The punk duo took to the stage at Worthy Farm last Saturday (June 28) in a performance broadcast live on iPlayer as part of BBC’s extensive Glastonbury coverage.

Throughout the gig they voiced their support for Palestine, whilst calling out the BBC, Israel and the US and UK governments. A message was projected onto the screen reading “Free Palestine – United Nations have called it a genocide – the BBC calls it a ‘conflict’”.

Frontman Bobby Vylan then led the crowd into chants of “free, free Palestine” and “death, death to the IDF (Israel Defence Forces)”.

The controversial set led to the band being dropped by their agent, United Talent Agency (UTA), as well as having their US visas revoked and their actions described by US Deputy Secretary of State, Christopher Landau, as a “hateful tirade”.

The BBC has now come out and responded to criticism labelled at the broadcasting company by politicians and media alike – most notably Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy saying that the BBC’s decision to stream the performance shows a “problem of leadership”.

Samir Shah, Chair of the BBC, shared a new statement, clarifying the action BBC will take: “This was unquestionably an error of judgement. I was very pleased to note that as soon as this came to the notice of Tim Davie (Director General of the BBC)… he took immediate action and instructed the team to withdraw the performance from on demand coverage.

“The BBC Board met on Tuesday to hear what actions will now be taken. The Executive have agreed to put in place a set of strengthened editorial practices and policies for live music programming.  These will be important measures to safeguard future live broadcasts from a failure such as this.”

Despite the criticism from both the UK and US Governments, the BBC and even the Glastonbury organisers – many artists have come out to voice their support for Bob Vylan.

Trip Hop icons and loyal activists, Massive Attack, shared a statement where they urged the media to focus on “what is happening daily to the people of Gaza” rather than on the artists speaking out.

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Other bands to show support include Lambrini Girls, Amyl And The Sniffers and Soft Play. The latter posted on social media, saying: “Again, the media is trying to distract you from the real story. The outrage sparked is merely a smoke screen for the lack of reporting on the destruction of the Palestinian people. They are starving children, where is the media’s outrage at Israel’s continued obliteration of a whole nation?”

Despite facing cancellations from festivals including Manchester’s Radar Festival, Bob Vylan still intend to tour with dates coming up in Ireland in August. You can find tickets for their shows here.

Following her set at Glastonbury, Lola Young has confirmed a UK tour for later this year, playing three shows in October, firstly in Manchester, then Birmingham, before finishing in London.

UK! to get pre-sale tickets, pre-order any format of ‘I’m Only F**king Myself’ from my store before 10am BST monday 7 july, link in my bio.
general sale on thursday 10th july – 10am local!

can’t wait to see you all. going to be so specialhttps://t.co/HvZnlu8nXa pic.twitter.com/RQJy3Sj7gA

— LOLA YOUNG (@lolayounggg) July 2, 2025

The tour will come ahead of the release of her upcoming album, “I’m Only F**king Myself“, due to drop this September.

Young has recently experienced a surge in popularity, with her hit single ‘Messy’, which topped the UK charts, and in April, was announced by Official Charts as the biggest song of 2025. In May, she won the coveted Ivor Novello Award for Rising Star. In an interview with NME, Lola Young discussed the success of Messy:

“It’s weird for me talking about my own song that I wrote from my past experience in a way that sounds like it’s not me talking about it. I just wrote it from a really personal place and it can sometimes be retriggering hearing that song because it was so intense. I’m out of that place now, out of that difficult time in my life.

“I think it’s just a relatable song. A lot of people don’t feel like they’re enough for somebody, they don’t feel like they’ll ever win.”

The UK dates are wedged between a world tour for the South London singer, who will take to the stage across Europe this July, and then North America in September, November and December.

