Controversial band Sticky Fingers to ‘step off’ Bluesfest line-up after public backlash

Bluesfest’s announcement that a controversial band will no longer be playing at the festival has not been well received by fans.

Bluesfest has dropped Sydney band Sticky Fingers from its 2023 line-up, just weeks out from the Byron Bay festival’s opening.

The move follows public outcry from music fans and two lead acts announcing they would not be headlining the festival due to the past behaviour of the Sydney band’s controversial frontman, Dylan Frost.

Bluesfest director Peter Noble had stood by Mr Frost amid the outrage, at first doubling down on the band’s inclusion.

Sydney band Sticky Fingers will no longer play at Bluesfest after organisers announced they would be stepping off the line-up. It follows public backlash and two major acts pulling out of the Byron Bay festival. Picture: Supplied

He said he would be supporting Mr Frost’s “heroic” efforts in redemption and lamented on Sticky Fingers enduring “cancel culture”.

But on Thursday, Bluesfest organisers confirmed Sticky Fingers would “step off” the April line-up.

“Bluesfest cannot, sadly, continue to support Sticky Fingers by having them play our 2023 edition,” they said in a statement.

The statement has been criticised by musicians, commentators and fans as, with some labelling the statement “the worst of its kind”.

“The bluesfest press release to accompany dropping sticky fingers off the line up is the worst gaslit half-assed apology I’ve ever read,” artist Jaguar Jonze said on Twitter.

Others criticised Mr Noble’s repeated claims that Sticky Fingers were undeservedly “cancelled”.

“Sticky Fingers are hardly “cancelled” they do massive shows around the world,” Australian rapper Briggs said on Twitter.

“Bluesfest “redemption” angle is just Bluesfest selling tickets.”

Bluesfest drop Sticky Fingers via one of the bitchiest statements I have ever seen. pic.twitter.com/l76q9vWDTt

— Isaac Nowroozi (@isaacnowroozi) March 2, 2023

“We apologise to those artists, sponsors and any others we involved in this matter through our mistaken belief that forgiveness and redemption are the rock on which our society is built,” the Bluesfest statement read.

Controversy has followed Sticky Fingers for years, with Mr Frost being accused of abusive behaviour in the past.

In 2016 he was accused of physically threatening Indigenous singer Thelma Plum.

Mr Frost apologised for the incident on Instagram and later claimed he had been diagnosed with bipolar disorder.

In a statement, Bluesfest organisers lamented Sticky Fingers being the subject of such heated backlash. Picture: Supplied / Joseph Mayers

Two years later he was kicked out of a Sydney pub after allegedly getting into a verbal altercation.

Bluesfest has been in damage control since they announced Sticky Fingers would be appearing at the festival, losing prominent acts King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard and Sampa the Great in a week.

Thursday’s statement referenced Mr Frost’s mental health difficulties while lamenting about the band effectively being cancelled.

“The narrative that they continue to deserve to be cancelled, as well as anyone who publicly supports them, is difficult to accept, wherein a portion of society and media passes eternal judgment toward those, in this case, a diagnosed mentally ill person whom we feel doesn‘t deserve the continued public scrutiny he’s being given,” the organisers said.

“Sticky Fingers has done so many good deeds that have never been reported, including building and funding recording studios and music education programs in disadvantaged regional communities.”