IT was just a matter of time before someone brought up the "R" word in the great Glasto row.
For those who haven't been keeping up, this year's festival failed to sell out in under four minutes, and many critics are blaming the fact that Jay-Z has been booked as the Saturday night headliner.
Jay-Z is a rapper. And black. But which, if either, is the cause of the slow ticket sales?
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Emily Eavis is fairly sure. She wrote in the Independent newspaper that "there is an interesting undercurrent in the suggestion that a black U.S. hip-hop artist shouldn't be playing in front of what many perceive to be a white, middle-class audience.
"I'm not sure what to call it, at least not in public, but this is something that causes me some disquiet."
She referred to an "innate conservatism" in the British public, which apparently leads them to refuse to try "something different."
Different for some Glastonbury regulars perhaps, although probably not, but not for the tens of thousands of people who buy Jay-Z's records and send him to the top of the charts. Many of whom are white and middle class.
We might as well ask why they weren't out in their droves buying tickets to a festival whose line-up includes white indie bands.
Are they being racist? (Let's just get the word out in the open, Emily). Or should they be made to try "something different"?
Of course not. Booking Jay-Z was a huge tactical error, one so obvious that even Noel Gallagher's noticed. And they must have blown most of the budget on the rapper - how else could you explain the choice of The Verve as co-headliners? The slow ticket sales are merely payback for the Eavis's arrogance for believing they could tell their audience what they should be listening to.
Perhaps it's over-simplifying a good argument a bit, but maybe Glasto-goers, fed for 30 years on a diet of guitar-based rock, just don't really like hip-hop. Or maybe we're all just too middle class now to get our feet muddy.
To suggest that music fans have been put off buying tickets for Glastonbury because Jay Z is black is ridiculous.
Is it any wonder there is tension between races when whenever something like this happens the press bring up the “R” card? Regardless of your opinion on whether it is or isn’t racism, the fact you have brought it up and discussed it as a possible explanation brings friction.
To suggest that music fans have been put off buying tickets for Glastonbury because Jay Z is black is ridiculous.
Is it any wonder there is tension between races when whenever something like this happens the press bring up the “R” card? Regardless of your opinion on whether it is or isn’t racism, the fact you have brought it up and discussed it as a possible explanation brings friction.
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