See the dates for Lola Young’s UK and world tour below:

LOLA YOUNG WORLD TOUR

JULY
3rd – Open’er Festival, Gdynia, Poland
4th – Rock Werchter, Leuven, Belgium
5th – Roskilde Festival, Roskilde, Denmark
17th – Gurtenfestival, Bern, Switzerland
18th – Lollapalooza Paris, Paris, France

AUGUST
7th – Øya Festival, Oslo, Norway
9th – Way Out West Festival, Gothenburg, Sweden
10th – Flow Festival, Helsinki, Finland
14th – Paredes de Coura, Praia do Taboão, Portugal
16th – MS Dockville, Hamburg, Germany
17th – Lowlands Festival, Biddinghuizen, The Netherlands

SEPTEMBER
27th – All Things Go Festival, Queens, New York
28th – All Things Go Festival, Columbia, MD

OCTOBER
6th – O2 Victoria Warehouse, Manchester, UK
9th – O2 Academy, Birmingham, UK
15th – O2 Academy Brixton, London, UK

NOVEMBER
1st – History, Toronto, ON
2nd – History, Toronto, ON
4th – Roadrunner, Boston, MA
5th – Terminal 5, New York City, NY
6th – Terminal 5, New York City, NY
8th – The Met Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA
9th – The Anthem, Washington, DC
11th – The Pinnacle, Nashville, TN
12th – Tabernacle, Atlanta, GA
15th – Corona Capital, Mexico City
19th – Stubb’s Waller Creek Amphitheater, Austin, TX
21st – The Bomb Factory, Dallas, TX
24th – The Salt Shed, Chicago, IL
25th – Palace Theatre, St. Paul, MN
28th – The Fillmore Auditorium, Denver, CO
29th – The Union Event Center, Salt Lake City, UT

DECEMBER
1st – Doug Mitchell Thunderbird Sports Centre, Vancouver, BC
2nd – WAMU Theater at Lumen Field, Seattle, WA
4th – Bill Graham Civic Auditorium, San Francisco, CA
6th – Hollywood Palladium, Los Angeles, CA
7th – Hollywood Palladium, Los Angeles, CA

Tickets go on sale Thursday 10 July. You will be able to find them here.

The new single was released on Tuesday June 24, but by no means did the latest offering from the raucous group get lost in the in the midst of all of the Glastonbury chaos. Furiously fuzzy guitars and a bullish vocal from singer Karla Chubb grabbed the attention of critics around the UK (CLUNK) and earned the song a place on Spotify’s New Music Friday UK playlist – a hallmark for any up and coming UK artist.

‘Descartes’ is the first offering from the band’s second album, ‘All That Is Over‘, which is set for release on September 26. Speaking to The Guardian, Chubb remarked that the new record flirts with somewhat Orwellian themes, speaking to Rachel Aroesti she said, “A lot of it is escapism – even though we’re escaping from one dystopian world to another.”

In alignment with a lot of other Irish bands of today, (Fontaines D.C, Kneecap, Chalk), Sprints take a no-holds-barred approach to songwriting, commenting on social concerns and community challenges, touching a lot on her own experiences as a woman within the music industry. Last year Chubb hit out at a gig-goer for sexually assaulting her on stage (NME), and her story was met by an abundance of support from other artists and fans alike. The exasperation from these experiences has certainly translated into the fantastically aggressive ‘Descartes’.

Five days after the release of their new single, Sprints took to the Woodsies stage at the Glastonbury Festival, playing to a packed tent in Sunday’s blistering heat. What fans maybe didn’t expect was the surprise appearance of singer Kate Nash, who joined the band on stage to perform her 2007 hit ‘Foundations’, whilst incorporating the famous ‘That’s Not My Name’ by The Ting Tings into the chorus. 

Nash also appeared on Sunday at Glastonbury, using her time to bash the likes of J.K Rowling, Denise Welch and Rod Stewart for various discrepancies. But the singer was not the only act of the weekend to lash out at Rod Stewart, Minehead duo Getdown Services stated, “Rod Stewart looks like an old sofa”, in response to Stewart’s support of reform UK leader Nigel Farage.

Nash was not the only artist to take on political issues whilst on stage, Kneecap and Bob Dylan also used their time to make a statement. Read more, here.

Jarvis Cocker & co were the heavy bookies’ favourites to play a secret set at this year’s festival, even after the band’s keyboard player, Candida Doyle, claimed that Glastonbury “weren’t interested” in hosting the Britpop icons this year.

