bob Vylan – devizine.com

After months of speculation, controversy, and local media bias, The Shindig Festival at Malmesbury’s Charton Park has been given the green light…..

Despite Newsquest flogging this dead horse, last week Wiltshire Police said they have no concerns about Bob Vylan playing at the music festival.

Regardless of the decision of the law, the South Cotswold Conservative Association felt it necessary to attempt to prevent freedom of expression with an application for the Wiltshire Council to review the license. Apparently, they fear a respected, passive, and family-friendly dance festival would descend into “ public disorder,” over one act; best guess, because they’ve never been to a dance festival. But then, who in their right mind would invite them?!

“We have been facing censorship,” a spokesperson for Shindig said today, but continued to inform their followers that following a formal hearing this morning, “Shindig Festival has been given the official green light. We stood our ground, our robust safety measures stand firm, and you can book your tickets with absolute confidence.”

“Bob Vylan will play on Sunday at 10pm. The sun will shine on the Shindig Festival this year.”

Common sense prevails once again. Shindig is a professional organiser with years of experience who takes matters of public safety as a paramount. Historically, musicians will call out political injustices, few ever caused disorders. Bob Vylan was not alone in speaking out at Glastonbury, despite taking the media brunt for it. Meanwhile, this weekend, the authorities did nothing to stop the London “Unite The Kingdom” demonstration from mocking Muslims by hiring French models to strip out of abayas.

Devizine offers our sincere congratulations, and we wish Shindig the very best of luck with this year’s festival and for future events.

A festival is never about one headline act. Dance festivals, in particular, are an experience of multiple performances and activities, and they always strive to continue the passive ethos of rave culture of yore. This is something that has unfortunately never been fully understood by a minority, and their attempts to contain them have caused more issues than the actual events. Let’s momentarily forget Bob Vylan to concentrate on Bob Dylan, who sang “don’t criticise what you can’t understand,” … .in 1964! Sixty-two years later, some spanners still haven’t grasped it.

The celebrated Shindig Festival at Malmesbury’s Charton Park announced their headline act for May bank holiday 2026, and being that it’s Bob Vylan, it is bound to open debate….

London based grime rappers Bob Vylan are no strangers to controversy through their criticisms of the establishment and calling out inequalities. Whilst they were one of many acts at last year’s Glastonbury to make statements condemning the genocide in Palestine, they seemed to take the brunt of the rightwing media assault.

Online opinions from Shindig’s announcement are already strongly divided, but mostly positive from the devoted regular attendees of this marvellous festival. Some suggest it will be great to see them live and away from media exposure, others state otherwise. One said it’s an “embarrassing choice. He’ll make it political and a hate filled performance.’ But hey, who wants to party with those in support of such barbarism?

Another suggests there’s plenty of other things they could be doing at the festival, and they need not attend this particular performance if they disagree with the social statements the band make; now there’s an idea!

The Shindig team said they are “very excited to announce one of the most vital, fearless and electrifying live acts in the UK right now. Expect high-energy, sharp lyricism and a reputation for using music as a force for conversation and change. We believe art should challenge as well as unite.”

I find myself wondering what would become of punk if it suddenly stopped campaigning for righteousness, or what these triggered objectors would say if it was the seventies and John Lennon or Bob Marley was booked, for music has always had political or social motivations, and to censor it for the purposes of propaganda or ignorance would be sacrilegious. Well done, Shindig pose, it’s a seriously important booking.