Pillow Queens have become the first band to boycott this year’s edition of Latitude festival over its sponsorship with Barclays and their ties to Israel.
The Irish indie rock band – comprised of Pamela Connolly, Sarah Corcoran, Rachel Lyons and Cathy McGuinness – took to their social media to share a statement explaining why they have pulled out of the Suffolk music festival.
“Last week it came to our attention that Latitude – a festival we were booked to play in the UK in July – lists its headline partner as Barclays. A May 2024 report by Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC) details Barclays financial ties to companies producing weapons and military technology used in Israel’s attacks on Palestinians,” began their statement.
“It reveals that Barclays has increased its financial ties with companies arming Israel,” it continued. “PSC urges people to boycott all Barclays services until the bank ends its complicity in Israel’s attacks on Palestinians.
“As a band we believe that artistic spaces should be able to exist without being funded by morally corrupt investors. It is for that reason that we have pulled out of Latitude Festival. Saoirse don Phalaistín.”
Pillow Queens’ announcement comes shortly after a major boycott of The Great Escape in Brighton earlier this month due to its ties with Barclays as well. Over 100 acts dropped out of this year’s Great Escape Festival in solidarity with Palestine – constituting approximately a quarter of the full programme.
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Speaking to NME about their decision to pull out of The Great Escape, Big Scary Monsters founder Kevin Douch said: “Honestly, for us it was an easy decision. We spoke to our bands and explained our position, asked them what they wanted to do and it was unanimous that we’d all pull out. It’s been awesome seeing so many people getting behind this. There are enough voices now to make Livenation listen and hopefully remove Barclays as a sponsor.”
NME has reached out to Barclays for a comment about Latitude, but when previously approached about The Great Escape, a Barclays spokesperson pointed to their online Q&A ahead of their upcoming AGM and said that they would not be making further comment.
“Barclays has been the subject of criticism in relation to Gaza based on two arguments: that Barclays is an investor in these businesses, and that we provide a range of financial services to clients which produce equipment used by the Israeli Defence Force,” the Q&A read.
“We have been asked why we invest in nine defence companies supplying Israel, but this mistakes what we do. We trade in shares of listed companies in response to client instruction or demand and that may result in us holding shares. We are not making investments for Barclays and Barclays is not a ‘shareholder’ or ‘investor’ in that sense in relation to these companies.”
Barclays continued: “An associated claim is that we invest in Elbit, an Israeli defence manufacturer which also supplies the UK armed forces with equipment and training. For the reasons mentioned, it is not true that we have made a decision to invest in Elbit. We may hold shares in relation to client driven transactions, which is why we appear on the share register, but we are not investors. We note also that Elbit is highlighted because campaigners claim it makes cluster bombs. We would cease any relationship with any business where we saw evidence that it manufactures cluster bombs or components.
“As a bank, our job is to provide financial services to thousands of business clients and that includes those in the defence sector. Clients in this sector include US, UK or European companies which supply defence products to NATO and other allies including Ukraine.”
NME has reached out to Latitude for a comment.
In a move similar to the Great Escape walkout, many artists refused to play at SXSW Festival in Austin, Texas in March because of the event’s connections to the US Army and weapons companies amid the Israel-Gaza conflict. These included Gruff Rhys, Kneecap, Sprints, Lambrini Girls, Gel, Rachel Chinouriri, Cardinals and NewDad.
SXSW responded to the cancellations in a statement: “We are an organisation that welcomes diverse viewpoints. Music is the soul of SXSW, and it has long been our legacy. We fully respect the decision these artists made to exercise their right to free speech.”
Explaining its sponsorship with the US Army, SXSW wrote: “The defence industry has historically been a proving ground for many of the systems we rely on today. These institutions are often leaders in emerging technologies, and we believe it’s better to understand how their approach will impact our lives.”
In other Pillow Queens news, the band are set to perform at this year’s edition of Glastonbury festival.