@martyfors This is going to be amazing. Pulp returning to Glasto this year. #pulp #glastonbury #glasto #glastonburyfestival ♬ original sound – martyfors

Despite that, the Pyramid Stage was packed with both people and anticipation as the clock ticked towards 6:15 pm on Saturday (June 28).

As the ‘Patchwork’ set was due to kick off, a message flashed on the screen: “Are you ready for… Pulp summer”. The Sheffield band then took the stage and launched straight into ‘Sorted for E’s & Wizz’ and ‘Disco 2000’ before Cocker greeted those in attendance.

Cheekily opening up with “Did you know we were gonna play? How?” Cocker then went on to reminisce about the band’s first time headlining the Pyramid Stage in 1995, saying: “Those songs were played here 30 years and four days ago, they were played for the first time. You could say they were born at Glastonbury.

“We played here with 10 days notice after John Squire broke his collarbone. We were so nervous, but today feels very different – I feel relaxed.”

Pulp then broke into ‘Spike Island’ – the first single off their new chart-topping album ‘More’. Their first album in 24 years received rave reviews, including four-stars from NME,  as it earned Pulp their first Number One album in 27 years.

@bbc6music Pulp bringing the ENERGY Listen on @bbcsounds #glastonbury #BBCGlasto #Pulp ♬ original sound – BBC Radio 6 Music

The rest of the set contained a perfect combination of both new gems and old classics, before giving the crowd a powerful rendition of ‘Common People’ to close the show. Check out the full setlist below.

‘Sorted for E’s and Wizz’

‘Disco 2000’

‘Spike Island’

‘O.U. (Gone, Gone)’

‘Acrylic Afternoons’

‘Something Changed’

‘Do You Remember The First Time’

‘Mis-Shapes’

‘Got To Have Love’

‘Babies’

‘Common People’

Pulp was far from the only big name to perform a secret set at this years festival. Kiwi pop sensation Lorde opened up the Woodsies tent, and Lewis Capaldi made an emotional return to the Pyramid Stage.

However, the biggest surprise came after alt-metal icons Deftones dropped out just hours before their appearance on the Other Stage. Stepping in to fill those big boots, Skepta rocked the stage with a ferocious 30-minute set.

@.dailyconcerts NAH THATS NOT ME #skepta #glastonbury #glastonburyfestival #boybetterknow ♬ original sound – dailyconcerts

Despite all the legendary performances at this years Glasto’ – including The Maccabees, Olivia Rodrigo and Supergrass – most of the attention has been focused on punk band Bob Vylan and Irish rap trio Kneecap.

A police investigation has been launched into Bob Vylan’s set after frontman, Bobby Vylan, led the crowd into chants of “free, free Palestine” and the perhaps more problematic “death, death to the IDF”. Check out the coverage of the controversy here at mxdwn.co.uk

This month marks exactly 30 years since the release of their seminal album – which coincides with the anniversary of the band’s first Glastonbury appearance in 1995. After they performed at Worthy Farm that year, ‘I Should Coco’ went on to hit Number One and sell over 500,000 copies in the UK.

30 years on, they opened up Pyramid Stage at midday today (Friday June 27) where they performed multiple hits from the album. After playing ‘I’d Like to Know’, ‘Caught by the Fuzz’ and ‘Mansize Rooster’, they then broke out into their hit single ‘Alright’. This was when technical problems hit BBC iPlayer, to the demise of fans watching throughout the country.

So, BBC iPlayer shut down midway through Supergrass doing ‘Alright’.

Did they think Kneecap were about to start playing?

Went back on and Pyramid Stage stream was gone, but the signed version was still going.

And it’s ace!#Glastonbury #Glastonbury2025 pic.twitter.com/zsVgbOZOOU

— Stand Up For Barry (@StandUpForBarry) June 27, 2025

The brief issues were quickly sorted and the broadcast returned as lead singer, Gaz Coombes, addressed the large crowd: “So pretty much 31, 30 years ago, we made this mad little record called ‘I Should Coco’, and we’re gonna be playing most of it for you this afternoon.”

Coombes continued, reflecting on their first Glasto’ appearance 3 decades ago: “30 years ago – 1995. A long time ago. Who’d have guessed? We came in by chopper.”

Although the performance was predominantly a celebration of the Oxford-based band’s debut album, they did also play hits from deeper in their discography. 

