Sampa The Great Withdraws From Bluesfest Over Sticky Fingers Addition

Sampa The Great is the second artist to withdrawn from Bluesfest, just a day after King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard quit following the addition of Sticky Fingers.

King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard removed themselves from the 2023 line-up stating “As a band and as human beings, we stand against misogyny, racism, transphobia and violence. Surprised and saddened to see Bluesfest commit to presenting content that is in complete opposition to these values”.

Sampa The Great told Double J “We are deeply disappointed to be in this position but sometimes you need to be willing to make sacrifices to stand up for your values.”

In a statement, Bluesfest boss Peter Noble justified the Sticky Fingers inclusion saying in a statement, “That whole situation happened 7 years ago and the lead singer of Sticky Fingers has been extremely apologetic and open about his bipolar schizophrenia and substance abuse during that time and is also Māori. They’ve done the work to try and make amends and took a long hiatus to fix things.”
The Sticky Fingers problems did start seven years ago when singer Dylan Frost was accused of abusing Thelma Plum and her boyfriend outside a Sydney venue.

However in July 2022, Frost had another abusive breakdown when he lost control at a gig and stormed off stage because of a faulty microphone.

Bluesfest 2023 is on April 6 to 10 in Byron Bay.

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