Social media was ablaze at the weekend when Mancunian rapper, and well-known United fan, Aitch took to the Glastonbury stage in the new 2023/24 United kit in a reported “leak” of the new gear.
Playing the 4pm slot on Saturday at Worthy Farm, the rapper took a pause in his set for a costume change, warning that “some of you aren’t gonna like this,” and cheekily asked security to eject any City fans.
…Did Aitch just launch Manchester United’s new kit? —#glastonbury #bbcfootball pic.twitter.com/92AJ9kdoMa
— Match of the Day (@BBCMOTD) June 24, 2023
Usually when a new team kit is leaked ahead of release, its a fairly low key affair – a photo on Twitter or the local branch of Intersport [remember them?] accidentally putting one on the shelf a day or two early.
The main stage at Glastonbury on Saturday afternnon, with the whole event being broadcast on the BBC is a somewhat more high profile affair, however.
On this occasion United were forced, seemingly at least to some degree against their will, to respond: “Our new home kit was seen for the first time on Saturday when lifelong United fan and Manchester native Aitch wore it during his acclaimed performance on Glastonbury’s legendary Pyramid Stage,” a terse statement read, before reminding fans that the kit would be officially released on June 27.
The wording of the announcement of the kit’s release on the Club website on Tuesday afternoon, however, suggests that either Manchester United are very quick to forgive, or the whole thing may have been a publicity stunt from the off.
Instead of the standard “MUFC 2023/24 home kit now available” headline, we were treated to “How Aitch debuted our home shirt at Glastonbury” – hardly the words of a corporate monolith smarting at its big reveal being thwarted.
The story went on: “On Saturday, Manchester native, United fan and award-winning musician Aitch revealed our 2023/24 adidas home kit.
Hailing from Moston, just seven miles from Old Trafford, Aitch took to the iconic Pyramid Stage at Glastonbury for his afternoon slot, to a buzzing crowd of tens of thousands of fans.
Ahead of the official release on Tuesday 27 June, Aitch quickly changed into our new jersey mid-set, right before he started to perform his hit single ‘1989’.
The beat from ‘1989’ is sampled from The Stone Roses’ iconic track ‘Fools Gold’, which was released in 1989. Also from Manchester, numerous members from The Stone Roses are keen Reds and, of course, their single ‘This Is The One’ is always played when the Reds walk onto the pitch before games at The Theatre of Dreams.
Aitch recently came to Old Trafford for a personal tour of the stadium, taking a closer at the pitch and dressing room. While here, he was treated to an exclusive preview of the new home shirt.”
That’s an awful lot of information, and a very conveniently timed choice of song, for a club that was caught on the hop by Aitch’s transgression.
It’s not the first time Aitch has been at the centre of controversy over alleged publicity stunts. Last August, the rapper landed in hot water with Joy Division fans when the city’s famous mural of the band’s late singer Ian Curtis was painted over with an ad for Aitch’s new album.
Many on social media at the time claimed this too was a publicity stunt, and it certainly generated plenty of publicity, though we’d have to enter the “all publicity is good publicity” debate to establish how much benefit the outpouring of anger from fans brought the rapper.
Perhaps as penance he should be forced to paint over his shiny new United shirt with a mural of City fan Curtis?
