Why Liam Gallagher is wrong about festivals

Welcome to the latest episode of the WhatsOnStage Podcast!

Chief critic Sarah Crompton has been to the Edinburgh Festival at the same time as Oasis, and Liam Gallagher chose to make a few choice remarks about there being another event up the road. She and editor-in-chief Alex Wood discuss why his comments – he said the festival consisted of people “juggling f***ing b******s… swallowing swords” and “s****y card tricks” – cut against the spirit of festivals. And why a new book about the Greenwich and Docklands International Festival’s first 30 years sums up the unique appeal of that particular event.

Above and Beyond: 30 Years of Greenwich+Docklands International Festival is a limited edition large-format hardback marking three decades of the festival. Written and edited by Fiona Hughes, the book brings together highlights from the event’s history, from aerial choreography timed between take-offs at City Airport to riverbank performances scheduled with the tide. It features previously unpublished photography and will be available from 22 August online, in select bookshops and at GDIF events.

Crompton and Wood host a weekly series on all things theatrical. News, views, frank exchanges and lists offer an unmissable guide to what’s happening on stage (and in film and on television) now, in the past and in future.

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