If you were in any doubt that Glastonbury had migrated from its humble beginnings as a hippy festival in the 70s, to a commercial monster that’s global main stage acts dominate.Then this weekend’s event banished all of them.
Apparently it see’s sales increases off the back of a Pyramid stage headline slot too. Last night’s headliner Beyoncé saw a 713% uplift in sales in the hours following her performance which closed Glastonbury last night sending her new album ‘4’ shooting up the charts. It is currently ranking at number 3 in the MP3 album chart on Amazon.co.uk. But it was Janelle Monáe who saw the biggest benefit of appearing at Glastonbury with a 4928% sales uplift following her performance over the weekend.
“Demand for albums following Glastonbury performances has been really strong for a lot of the artists at the festival this year,” said Roger Greensmith, music and MP3 manager at Amazon.co.uk Ltd. “Beyoncé timed it perfectly with her closing performance having an immediate effect on not just her new album released today but her back catalogue as well.”The top five biggest rises in sales over the Glastonbury weekend were:
1. Janelle Monáe 4928% 2. Mumford & Sons 1400% 3. Coldplay 1290%4. Primal Scream 920% 5. U2 747%
In other news from the site. Glastonbury bosses have insisted there was no “instruction to use heavy-handedness” after security staff at the festival tussled with the Art Uncut protestors as they tried to inflate a big fat balloon that read ‘U Pay Your Tax 2’ at the start of U2’s set at the festival on Friday.
It was no secret that the Art Uncut group was planning to protest U2’s much reported tax arrangements at the festival, in particular the band’s decision a few years back to move some of their financial affairs from Ireland to the Netherlands where tax liabilities would be less. Many were critical over the weekend of what they saw as a heavy-handed approach by Glasto staff to kill a peaceful political protest at what is meant to be a politically aware event that champions freedom of expression.
For his part, Bono told reporters he was “glad” the protestors had had a chance to have their say, even though they didn’t, adding that their campaign was “wrong”, which it isn’t. Well, it’s a well-intended but overly simplistic view of a complex situation, a bit like Bono’s whole approach to political matters, and the fight against poverty.
Bono told the Daily Mail: “‘I’m all for protests. I’ve been protesting all of my life. I’m glad they got the chance to have their say. But, as it happens, what they’re protesting about is wrong”.
Other acts who are reported to have performed well on the smaller stages included The Streets, Sea of Bees, Spotlight Kid, Vessels, The Kills and the Goodnatured. While performances from Queens of the Stone age, Wild beasts drew plaudits and special guest appearances from Pulp and Radiohead were welcome additions to a festival line up. Which viewed from the vantage point of BBC3 was seemingly hopelessly in thrall to the mainstages.
