Norman Jay: Jay Z showed Oasis

30 June 2008 05:24pm

Legendary DJ Norman Jay has said Jay-Z was a genius in the way he responded to Oasis comments about him headlining Glastonbury.

Oasis frontman Noel Gallagher slammed Glastonbury organiser Michael Eavis for booking Jay-Z to headline the Pyramid stage on Saturday night, claiming the festival was "about guitar bands". The hip-hop star responded by opening his set with Oasis's hit Wonderwall and holding a guitar.

Norman Jay said: "It's fantastic that Michael Eavis had the balls to put on Jay-Z and confront certain racial stereotyping by middle England. Glastonbury is about music, not necessarily about guitar bands. And the fact that he came on and showed that he didn't carry a grudge against Oasis by starting off with that first song which is absolute genius. That's the way you deal with bigotry.

"He killed, as he should. He's the worlds biggest rapper. Why shouldn't he be on with all these bands? Glastonbury is a music festival first and I think people forgot about that."

The celebrated British DJ - who presents Radio Two's Funk Factory - insisted the festival had to move with the times.

He said: "The fact that Glastonbury didn't sell out until the last day didn't make itself any less of a great festival.

"Festivals have to start somewhere and then go through a process of evolution. Successful ones always start off small and then get big. That's the natural cycle, and then either they die or they reinvent themselves for the times."

© The Press Association