Glastonbury Festival Page 6

Despite the fact that he has just completed an excellent closing set at Glastonbury Festival, Ed Sheeran has still found himself the victim of a whole load of criticism for it. Whether he's been accused of using a backing track, or simply not being Glasto material.

Ed Sheeran performing live in New York

Ed Sheeran certainly doesn't deserve the amount of hate he's getting for his headline performance at Glastonbury 2017, but thankfully he appears to be taking it all in his stride. And, let's face it, it's hardly going to have a negative effect on his career.

Continue reading: No, Ed Sheeran Was Not Using A Backing Track At Glastonbury

Up to 15,000 festival-goers are believed to have converged on the Stone Circle at Glastonbury this week to create the world’s largest human peace sign.

Organisers of the massive annual festival estimate that 15,000 punters and staff gathering at the Stone Circle, considered the spiritual centre of the festival, to make an unofficial bid to have the most people ever to form a peace symbol.

The record is held by a 2009 gathering of 5,814 people who stood together at the Ithaca Festival in New York. Because of practicalities, that record won’t be broken as so many people can’t be counted in the time period imagined.

Continue reading: 15,000 Glastonbury-Goers Attempt World Record For Human Peace Symbol

Arguably the worst-kept secret in the music industry has been confirmed: Ed Sheeran will indeed be playing this year’s Glastonbury Festival as the third and final headliner.

The 26 year old megastar, whose newly-released third album Divide was released at the start of March, will be headlining on the Sunday night alongside previously announced headliners Radiohead (Friday) and Foo Fighters.

Confirming the news in a short Instagram film, Sheeran himself described the opportunity to headline the most prestigious festival in the world as “awesome”, and it brings to an end months of speculation as to who the final headliner would be. The full line-up of the 2017 Glastonbury Festival will be announced in the near future.

Continue reading: Ed Sheeran Confirmed As Final Glastonbury 2017 Headliner

Glastonbury Festival organiser Emily Eavis has denied that the ‘leaked’ line-up for the 2017 edition of the event is real, slamming it as “fake news” and assuring fans that the real line-up will be announced in the very near future.

Over the weekend, music fans saw a spreadsheet of the supposed finalised line-up and stage schedules of Glastonbury 2017 on the public-edited site Clashfinder. So far, the only confirmed performers have been two of the three headliners, Radiohead and Foo Fighters, but the purported line-up included the likes of Lorde, Haim, Royal Blood, Craig David, Stormzy and even the legendary Kraftwerk.

Emily Eavis, pictured with her father Michael, has denied that the leaked Glastonbury line-up is real

Continue reading: Emily Eavis Says 'Leaked' Glastonbury 2017 Line-Up Is "Fake News"

Foo Fighters have been confirmed as this year’s Glastonbury headliners, two years after being forced to pull out of the festival when singer Dave Grohl broke his leg.

The band will headline the festival’s Saturday night, with Radiohead already confirmed to top the bill on the Friday and the Sunday headliner yet to be revealed.

Continue reading: Foo Fighters Confirmed As Second Glastonbury Headliners

Glastonbury founder Michael Eavis has announced that the festival will temporarily re-locate to another site nearly 100 miles away in 2019, in order to allow the land at its longstanding home at Worthy Farm a second year to recover.

While he was not specific about the site to which it would be moving, Eavis told the BBC on Monday (December 19th) that it would be “towards the Midlands”. A proposed move to Longleat was believed to have fallen through earlier this year, so speculation is rife as to the location that's being planned.

The appalling mud at this year's festival has taken its toll

Continue reading: Glastonbury Festival To Temporarily Move Site For 2019

Having made a tentative return to social media earlier this week after the best part of a year off, Ed Sheeran is reportedly on the verge of landing the biggest gig in music – a headline slot at Glastonbury Festival.

Sources told The Sun on Thursday night (December 15th) that the 25 year English star, who had one of the world’s biggest selling albums of the last couple of years with his sophomore effort X in 2014, is set to be unveiled as the second headliner on the iconic Pyramid Stage in July next year.

Ed Sheeran is being hotly tipped to headline Glastonbury 2017

Continue reading: Ed Sheeran Hotly Tipped To Headline Glastonbury 2017

Radiohead have been officially confirmed as the first headliners at the 2017 Glastonbury Festival, after a number of rumours strongly suggested that they would be one of the three bill-topping acts.