How are you feeling #Glastonbury
Us? “We’re Alright”
Got some tunes “Pumping on the Stereo”#Supergrass pic.twitter.com/AhZfTtRsUG

— Glastonbury Police (@PoliceAtGlasto) June 27, 2025

The set list was as follows: 

‘I’d Like to Know’

‘Caught by the Fuzz’

‘Mansize Rooster’

‘Alright’

‘Lose It’

‘Lenny’

‘Strange Ones’

‘She’s So Loose’

‘Time’

‘Sofa (Of My Lethargy)’

‘Richard III’

‘Late in the Day’

‘Mary’

‘Moving’

‘Sun Hits The Sky’

‘Pumping on Your Stereo’

Supergrass marked the 30th anniversary of ‘I Should Coco’ with a UK tour in May where they visited Glasgow, Nottingham, Sheffield, Newcastle, Birmingham, Manchester, Cardiff, Leeds, London and finally Cornwall.

Speaking about the tour after it was first announced, Coombes told NME: “It’s cool, man. It’s been about a year in the making. It’s just such a great record and really means a lot to us.

“The great thing about it is that this record is part of our DNA. It’s mad that 30 years later, we’re still able to pull off that energetic, youthful chemistry on stage and read each other in that way. Although it’s a 30-year-old record, we all feel really connected to it.”

You can check out Supergrass’ full Glastonbury performance now on iPlayer. Keep an eye on mxdwn.co.uk this weekend to catch all the news relating to the Worthy Farm festival.

The iconic festival is hosted every year, with intervals roughly every 5 years, on Worthy Farm, a 1500 acre farm in Somerset. Since its conception, and debut in 1970, Glastonbury has been organised and run by the farm’s owners, the Eavis family. When Worthy Farm isn’t hosting Glastonbury, it’s a dairy farm, with cows grazing the festival site for most of the year. They even sell their own cheese, called Worthy Farm Cheddar.

In 2026, Glastonbury will take a fallow year, a concept in farming which means to leave the land unsown for a set period to restore its fertility. In the context of Glastonbury, it means taking a break from the festival in order to prevent irreparable damage to the farmland, as well as to restore some peace to the small village of Pilton, which is situated about 6 miles east of the festival.

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Michael Eavis, the co-creator of the festival, discussed the importance of fallow years in yesterday’s (26 June) edition of The Glastonbury Free Press. He said: “I invented those in the ’80s, because it was very stressful with the licence, the police, the village, the press and the council.

“I thought, ‘We’ll give them all a break so they’ve got nothing to complain about for a bit!’ And of course, the farm gets a rest. It was a really good idea. I think we’ll be ready for a break next year!”

As well as this, fallow years are important for the cows that graze the land. The festival’s co-organiser, and Michael Eavis’ daughter, Emily Eavis, explained on the BBC’s Sidetracked podcast: “The fallow year is important because it gives the land a rest, it gives the cows a chance to be out for longer and reclaim their land.”

Traditionally, the fallow period is once every five years. The last official fallow year was in 2018, but due to the Covid-19 pandemic, Glastonbury was also postponed in 2020 and 2021.

Although many fans will miss Glasto in 2026, it makes this year’s festival all the more special. Emily Eavis told The Sun exactly why: “The festival before a fallow year is always a fun one to plan, because you almost have to fit two years into one.”

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It’s a pattern that means the line-ups before a fallow year are often especially stacked, as this year’s Glastonbury clearly demonstrates. The festival kicks off today, 27 June, boasting a star-studded bill, featuring the likes of Alanis Morissette, Fat Boy Slim and Supergrass. Tomorrow we’ll see performances from Charli XCX, Doechii, Weezer and Gary Numan. And Olivia Rodrigo, The Prodigy and Jorja Smith will perform on Sunday, the final day.

