Richard Ashcroft Claims 'Dinosaur Act' Reunions Are 'Suffocating' Festivals

Former Verve frontman Richard Ashcroft has dashed fans' reunion hopes, amid claims that "nostalgia is suffocating festivals".

Ashcroft believes that reunited bands are ‘suffocating’ festivals and denying newer bands better slots at them.

He told BBC Radio 6’s Lauren Laverne:

“[A Verve reunion ] is not happening. You have to be real in life and I'm proud that we went in and recorded new material. The whole nostalgia thing is getting suffocating and it's difficult for younger acts, especially at festivals.

“If you look at some of the line-ups, I'm not ageist by any means, but it's dominated by nostalgia. We need the youth to create their own version of what may potentially become nostalgic but if they haven't got a place to do that because they're dominated by these big monster dinosaur acts, mopping up all the money.”

Fans of Ashcroft will be happy to know that although a Verve return isn’t on the cards, a new United Nations of Sound record is. He revealed:

“I've just been working for the past six, seven months in my cellar. I'm really excited, we should get the first potential tune in September. I'm just putting everything into it at the moment.”

What do you think of the comment - are old band reunions ‘suffocating’ festivals like Ashcroft said? Or do you think they make them even better? Leave us a comment in the box below!

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