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Alex James calls Glastonbury “a gory drugs bender” and compares it to Roskilde
Blur bassist Alex James told The Times Glastonbury is "a gory drugs bender" and said "you'd think it's the only festival in the world." He compared it favourably to Roskilde, noted Blur's Glastonbury history, and discussed his Big Feastival project.
Blur bassist Alex James told The Times that Glastonbury Festival is “a gory drugs bender” and said “you’d think it’s the only festival in the world.”
James made the remarks while discussing festivals in Europe and the UK. He suggested other events get less attention despite strong lineups and facilities.
“Roskilde’s got amazing food because it’s Denmark, it’s just really civilised and the toilets are nice,” he said. He described Roskilde as “a wonderful, magical, Hans Christian Andersen fairytale of an event” and called Glastonbury a “gory drugs bender” by comparison.
Blur have a long history at Glastonbury. They debuted on the NME Stage in 1992. They headlined in 1998 and in 2009.
The band released The Ballad Of Darren in 2023, their first album in eight years. Their 2024 Coachella set drew attention after frontman Damon Albarn criticised the crowd. During the performance Albarn told attendees, “You can do it better than that,” and later said, “You’re never seeing us again, so you might as well fucking sing it.”
James also runs Big Feastival and has taken other projects on the road. He spoke to NME about an orchestral celebration of the 1990s that premiered at Big Feastival and is now being staged more widely.
On Coachella, James said: “Coachella is the biggest festival in the world. As someone who runs a festival, I was impressed by that. I thought it was great.”
James started Big Feastival in 2011 with Jamie Oliver. It began on Clapham Common and moved to his farm in Kingham, Oxfordshire, in 2012. This year the event is headlined by Basement Jaxx, The Streets and Bastille.
