Download Festival suspends Barclays Bank sponsorship, Dying Wish confirms their participation

Last week there was controversy surrounding the upcoming Download Festival at Donington Park in the UK. Many bands have expressed their displeasure at the sponsorship of the event by Barclays Bank because of the connection to the situation in Gaza. Some bands have already withdrawn from the program in protest.

Today, however, the festival has excluded the sponsor from the festival, as the BBCA spokesman for Live Nation divided:

After discussions with artists, we have agreed with Barclays that they will withdraw from sponsoring our festivals.

A Barclays representative issued a statement clarifying that customers with Barclays tickets will continue to have valid tickets:

Barclays has been asked and has agreed to suspend participation in the remaining Live Nation festivals in 2024.

Barclays customers who hold tickets to these festivals will not be affected and their tickets will remain valid. The protesters want Barclays to de-bank arms companies. We remain committed to this sector as it is essential to the security of this country and our allies.

All this small group of activists will achieve is to weaken vital support for cultural events that bring joy to millions of people.

It is time for leading figures from politics, business, science and art to come together to oppose this.

Following this announcement Last wish after threatening to pull out of the festival if the sponsorship was not withdrawn, they have confirmed that they will indeed play and issued the following statement:

Download have informed us that they have officially removed Barclays as a sponsor of their festival – we will play tomorrow as planned. We didn’t want to disappoint anyone and are celebrating the news that the boycott was successful. A huge thank you to everyone who made this possible.

We appreciate the understanding and support as we stand up for something that really matters to us. We are so proud to be part of a community that can come together and make a change.

With that in mind, we can’t wait to see you tomorrow at 4:40pm on the Dogtooth stage. With love, solidarity and a free Palestine forever

– Last wish

No word on whether the acts that previously withdrew (Scowl, speed, Ithaca, Zuluand more) are now added back to the lineup.

However, if you can’t make it, you can see many of them at the benefit show that is also taking place that evening.