of the set was when a rubber dingy carrying dummy child migrants was launched into the legion of festival-goers, who proceeded to ‘crowd surf’ the object while the band performed a pro-immigration song.
The track, which is titled Danny Nedelko, contains the lyrics:
“My blood brother is an immigrant
A beautiful immigrant
My blood brother’s Freddie Mercury
A Nigerian mother of three
He’s made of bones, he’s made of blood
He’s made of flesh, he’s made of love
He’s made of you, he’s made of me
Unity
Fear leads to panic, panic leads to pain
Pain leads to anger, anger leads to hate”
Migrant lifeboat crowdsurfing at Glastonbury #Idles pic.twitter.com/XSLmr1zmlN
— cello (@MrCarb1) June 28, 2024
The raft was a reference to the small boats carrying migrants across the Channel that have been such a high-profile target of Rishi Sunak’s immigration policy.
According to The Guardian, a member of the band revealed that the boat was created by the elusive artist Banksy, and that the band weren’t aware of the stunt until after the set.
Banksy, also believed to originate from Bristol, has had a longstanding relationship with the iconic festival.
He designed the Union flag-emblazoned stab-proof vest worn by Stormzy during his 2019 Pyramid stage headline set, and in 2014 he commandeered a livestock transportation van that drove around the site with cuddly toys emerging from it.
The site has also hosted a number of the artist’s classic stencil artworks, including one in 2010 that made a reappearance in 2022 to mark the festival’s 50th anniversary.
Related links:
Throughout the majority of Idles time on stage last night, the words ‘Ceasefire Now’ were displayed in large, white capital letters on a screen behind them.
While all of this was visible on the BBC’s live television coverage of the show, many of the stunts appear to have been deleted from iPlayer coverage, with the broadcaster being held to strict impartiality rules.
The politically-loaded performance was lauded by droves of viewers, who took to social media to describe the band as ‘f**king legends’, and the performance as a “masterclass in conveying messages that are burning in the hearts of this nation and beyond.”
One Twitter user wrote: “The Daily Mail is gonna have an aneurysm about this Idles set, they got the crowd to shout “fk the king” called Farage a fascist, had a prop of kids in a small boat crowdsurfing during a pro immigration song and ended by shouting ceasefire now. F**king legends.”
Another commented: “This’ll upset the right people. On the BBC. God I love IDLES.”
“IDLES the band that you are,” admired another as they praised the group for “making tens of thousands of people in the crowd chant ‘f*ck the king’ and ‘ceasefire now’ as it was broadcasted on the BBC.”
