Soft Play have announced they are “going to play” FIB Benicàssim – despite the festival’s links to investment firm KKR.
The Kent punk duo posted a statement on Instagram explaining their decision to play the Spanish festival in spite of their connections with KKR. The investment firm, which owns a stake in festival operations company Superstruct, have been criticised for their alleged ties with Israeli weapons manufacturing amid the country’s ongoing conflict with Palestine.
Soft Play explained that they “are going to play” the festival, adding that “festivals belonging to Superstruct are independently run” with “no control” over who buys their umbrella company.
They added that “our concern is that if we start boycotting every festival with ties to these kind of companies, we will deplatform ourselves and not have a stage to shout about the Palestinian people on.”
The band also pointed out that festivals were “the main way a band like ours makes a living”, adding that “without them our band couldn’t operate”.
“It’s a very tricky situation”, they continued, “but currently we believe getting out there and spreading our continued dismay at the genocide being commited [sic] by Israel and our solidarity with the Palestinian people is ultimately going to do more than cancelling our performance and sitting at home”.
Soft Play concluded that they had received a blanket Superstruct email when asking for FIB’s personal stance, saying that the statement was “not ideal”: “They should be doing more”. Read their full statement below:
Since the news of KKR’s investment in Superstruct, a huge wave of artists have reacted.
Artists including Massive Attack and Brian Eno signed an open letter to Field Day to urge it to distance itself from KKR.
“KKR invests billions of pounds in companies which, for example, develop Israeli underground data centres, and advertise real estate on illegally occupied land in Israeli settlements in the West Bank,” the letter read. “While we understand that this acquisition was not the choice of Field Day, it nonetheless means that the festival is now implicated in the crimes against humanity of apartheid and genocide.”
11 artists dropped out of the Field Day lineup shortly afterwards, saying they were “disappointed” by the festival’s lack of response to the letter.
Meanwhile, than 60 artists wrote an open letter to Sónar Festival over their “complicity” with the firm, writing: “We therefore take a collective stand to oppose any affiliation between the cultural sector and entities complicit in war crimes.”
Boiler Room also shared a statement reaffirming its “unapologetically pro-Palestine” stance after some artists dropped out of events due to its ties to KKR.
However, other artists like Refused have said they won’t boycott festivals backed by KKR.
“To us, it is the right thing to do, to get out there and be a thorn in the side of Zionists, fascists, venture capitalists and to fan the flames of discontent together with our bright, informed comrades all over Europe,” they wrote in a lengthy statement.
“A lot of you have already bought tickets and are expecting us, so we’d love to get suggestions from local organizations and activists we could work with in all the countries and cities we’re playing. Free Palestine!!!”
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