Jay-Z Flaunts Flag At England’s Concert
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It’s 4th of July week, which means we Yanks are celebrating our independence from those evil, red-coated Brits. And holding the best celebration this week was Jay-Z, who flaunted his flag-flying American supremacy in front of an audience of thousands at last weekend’s Glastonbury Festival in England.
See, Glastonbury is Britain’s biggest summer rockfest, and it’s usually headlined by popular limey rock bands like Coldplay, Muse, Radiohead, and Oasis. So this year, when it was announced that American rapper Jay-Z would top the Glasto Bill, Oasis’s own mouthy mouthpiece Noel Gallagher was none too thrilled. Noel even went so far as to publicly blame Jigga for Glastonbury 2008’s unusually low ticket sales. “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. If you break it, people ain’t gonna go,” the famously cantankerous Britpopper complained to the BBC in one of his typically brazen interviews. “I’m sorry, but Jay-Z? No chance. I’m not having hip-hop at Glastonbury. No way. No. It’s wrong.”
Well, apparently 140,000 or so festivalgoers disagreed with Noel and showed up for the headlining Hova…who kicked off his Glastonbury set in a most cheeky fashion by performing Oasis’s “Wonderwall” acoustic, dressed in a Gallagher-esque anorak, while a parody film featuring Noel’s nasty comments screened behind him. The crowd exploded, according to The London Times, which reported: “Both audience and artist rose to the occasion and turned in a moment of real, euphoric, pop-culture history.”
“[Jay-Z's] performance will go down in Glastonbury history,” British paper The Independent also declared, while The Guardian concurred: “It’s brilliantly staged, utterly thrilling, and it makes Gallagher look a bit of a berk.”
Yep, Jay-Z showed ‘em what he got, indeed. But hey, Mr. Gallagher–don’t look back in anger, a’ight? And have a happy Independence Day…
