The Big Special explain why they’re playing The Great Escape amidst the boycott – and donating fee to Palestinian charity

Cornerstone has closed worldwide distribution deals for Andrea Arnold’s latest feature film Bird, which debuted at last month’s Cannes Film Festival. 

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NME’s latest stars of The Cover, Kneecap, have shared a playlist exclusively to accompany the story’s launch – check it out below.The Irish rap trio are on this week’s (June 3) edition of The Cover, a renewal of NME’s commitment to supporting emerging talent across the globe on a weekly basis. Every week, a rising artist will feature on The Cover – you can read the profile of Kneecap here, written by Andrew Trendell and featuring photography by Joseph Bishop.Accompanying the story is an exclusive playlist Kneecap have compiled, ‘Songs To Shoplift To’, featuring Bicep, Overmono, Bonobo, Tiësto and more.

Oli Sykes has revealed that one of the songs on Bring Me The Horizon‘s new album ‘POST HUMAN: NeX GEn’ is “a critique of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict”.The track in question is the album’s seventh track, ‘a bulleT w/my namE On’, which is a collaboration with Underoath. One line in particular stuck out to fans – “And if Jesus Christ returns/We’ll just kill the fucker twice,” which was sung by Underoath’s Spencer Chamberlain, who was Christian for much of the band’s career.Sykes replied to a comment on YouTube which had ended up leading to a debate among several commenters about religion.

Eurovision 2024 nearly pulled out of the song contest, just 25 minutes before the live final.The grand final of the competition took place in Malmö, Sweden – the home of 2023 winner Loreen – on Saturday May 11. However, the show was mired by widespread political backlash over the inclusion of Israel amid the Hamas-Israel conflict.Many of the contestants, including Ireland’s Bambie Thug and UK representative Olly Alexander, faced pressure to boycott the event in solidarity with Palestine.

American actor and comedian Eric André has been spotted at a café in Manchester city centre this afternoon following a sold-out gig.

Murtada Elfadl “No Other Land,” a documentary about the resistance of Palestinian activists against forced displacement and settler expansion in the West Bank community of Masafer Yatta, won the Millennium Docs Against Gravity grand prize in the main competition. The jury, comprised of the writer of this article Variety critic Murtada Elfadl, Anna Hints, director of “Smoke Sauna Sisterhood,” and Lauren Greenfield, director of “The Queen of Versailles,” cited its “power in crystallizing grave injustice into a story of friendship and how hope can thrive only when everyone has freedom.” The filmmakers – the Palestinian and Israeli collective of Basel Adra, Hamdan Ballal, Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor – could not attend the closing ceremony because of the political situation and the award was accepted on their behalf by the ambassador of the Palestinian Authority in Poland.

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Elsa Keslassy International Correspondent Rolling off its buzzy world premiere at Cannes’ Un Certain Regard, Oscar-nominated Icelandic filmmaker Rúnar Rúnarsson’s poignant drama “When The Light Breaks” has sold to a raft of territories. Represented in international markets by The Party Film Sales, the movie has been picked up for Italy (Movies Inspired), Switzerland (Xenix), Norway (Arthaus), Denmark (Ost for Paradis), Finland (Cinemanse), Hungary (Vertigo), Greece (Cinobo), Israel (New Cinema), Poland (Aurora), Turkey (Bir Film) and Baltics (Estofilm).

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Mystery Jets’ Blaine Harrison has said he has “huge respect” for those boycotting The Great Escape, but insists there is “no shade on those who haven’t”.The 2024 edition of the event – which showcases new and rising artists – is currently taking place across various music venues in Brighton until Saturday (May 18).The Great Escape is sponsored by Barclays, which has been a source of controversy amid the ongoing conflict in Gaza because of the bank’s financial investment in companies that supply arms to Israel.Harrison has weighed in on the topic now, writing in a lengthy social media post: “Huge respect for the 100+ artists who have pulled out of The Great Escape in Brighton this weekend on the grounds of its sponsorship by Barclaycard, who are actively supporting the genocide and horrific war crimes in Gaza by investing in companies supplying arms to Israel.”As The Great Escape kicks off in Brighton today, huge respect for the 100+ artists who have pulled out due to the sponsorship by barclaycard. But no shade on those that haven’t.

Soft Play – FKA Slaves – have dropped out of the Great Escape Festival in solidarity with Palestine.The 2024 edition of the event – which showcases new and rising artists – is currently being held across various music venues in Brighton until Saturday (May 18).The Great Escape is sponsored by Barclays, which has been a source of controversy amid the ongoing conflict in Gaza because of the bank’s financial investment in companies that supply arms to Israel with over 35,000 Palestinians killed since the October 7 attacks. Over 100 acts have now dropped out of this year’s event with Soft Play, who were due to perform at The Paris House on Saturday, becoming the latest.Posting on Instagram, they wrote: “We will not be playing at the great escape this weekend.