For more MXDWN coverage on Glastonbury 2025, click here

Grimshaw was then joined by Glasto’s organiser Emily Eavis, who couldn’t contain her excitement: “Do you know what, really good, we’ve come from the gates, which was very exciting. Me and my dad today just opened the gates, and it was so lovely. Welcoming everyone in, full of joy, excitement, anticipation… It was a really joyous occasion.” The opening staff was made out of Emily and her dad as well as Sudanese volunteers from Oxfam. There was also a countdown and a band, making a truly memorable welcome. Grimshaw noted hearing the “amazing roar” of the crowd from across the site, a sound Eavis described as the “most joy filled city in the whole of the United Kingdom for the next five days.”

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For the family, Glastonbury’s first day and gates opening is always an emotional moment: “It’s the best and most exciting, lovely, heart-warming feeling actually. I think it’s one of my favourite moments of the whole weekend. It’s all about these people having the best time over the next five days. It’s sort of quite moving when you think about the lengths that people go to make it good. The volunteers are really dedicated, they’ve been picking up stones in the arena or sewing crochet hearts onto branches, or painting bins and posts and making everything beautiful.”

She also shared her excitement about the exciting new opening ceremony for the Pyramid Stage: “We’re using a choir and some drummers, the refugee choir, and we’re going to scatter them through the crowd, and we’ve got some amazing artists who are going to be doing all kinds of trapeze. It’s not really about big names and all these headlines, it’s about celebrating the arts in all its forms.”

Emily Eavis wants one thing and one thing only for the crowd of music lovers and it’s to go home with a heart full of “optimism, hope, love, joy and peace”.

You can catch more of MXDWN’s coverage on Glastonbury here.

Eavis created the Glastonbury festival at the iconic Worthy Farm in 1970, before handing the reigns over to his daughter, Emily, in 1999. The two of them opened the gates to the 40th Glastonbury festival yesterday morning (June 25).

This year’s edition will mark the last until 2027 as the festival will take a year off next year – a tradition they have done once every five years since the 1980s to allow the farmland to recover.

Speaking in today’s version of The Glastonbury Free Press, Eavis shared his reasons for first introducing a fallow year all those decades ago: “I invented those in the ‘80s. It was very stressful with the license, the police, the village, the press and the council. I thought, ‘We’ll give them all a break so they’ve got nothing to complain about for a bit!’ And of course, the farm gets a rest. It was a really good idea. I think we’ll be ready for a break next year!”

Eavis also opened up about the festival’s political stance. Glasto’ is seen as adopting a predominately left-wing approach to its business, whether it’s campaigning for nuclear disarmament, environmental causes or world peace; or inviting activists to appear and speak at the event. 

They famously invited then-Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn to speak on the Pyramid Stage in 2017, where he drew a huge crowd and spoke of a “hope for the future”. 

The festival has found itself marred in controversy this year due to the inclusion of Irish rap trio Kneecap on the line-up. Many senior politicians, including Prime Minister Keir Starmer, have called for the group to be axed from the line-up due to member, Mo Chara, currently facing terror charges – relating to an event last November where Chara displayed a flag of a proscribed terrorist group on stage.

Despite the pressure to remove Kneecap from the line-up, Emily Eavis responded yesterday, saying: “We remain a platform for many, many artists from all over the world and, you know, everyone is welcome here.”

Her father, Michael, has now hit back at critics who say that Glastonbury no longer has strong political stances. When asked if the festival still “stands for something” after 55 years, Eavis said: “Oh, heaven’s above, yes of course it does. And I think the people that come here are into all those things. People that don’t agree with the politics of the event can go somewhere else!”

The doors for Glastonbury 2025 are open now with thousands of people already piling in before the main show kicks off on Friday. The 1975 and Loyle Carner will headline the Pyramid Stage and Other Stage respectively, before Neil Young and Charli XCX on Saturday night, and Olivia Rodrigo and The Prodigy on Sunday.

Head over to BBC iPlayer to catch extensive coverage of the festival, and keep your eyes on mxdwn.co.uk to keep up with Glasto’ 2025 news.

After the iconic Canadian musician expressed his disapproval over the BBC’s involvement in Glastonbury, it’s still unclear how much, if any, of Neil Young’s headline performance on Glastonbury’s Pyramid Stage will be broadcast. Neil Young will perform with his band The Chrome Hearts on Saturday, 28 June, but his set has been excluded from BBC’s schedule for that day.

