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Graffiti artist Banksy surprised music lovers and the band Idles by launching an inflatable boat depicting migrants at sea in the crowd during their set at Glastonbury.
The inflatable life craft contained dummy people wearing orange lifejackets and was launched during the Bristol punk band’s song Danny Nedelko.
The boat is a reference to the small boats used by migrants to cross the channel, with migration being a key policy of Rishi Sunak’s and the Conservative party.
The song’s lyrics open with the following words: “My blood brother is an immigrant, a beautiful immigrant, my blood brother’s Freddie Mercury, a Nigerian mother of three, he’s made of bones, he’s made of blood, he’s made of flesh, he’s made of love.
“He’s made of you, he’s made of me, unity. Fear leads to panic, panic leads to pain, pain leads to anger, anger leads to hate.”
Fans of the band originally believed it was part of Idles’ set as they performed at the festival’s Other stage on Friday evening.
However a representative for the band later confirmed to The Guardian and NME that it was staged by Banksy and the band had no idea until afterwards.
Liam Lalor, who watched the set, told i he found the stunt to be “powerful”.
“I saw it coming in behind me with three or four men carrying it in,” he said. “It took me a minute to compute was going on. Then it was just getting crowd surfed all around the audience.
“The song is about immigrants and how they’ve helped build Britain. [I found it to be a] good idea personally. Glastonbury is about promoting free speech and it’s the perfect stage to do it on.”
Mr Lalor added: “The performance was just full of passion and I think everyone in the crowd felt that. I only found out this morning [that it was Banksy’s work]. It’s powerful having two creative minds coming together.”
The Bristol-based artist has previously used the festival to stage his artwork.
When rapper Stormzy headlined in 2019, he wore a Union Jack stab-proof vest created by Banksy, a commentary on the ongoing knife crime epidemic facing the nation.
Stormzy described it as “unfathomable” when he wore it, while Banksy said in an Instagram post: “I made a customised stab-proof vest and thought – who could possibly wear this? Stormzy at Glastonbury”.
In 2014, he arranged for a truck to be driven through the festival filled with stuffed animal toys in a statement on his views on animal rights.
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