Glastonbury’s organiser Emily Eavis confirmed the news that many had been expecting on Thursday afternoon, posting on Instagram: “YES! Radiohead will be back at Worthy Farm and we really can't wait!”

Radiohead's 'bear head' logo appeared on the grass near the Pyramid Stage this week

Continue reading: Radiohead Confirmed As First Headliners For Glastonbury Festival 2017

Next year’s Glastonbury Festival has already sold out, with tickets being snapped up within an hour of going on sale.

But it wasn't smooth sailing for fans trying to purchase tickets, as website SeeTickets crashed shortly before the 9am onsale time.

Glastonbury festival organsiers Michael and Emily Eavis

Continue reading: Glastonbury Festival Sells Out Despite Website Difficulties

Pre-released coach and ticket packages for next year’s Glastonbury Festival sold out in just 23 minutes when they went on sale last night.

Up to 15,000 tickets were bought up when the travel packages, which include tickets to the festival, went on sale on Thursday evening (October 6th) at 6pm. Delighted fans who got lucky expressed their joy on social media, but many disappointed people voiced their dismay at the ticketing system.

Registration for Glastonbury tickets closed on October 3rd, and the annual bunfight that is the general sale for the remainder of the tickets happens this Sunday (October 9th).

Continue reading: First Tickets For Glastonbury 2017 Sell Out In 23 Minutes

It may the biggest and most prestigious music festival in the world, beloved by millions of revellers, but the long-term future of Glastonbury is reportedly under threat, with its founder Michael Eavis quoted as saying he “fears” it may not have a home after 2017.

It has previously been indicated by the Eavis family that safety concerns about a pipeline running underneath Worthy Farm has meant that a move to Longleat Safari Park in nearby Wiltshire has been under negotiation. However, a report in The Telegraph on Monday (September 12th) quotes Eavis as saying that talks with the estate have broken down.

The iconic Pyramid Stage at Glastonbury, 2016

Continue reading: Glastonbury Festival Site Move Breaks Down

She’s as famous for her potty mouth as she is for selling millions of records, but Adele has vowed to try and curb her swearing. The ‘Hello’ singer managed to swear a massive 33 times during her Glastonbury set this year, which was broadcast live on the BBC with viewers pre-warned to expect bad language.

Adele has vowed to try and stop swearing so much

Speaking about her Glastonbury performance during her show at Los Angeles’ Staples Centre on Monday night, Adele said: “I managed to swear 33 times, 33 times. I mean I’m not a mathematician — I didn’t even pass my exams and that — but that’s like every couple of minutes, swearing, right?”

Continue reading: Adele Is Trying To Quit Swearing During Concerts

Ed Sheeran is reportedly in talks to headline next year’s Glastonbury Festival as part what’s going to be a massive 2017 for the singer. Sheeran is currently on a nearly year-long career break, after spending the last five years recording and touring, but next year reportedly promises big things from him, including a new album and a Glastonbury headlining slot.

Could Ed Sheeran be headlining Glastonbury in 2017.

According to The Sun, Ed’s team are currently holding talks with Glastonbury organisers and the festival is keen to book him, while Ed wants to fulfil a life-long ambition. A source said: “Ed has always wanted to do Glasto, it’s been a huge ambition.”

Continue reading: Will Ed Sheeran Be Headlining Glastonbury In 2017?

Thanks to her show-stopping headlining performance at Glastonbury last weekend, Adele’s third album 25 has returned to the number one spot in the UK albums chart. The album enjoyed a huge surge in sales (up 231% from last week) thanks to her Glastonbury appearance, which was streamed live on the BBC and watched by over 3.5 million viewers.

Adele’s 25 is back at number one following her Glastonbury set.

25, which was released on November 20th 2015, has now spent 13 weeks at number one in the UK. Its rise up the charts this week was also helped by it finally being made available on streaming services last Friday (24 June).

Continue reading: Adele Says Hello Again To Number One Spot After Glastonbury

Singer Ellie Goulding called on the public to “carry the spirit of Glastonbury home” with them when she played the festival’s main stage over the weekend. Goulding had previously tweeted that she was ‘heartbroken’ over the result of the EU Referendum, which hanged heavy over the annual festival all weekend.

Ellie Goulding shared her thoughts on Brexit during Glastonbury.

“I know things have been a bit weird the past few days. Actually that’s an understatement,” she told the crowd. “But it is so nice to be in a place where there is so much unity and where everyone is so happy and friendly and dancing together and laughing together and loving each other."

