- Music
- 11 Aug 16
The Foals frontman, Yannis Philippakis has criticised Coachella, arguing that whereas UK festivals like Glastonbury feel tribal, the annual bash in California has more of a sanitised vibe.
"Coachella is not my idea of a good festival," he told Shortlist. "You get celebrities at Glastonbury, sure, but people don't go for that. If anything, what's great about Glastonbury is that they're made to trudge through the mud like anybody else. Whereas at Coachella it’s like: ‘Where's my private buggy?'
"It attracts people who want to live this aspirational lifestyle and to take a similar selfie that [fill in the blank space with celeb] also took there with their flower crown on," the singer continued. "People don't rock out, and you can't drink in the actual festival. I don't hate it; I just think it's a bit sanitised. It's like LA."
As his band prepare to headline Reading and Leeds festivals later this month, two of the biggest gigs of their career, Philippakis also explained why he thinks Foals are the right choice of headliners.
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"I'm glad, even just selfishly, that we're headlining Reading rather than some old heritage band who have already headlined every festival on the circuit," he said. "Hopefully it shows, without sounding too worthy about it, that you don’t need to do X, Y and Z in order to become to a bigger band. You don’t need to sort out your image or get your teeth whitened or start hanging out at the right place, to be in a rock band."