Victorious Festival: Fourth band pulls plug after branding organisers “shameful”
A fourth band has pulled the plug on their performance at Victorious Festival after branding organisers “shameful” for cutting The Mary Wallopers set.
Getdown Services were due to play on Under The Trees stage at 8.45pm on Sunday but the band has now announced it will not play after criticising the festival for its stance after a Palestinian flag was brandished on stage during The Mary Wallopers set on Friday.
It comes as Cliffords, who were due to perform ahead of Toploader on Saturday, joined The Last Dinner Party and The Academics in also announcing they would no longer perform as a result of the controversy surrounding The Mary Wallopers set.
Getdown Services said in a statement on social media they “don’t want anything to do with this festival” before continuing: “They censored a band calling for a free Palestine, lied about their reasons for doing so and then when that lie was exposed they blamed it on miscommunication.
“They’re trying to save face and we think that is shameful behaviour. Standing against that is more important than playing I’m afraid. We’re sorry to anyone who was excited to see us.”
They added: “This sort of censorship is alarming and should be taken seriously. Shame on Victorious for doing this in the first place and shame on them for the way they’ve handled it.”
The band indicated they would not be making a donation to charity War Child.
A spokesperson for Victorious Festival confirmed Getdown Services was no longer playing but did not say if a band would be replacing them. The Victorious app currently still shows the band down as playing.
Victorious Festival said on Saturday in its apology over The Mary Wallopers fallout: “(They) are a fantastic band and we were very much looking forward to their performance at Victorious on Friday.
“We are in the business of putting on great shows, not cutting them off and this is the last thing we wanted, for the band, their fans and ourselves.
“We didn’t handle the explanation of our policies sensitively or far enough in advance to allow a sensible conclusion to be reached. This put the band and our own team in a difficult situation which never should have arisen. We would like to sincerely apologise to all concerned.
“Our policy of not allowing flags of any kind, which has been in place for many years for wider event management and safety reasons, is not meant to compromise that right.”