The singer’s issues with the BBC go back years. The last time he played Glastonbury, in 2009, Young and his team only allowed 5 songs to be broadcast. According to Mark Cooper, former executive producer of the BBC’s Glastonbury coverage, this decision was made to ensure the exclusivity of a live show. He says: “They believe in the live event and retaining its mystery and that of their artist.”

“You probably won’t find too many Neil Young performances available freely on TV or online. He generally prefers the audience to find his albums.”

In December of last year, Neil Young pulled out of 2025’s Glastonbury festival after learning about the extent of the BBC’s involvement. He said in a now-deleted post to his website: “The Chrome Hearts and I were looking forward to playing Glastonbury, one of my all-time favourite outdoor gigs. We were told that BBC was now a partner in Glastonbury and wanted us to do a lot of things in a way we were not interested in.”

“It seems Glastonbury is now under corporate control and is not the way I remember it being. Thanks for coming to see us the last time!”

“We will not be playing Glastonbury on this tour because it is a corporate turn-off, and not for me like it used to be. Hope to see you at one of the other venues on the tour.”

However, Neil Young reversed this decision shortly after, posting to his website: “Due to an error in the information received, I had decided to not play the Glastonbury Festival, which I always have loved.

“Happily, the festival is now back on our itinerary and we look forward to playing. Hope to see you there!”

Neil Young recently kicked off his ‘Love Earth’ world tour with The Chrome Hearts in Rättvik, Sweden, last Wednesday (18 June), and will wrap up in Los Angeles on 15 September. As well as this, he’ll play at London’s Hyde Park on 11 July.

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You can find your tickets to his Hyde Park show here.

The legendary British electronic act will launch their arena tour in April 2026, with performances scheduled across the UK and Ireland, joined by special guest DJ and producer Carl Cox. The announcement arrives shortly before their headline appearance at Glastonbury on Sunday, 29 June, their first return to the festival since the passing of frontman Keith Flint in 2019.

A press release reads: “The World Heavyweight Champions Re-unite for a tour of straight up ruckus that sees The Prodigy blast through their headline set, performing tracks from across their seven UK number one albums, along with Carl Cox returning to his genre breaking three deck vinyl setup for a two-hour set from doors each night.”

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After a three-year hiatus following Flint’s death, The Prodigy returned to the stage in 2022. In a 2024 interview with NME, the band’s co-founder Liam Howlett reflected on how Flint’s passing affected the rest of the group. He said: “After losing Keith we couldn’t even think or talk about the band. I think it was two years after his death that me and Maxim started bringing it up. ‘Could we play live again? Did we even want to? Why? How?’”

He continues: “We realised the only possible real way to know how we would feel was to do it: get back on stage and do a bunch of gigs. It was so hard to walk onto that stage without our brother, but we really felt the crowd with us. Those gigs were highly emotionally-charged but we came out the other end with our answer.”

The Prodigy’s 2026 arena tour kicks off in Glasgow’s OVO Hydro, and wraps up at the 3Arena in Dublin, Ireland. Howlett tells fans to “expect full attack mode” in a statement reading: “We’re bringin back that full experience of non-stop noise and beats from doors to getting chucked out. It will be that full Prodigy experience as it was then and how it continues to be now… and droppin’ new tunes for the people… We’ve got our old friend Carl joining us so expect full attack mode, factor nine… Let’s go!”

Carl Cox added: “I love working with these guys and it’s such a long time since I have. They knew me that last time I was out playing three turntables, and the type of music I was playing was hardcore rave music, so that’s what I’m going to be doing, playing that sort of sound and into the new skool, I’m really looking forward to it, so here we are Carl Cox and The Prodigy back again to rip up the dance floors.”

The tour dates go as follows:

THE PRODIGY 2026 UK AND IRELAND TOUR

APRIL

15th – Glasgow OVO Hydro
16th – Manchester Co-op Live
18th – Birmingham Utilita Arena
19th – Cardiff Utilita Arena
21st – Bournemouth BIC
22nd – Leeds First Direct Arena
24th – London Wembley OVO Arena
25th – London Wembley OVO Arena
27th – Belfast The SSE Arena
28th – Dublin 3Arena

You can get your tickets here from this Friday, 27 June.