The Vaccines' Justin Young: UK festivals "are part of our fabric" while US events are "more sanitised"

1 July 2024, 16:59 | Updated: 3 July 2024, 13:16

The Vaccines' Justin Young with Glastonbury and Coachella inset. Picture: Frank Hoensch/Redferns/Getty, , Joe Maher/Getty Images, Scott Dudelson/Getty Images for Coachella

By Jenny Mensah

The Vaccines frontman spoke about the difference between UK and US festivals and told Radio X's Sunta Templeton what makes Glastonbury so special.

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The Vaccines' Justin Young has talked about the difference between UK and US festivals.

The band played the Woodsies stage at this year's Glastonbury and quizzed about the main differences with music festivals on home soil vs Stateside, their frontman told Radio X's Sunta Templeton: "The festivals in the UK are part of our fabric. Whereas I think they’ve had festivals in the States for just as long, I think their popularity or maybe their identity has grown in a different way."

“Glastonbury probably is a bit of an outlier,” the If You Wanna singer went on. “But I think that this is a sort of debauched utopia, whereas I think American festivals are a bit more sanitised.”

The Vaccines perform If You Wanna

Asked about his favourite Glasto memory of all time, he revealed: "Most of my favourite memories are off stage. I mean it’s such a big event even for artists as music lovers that getting a ticket through performing still just feels like a huge win."

He added: "Obviously playing the Pyramid Stage as the sun went down in 2023 was a pretty surreal moment and I remember that year we went on stage with Vampire Weekend and Mumford and Sons and First Aid Kit and closed out the entire festival, so to be able to see what a headliner sees, that was a really special moment, but I think more than anything it’s still a place where half your phonebook comes if they’re lucky to get a ticket and just catching up with old friends and going into the depths of Block9."