Damon Albarn shares his message on Palestine and the elections at Glastonbury

English singer-songwriter and musician Damon Albarn surprised attendees at the annual Glastonbury festival and commented on the current war in Gaza and the US elections.

The singer was invited to perform by Bombay Bicycle Club frontman Jack Steadman when they played the Other Stage on Friday.

Addressing the crowd, the singer asked if they were pro-Palestinian and whether they thought it was an unjust war, which was met with cheers of approval.

He also commented on the upcoming US presidential election, suggesting that US President Joe Biden and his Republican rival Donald Trump were too old to hold office.

“The importance of voting next week — I don’t blame you for being ambivalent about it, but it’s still very important,” Albarn said.

“And third, maybe it’s time to stop putting octogenarians in charge of the whole world?”

The remarks follow the recent debate between Biden and Trump, during which much attention was focused on the president’s cognitive abilities.

Albarn wasn’t the only artist to use the stage to make political statements. On the festival’s Pyramid stage, Serbian artist Marina Abramovic called for seven minutes of silence, asking the crowd to “be present.”

“What I propose is something that has never been done in any festival in the history of music: I propose seven minutes of silence,” Abramovic said.

“The world is in a really shitty situation… We can all together give unconditional love to each other… we can change the world.”

Irish hip-hop group Kneecap also delivered a message on the festival screens to “10,000 heads before the set”.

The messages read: “More than 20,000 children have been murdered by Israel in 9 months” and “This is allowed by the British government”, as well as “Free Palestine” accompanied by the Palestinian flag.

The decision follows the group’s boycott of the South by Southwest festival last March, in solidarity with the people of Gaza and due to the event’s “super sponsorship” by the US military.

Glastonbury festival-goers also waved Palestinian flags, with 20 people holding the flag as they took to the main stage.

During singer Dua Lipa’s performance, a Nova Festival flag depicting the Hamas attack on the Israeli music festival and a Palestinian flag were flown next to each other in the front while the singer addressed the crowd.