Primal Scream frontman Bobby Gillespie has blasted the modern festival circuits, comparing summer events to "shopping malls".
The festival season has become more and more commercialised. The boom for summer events has meant increased competition, forcing high profile festivals to book acts which are perhaps more commercial than those appearing on the same line up a decade before.
Primal Scream know this better than most. A band who really erupt in the live arena, the group are perennial festival favourites.
Hitting Kendal Calling at the weekend, Bobby Gillespie praised the event for being "more daring" with their line up before adding: "sometimes it feels that festivals are like shopping malls".
Speaking to the NME, the frontman said: "To me when I think of festivals, I think of the late '60s and '70s and I always imagine that bands were allowed to express themselves a little bit more. Sometimes it feels now that festivals are like shopping malls. People just want the brands. They want Adidas, TK Maxx, they want Yo Sushi. They want what they know from the brand, they don’t want anything different."
"To me festivals should be places where you experiment and challenge people a bit and not just play your greatest hits," Gillespie continued. "I’m coming from a more experimental, art punk background so I like to be challenged. I want to hear the hits too, but I like it when people do something a bit out of the ordinary and take you somewhere else. We wouldn’t play songs like 'Tenement Kid' or 'River of Pain' live if we didn’t think we were giving something good to the audience. You’ve got to keep it exciting for yourself and take risks. The problem is a lot of people are too scared to take risks and it shows in their music."
So what do you think? Has the festival circuit become too commercialised? Leave your opinion in the comments section…
Finally, Clash spoke to Bobby Gillespie about Primal Scream's new album 'More Light' earlier this year – find that feature HERE.
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