Continue reading: Ellie Goulding Wants People To "Carry The Spirit Of Glastonbury Home" After Brexit

On Sunday night Coldplay used their headlining slot on Glastonbury’s Pyramid Stage to pay tribute to Viola Beach and give them the festival moment they never got to have. During their set, singer Chris Martin urged the crowd to send the band’s song ‘Boys That Sing’ “up the charts”, before playing it alongside a recording of the band.

Bursting with pride. Tonight the @Viola_Beach boys' music made it to the greatest stage of them all https://t.co/Bnzb9FAkxU

— BBC Introducing (@bbcintroducing) June 26, 2016

Continue reading: Viola Beach's Streams Increase By Over 6,000 Per Cent After Coldplay Tribute

Katie Price has said she is “proud” of son Harvey, after a flag was flown at the Glastonbury Festival over the weekend, showing his response to online bullies. In May Harvey appeared alongside his mother on ‘Loose Women’ where he said his answer to people who were mean to him was “hello you c***”.

Katie Price is proud that son Harvey made it on to a Glastonbury flag.

The flag, flown over the weekend, showed an image of Harvey’s face alongside his explicit response. Price tweeted a photo of the flag with the caption, “So proud my son Harvey's comment to trolls and bullies has made it on a flag at Glastonbury.”

Continue reading: Katie Price "Proud" That Son Harvey's Response To Trolls Made It On Glastonbury Flag

On Saturday night (June 25) Adele finally took to Glastonbury’s Pyramid Stage to headline the festival for the first time in her career. Opening with ‘Hello’, Adele treated the crowd to a set which was both emotional and uplifting and resulted in one of the festival’s biggest ever sing-a-longs.

Adele headlined Glastonbury on Saturday night.

Changing ‘Hello’s’ lyrics to fit the festival Adele sang "I've been Glastonbury dreaming”, to huge cheers from the crowd. Once the ballad ended she told the sea of revellers, "I'll just have to go straight into another one my darlings, cos I don't know what to say to you yet,” before going into ‘Rumour Has It’.

Continue reading: Adele Wows Glastonbury With Stunning Headlining Set

Adele is preparing to headline Glastonbury Festival for the first time ever today, taking to the Pyramid Stage just after 10pm. For fans who aren't lucky enough to be there live, the performance will be broadcast on BBC Two, who will be warning viewers that some bad language is to be expected.

Adele will headline Glastonbury tonight.

According to the Mirror, the BBC will broadcast a warning ahead of Adele’s headlining set, telling viewers to expect “strong language”. Fans of Adele know that the singer is no stranger to using four letter worlds during her often emotional sets.

Continue reading: Adele Prepares For Glastonbury, As BBC Braces Itself For Swearing

Blur frontman Damon Albarn has said, “democracy has failed us”, after the results of the historic referendum came in, showing Britain had voted to leave the European Union. Albarn joins a host of celebrities who have expressed their dismay over this morning’s results, including Harry Potter author JK Rowling.

Damon Albarn has told Glastonbury, “democracy has failed us”.

Speaking from the Pyramid Stage, Albarn said: "I have a very heavy heart today, because, to my mind, democracy has failed us. Democracy has failed us because it was ill-informed. And I just want all of you to know that when you leave here, we can change that decision. It is possible.”

Continue reading: Damon Albarn Tells Glastonbury "Democracy Has Failed Us"

Muse frontman Matt Bellamy is preparing for his band to headline Glastonbury’s Pyramid stage tonight, for the third time in their career. Bellamy says the band are ready for anything, including something going wrong on the night, saying Muse has learnt to “embrace the chaos” of huge live gigs.

Muse’s Matt Bellamy.

Speaking to The Telegraph, Bellamy said: "Really, the stage is not yours. There are so many components that are unpredictable and out of your control, so there is no one to blame if anything goes wrong, which it will.

Continue reading: Muse's Matt Bellamy: "Something Will Go Wrong During Glastonbury Set"

Glastonbury Festival goers are facing a major traffic crisis as they make their way down to Worthy Farm in Somerset for the biggest greenfield event in the world. The musical line-up doesn't even kick off until Friday, but already people are flocking in their thousands and bringing a whole load of congestion with them. 