The Great Escape Festival 2024 line-up have pulled out of the festival with over 125 artists joining the boycott, a number of the acts have spoken to NME about their decision and showing solidarity with Palestine.The Great Escape kicked off last night (May 15), but every artist booked to play the opening party canceled their appearance at the festival, alongside more than 100 others including Picture Parlour, Miso Extra and Alfie Templeman – while Big Special will be playing but donating their fee from the festival to the Palestine Child Relief fund.Festival sponsors Barclays are accused of investing in a number of companies that supply arms to Israel, with over 35,000 Palestinians killed in Gaza since the historic conflict escalated last year, with Hamas committing the October 7 attacks. The bank also sponsors a number of other festivals, including Latitude, Download and Isle Of Wight.We've pulled out of this year's @thegreatescape due to their ongoing partnership with Barclays- who have, and still are, investing billions in arms companies involved in the genocide on Palestinians.

Picture Parlour are the latest band to announce that they are boycotting The Great Escape this year, joining over 100 other acts that have done so.The band took to their official X/Twitter account to share that they will no longer be performing at the Brighton-based festival. “Hey guys, we have made the decision to pull out of this year’s Great Escape festival,” they began.“We will be putting on a show next month and all ticket & merch sales will be donated to charities for Palestinian relief.

Eurovision this year “until the last second”.This year’s song contest has seen multiple controversies arise in the build up to the finale, which aired last Saturday (May 11).On top of the shock disqualification of Dutch entry Joost Klein, Eurovision organisers the EBU (European Broadcasting Union) had faced significant criticism for the inclusion of Israel amidst the Israel-Palestine crisis.Additionally, there were reports of a “crisis meeting” between four countries and the EBU just hours before the finale was due to begin. These four countries were later revealed to be the United Kingdom, Portgual, Ireland, and the eventual winner of this year, Switzerland.Now, Norway’s entry Gåte have spoken to Norwegian media about their own threat to pull out.

Great Escape Festival in solidarity with Palestine, with Massive Attack also speaking out in support of the boycott.The 2024 edition of the event – which showcases new and rising artists – is due to take place across various music venues in Brighton from tomorrow (May 15) until Saturday (18).The Great Escape is sponsored by Barclays, which has been a source of controversy amid the ongoing conflict in Gaza because of the bank’s financial investment in companies that supply arms to Israel.The issue was first highlighted in a petition started by the promoter How To Catch A Pig and the band The Menstrual Cramps – which has since been signed by musicians including Kneecap, Lambrini Girls, Alfie Templeman, Lip Critic, Wunderhorse and Mary In The Junkyard.Last month, Cherym pulled out of The Great Escape as a result of the festival’s connection to Barclays, before record labels Alcopop and Big Scary Monsters joined the boycott and withdrew from the event.Dozens more acts soon followed suit, with over half the line-up demanding that The Great Escape drop its sponsorship deal with Barclays.Speaking about their decision not to play the festival, Lambrini Girls said: “We will not be appearing at The Great Escape festival this year. This is a targeted approach of a cultural boycott, considering Barclays sponsorship.“Barclays provide financial services of over £1BN pounds to companies supplying military technology and weapons to the IDF, perpetuating the horrors unfolding in Gaza.”Now, 106 artists have cancelled their scheduled appearances at The Great Escape 2024 in total – constituting approximately a quarter of the full programme.

Eurovision Song Contest 2024.This year’s competition, which was ultimately won by Switzerland’s Nemo, was surrounded by controversy for allowing Israel to compete amid the ongoing conflict with Hamas in Gaza.A statement shared by the EBU to both The Mirror and The Irish Times read: “We regret that some delegations at the Eurovision Song Contest in Malmö didn’t respect the spirit of the rules and the competition both onsite and during their broadcasts. We spoke to a number of delegations during the event regarding various issues that were brought to our attention.It continued: “The EBU’s governing bodies will, together with the heads of delegations, review the events surrounding the ESC in Malmö to move forward in a positive way and to ensure the values of the event are respected by everyone.A post shared by European Broadcasting Union (@ebu_hq)“Individual cases will be discussed by the event’s governing body, the Eurovision Song Contest Reference Group made up of representatives from participating broadcasters, at its next meeting.”The statement’s release comes after the slew of controversies that took over this year’s edition of the song contest.

Switzerland has won the 68th Eurovision Song Contest, which took place Saturday evening in Malmo, Sweden.

K.J. Yossman Switzerland has won the Eurovision Song Contest. Swiss entry Nemo stormed the contest with the song “The Code,” walking away with 591 points — a combination of a jury vote and public vote.

This year's Eurovision Song Contest has got off to a frenzied start and the final hasn't even begun.