Robert Plant pulls out of Faroe Islands festival due to whaling
Led Zeppelin legend Robert Plant’s new band Saving Grace have pulled out of G! Festival in the Faroe Islands due to whaling.
Last updated 11th Mar 2020
Saving Grace ft. Robert Plant & Suzi Dian were due to perform at the event on Saturday 18th July, however organisers issued a strongly worded statement on Friday (28th February) confirming they will no longer be playing.
Although Saving Grace and Robert Plant haven’t commented on the cancellation, G! Festival organisers said that Saving Grace pulled out due to ‘Robert Plant receiving negative publicity / pressure from environmental conservation organization Blue Planet Society concerning the Faroese pilot whale drive known as the “grind”.’
Organised by local communities, hundreds of long-finned pilot whales and a number of Atlantic white-sided dolphins are killed annually in the Faroe Islands by driving them into a beach or fjord by boats.
The hunts, called grindadráp in Faroese, are widely condemned by animal rights groups, however some Faroese people consider whale meat an import aspect of their food and culture.
Sigvør Laksá, managing director of G! Festival, said it was hypocritical of Robert Plant to pull out considering he has played events in Norway and Iceland - countries that also practise commercial whaling.
Laksá said: “We’re disappointed and annoyed with the cancelation. We’ve been excited and happy with the massive interest and the positive reception to the announcement of Saving Grace, especially the Robert Plant fever that naturally comes with it.
“It seems somewhat unprofessional for these acts to pull out of a booking without any prior notice or attempt at constructive dialogue, which might have allowed us to address the artist’s concerns. It also appears contradictory when an artist is happy to play in countries like Norway and Iceland which carry out commercial whaling, which Mr. Plant has done in the past, even in 2019.
“This is a severe blow for the festival, which forces us to rethink our approach in producing the G! Festival”.
Formed last year, Saving Grace performed a secret show at The Sparc Theatre in Shropshire in January 2019 and went on to support Fairport Convention at gigs in Basingstoke, Bath and St Albans the following month.