Michael Eavis says traffic was caused by early arrivals

Today (June 22nd 2016), Glastonbury 2016 opened and with it came gridlock. People have been queuing for more than 12 hours to get onto the site, with some even abandoning their cars to go and set up their tent. However, that's not been an easy job either as it's revealed that extremely muddy conditions and torrential rain are what's causing the delays.  

Continue reading: Glastonbury Gridlock: Festival Goers Have Been Stuck In Traffic All Day

Glastonbury organiser Michael Eavis has revealed that Prince was close to performing at this year’s festival, which will now be headlined by Adele, Coldplay and Muse. Speaking to The Sun, Eavis said he was sad to learn of Prince’s passing last month, saying he was a ‘real star’ the festival had never had.

Michael Eavis has said Prince was ‘in talks’ to perform at this year’s Glastonbury.

“I was going to meet his agent, it was all planned but it didn’t happen,” Eavis said. “His death was so sad. That’s a real star that we never had.” Prince had previously been close to headlining the festival in 2014, before Metallica took the spot.

Continue reading: Michael Eavis Reveals Prince Was 'In Talks' To Headline This Year's Glastonbury

Glastonbury Festival is planning a tribute to Prince, in addition to its confirmed plans to commemorate the late David Bowie next month.

The festival’s organiser Emily Eavis told the BBC on Wednesday (May 4th) that a metal sculpture in the shape of a lightning bolt, inspired by the iconic cover art of Bowie’s 1973 album Aladdin Sane, will hang above performers on the Pyramid Stage.

Massive acts such as Adele, Coldplay and Muse are set to grace the main stage as headliners at the three day festival at Worthy Farm, Somerset, in late June.

Continue reading: Glastonbury Plans Prince And David Bowie Tributes

Muse have invited their fellow Glastonbury headliner Adele to join them onstage during their Friday night slot, in a bid to help her overcome her nerves. Adele will headline the festival for the first time on the Saturday evening and has previously said she was scared of performing in front of the huge crowds.

Muse have invited Adele to join them on stage at Glastonbury to help overcome her nerves.

Speaking on Nick Grimshaw’s BBC Radio 1's Breakfast Show on Wednesday morning (April 13th), Muse frontman Matt Bellamy said: "The best thing for her to do would be to come the night before, watch us and come on and sing a song with us.”

Continue reading: Muse Invite Adele To Join Them On Glastonbury Stage To Help Calm Her Nerves

Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn has accepted an invitation to speak at this year’s Glastonbury Festival from the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament. Mr Corbyn will speak out against plans to renew the controversial Trident programme and call on the government to ban the bomb in front of the crowd of 135,000 music fans.

Jeremy Corbyn will appear at this year’s Glastonbury festival.

A Glastonbury source told The Mirror: “Jeremy has accepted the invitation from the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament to speak. It’s a fabulous coup for them.” Corbyn will appear alongside festival regular and political activist Billy Bragg on his Left Field stage.

Continue reading: Labour Leader Jeremy Corbyn Is Headed To Glastonbury To Speak Out Against Nuclear Weapons

Thousands of Glastonbury Festival revellers turned out to watch the Kaiser Chiefs launch the first full day of music at the event, on the Other Stage early on Friday morning. "Glastonbury sing along if you know the words," yelled frontman Ricky Wilson before launching into 'Every Day I Love You Less and Less'.

Large beard, larger hat [Photo: Getty Images, credit: Matt Cardy]

With rain persistent all morning, the fans have already begun navigating the muddy fields and paths but appeared in high spirits for the Kaiser Chiefs.

Continue reading: The 14 Best Beards At The Glastonbury Festival [Pictures]

Glastonbury Festival goers were warned to "prepare for rape" by a subtitle blunder during the weather report on BBC News at Ten. The weatherman told the audience to "prepare for rain" but the caption instead read, "prepare for rape". 

Festivalgoers at Glastonbury 2014 [Photo: Getty Images, credit: Ian Gavan]

A BBC spokeswoman was quoted by the Daily Mail as saying: "We try to ensure our subtitling is as accurate as possible but there are occasions when mistakes inevitably occur.

Continue reading: Glastonbury Festival Goers Told To "Prepare For Rape" By BBC

With the Glastonbury 2014 weather forecast predicating a rain-soaked festival, ticketholders should stock up on towels, pack those wellys and embrace what is sure to be a muddy ol’ time. 

It probably won't be this muddy, but we're suggesting you prepare for the worst...

