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Jay-Z to Headline Glastonbury, Oasis’ Noel Gallagher ‘Not Having’ It

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Noel Gallagher, the perpetually trash-talking Oasis singer/songwriter, has opened his mouth once again, now blaming U.S. rapper Jay-Z, who is billed to headline Glastonbury this summer, for the festival’s slow ticket sales. “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it,” Gallagher told the BBC (via msnbc.com) of the event’s historically guitar-centric mold and the strange billing of Jay-Z.

“If you break it, people ain’t gonna go. I’m sorry, but Jay-Z? … No chance,” continued Gallagher, who has headlined the fest twice with Oasis. “I’m not having hip-hop at Glastonbury. No way. No. It’s wrong.”

Emily Eavis, the 38-year-old festival’s co-organizer, pointed out past performing hip-hop acts like Cypress Hill and the Roots, and said Gallagher’s comments reflects British society’s “innate conservatism.”

“There is also an interesting undercurrent in the suggestion that a black, U.S. hip-hop artist shouldn’t be playing in front of what many perceive to be a white, middle-class audience,” Eavis said. “This is something that causes me some disquiet.”

Gallagher’s probable suggestion to fill Jay-Z’s slot: The Beatles, or, you know, Oasis.

The four original members of alt-rock pioneers Jane’s Addiction — yes, even estranged bassist Eric Avery — will reunite for the first time in over 17 years to perform a one-off gig at the U.S.-based NME Awards ceremony, set for April 23 at Los Angeles’ El Rey Theatre, which will honor the band with the Godlike Genius Award. “I have always considered reunions to be a way to make a quick buck, and it sells short my own experience of it the first time around,” Avery said in a statement. “The reason I started to even consider this is because it’s honoring the past instead of trying to recreate it.”