MANIC STREET PREACHERS - WIRE SLAMS 'FESTIVAL BANDS'

MANIC STREET PREACHERS rocker NICKY WIRE refuses to be a regular on summer music festival circuit, because the events have become corporate hellholes. The A DESIGN FOR LIFE bassist detests other bands which regularly play the main stages, because they pander to ignorant people who only listen to music which is hugely popular. Wire says, "I've always hated festivals. From the very start of the Manics, me and RICHEY (EDWARDS) used to live by what PETE TOWNSHEND said at Woodstock: 'So much for peace and love, all I saw was mud and people smoking marijuana.' "Needless to say, I loathe 'festival bands', too. TRAVIS, ROBBIE WILLIAMS... it's the sort of music liked by people who buy one CD and who go to one gig a year. And the gig, of course, is a festival."