In fact, the only thing predictable about this weekend’s weather forecast in the South West of England, where the legendary festival takes places, is its unpredictability. Expect dramatic changes of temperature, cloudbursts of rain and even blazing sunshine. The order of which: anyone’s guess.

Continue reading: Festivalgoers Should Embrace The Rain As Glastonbury Weather Forecast Is Grim

Glastonbury festivalgoers are famously robust whatever the weather, packing willies, umbrellas and waterproof ponchos to ensure their heads don’t drop should the heaven decide to open. 

It Could Be A Muddy Glastonbury Festival. Photo: Getty images, Credit: Matt Cardy

And it looks like this year might be a wet one. Forecasters are predicting sunshine up until the gates open, then a deluge of rainfall is set to cascade over Worthy Farm as Arcade Fire, Kasabian and Metallica headline the Pyramid Stage. The Met Office are predicting heavy rain showers between 10am and 9pm on Friday - the first full day of music at the festival. 

Continue reading: Glastonbury Weather 2014: It's Going To Rain. Loads.

Part of Glastonbury’s enduring reputation is its propensity for composing a line-up that is extensive that a wealth of acts will pass by unnoticed. We’ve sieved through the thousands of acts who will be making the trip to Worthy Farm to highlight ten acts whose inclusion in the festival bill may surprise many. Sifting through the lower rungs of the bill uncovers a slew of rising stars and forgotten flames, those who are on the ascension to the upper levels of cultural recognition as well as those whose days of glory are far behind them.

Metallica will be this years most controversial performers. Photo: Getty Images, Credit: Frazer Harrison

Beyond the endless stretch of humans eyeing up the pyramid stage with binoculars are copious tents and smaller stages which host a myriad of curiosities, from fading pop stars regurgitating their hit songs for the umpteenth time to all manner of odd theatrics, spoken word performances, comedians, circus performances and Happy Monday’s hype-man Bez, who has this year been granted his very own ‘Acid House’ stage. Here then, are ten acts who to varying degrees will surprise festival goers with their very presence at the culturally sacred Somerset site: 

Continue reading: 10 Acts You Had No Idea Were Playing Glastonbury

Kasabian were the subject of derision when they chose to divulge the lyrics, "Horsemeat in the burgers, people commit murders, everyone’s on bugle, we’re being watched by Google" early. They eventually revised those lyrics for their current single, ‘Eez-eh’, but Billy Brag still thinks they’re the Spinal Tap of modern music.

Serge Pizzorno performing at Hard Rock Calling in 2013

"They have an important role to play: they are there to remind us how true Spinal Tap was. I'm not a fan, but if you read their interviews as if it was dialogue from Spinal Tap, it's very entertaining," says Bragg. Only trouble is, high-maintenance lead-singer Serge isn’t really going for satire; he’s genuinely making what he believes to be a comment on the socio-political state of the United Kingdom.

More: British Rockers Hit Out At Prison Guitar Ban

Continue reading: Billy Bragg Likens Kasabian's Swagger To Spinal Tap's Satire

Fleetwood Mac is not making their long-awaited Glastonbury debut this year – the full line up has been announced, the posters have been made. Forget about it. But that doesn’t mean the legendary band won’t in the future, after Christine McVie confirmed the group’s desire to play the world-famous festival to The Daily Star.

Fleetwood Mac perform in Glasgow

Having just picked up her Lifetime Achievement Award at The Ivors, McVie – who re-joined the band full time not long ago, said: "If Michael Eavis provides the wellies I'll be there." It was a double scoop, too, as the singer confirmed that the band is recording another album. "We are making new music right now," she added. "It's half done, then the world tour starts in September."

Continue reading: Glastonbury Festival: Just Give Us The Wellies And "We're There" - Fleetwood Mac

Pack up your hemp baskets and herbal healing tents and swap 'em for some New Rock boots and a devil's horns salute: Metallica have been announced to headline Glastonbury Festival 2014. The US heavy metal group are the unexpected and final main act to be announced and will be bringing their bombastic live show to Worthy Farm on the Saturday night alongside Kasabian and Arcade Fire.

James Hetfield & Metallica Will Be Bringing Their Explosive Live Show To Glastonbury 2014.

It seems that a welcome wind of change has finally blown across the fields of the Pilton site in Somerset as the Californian rock quartet's imminent arrival is heralded by fans who have been lucky to have picked up a ticket before they all sold out in April. However, there have been concerns over whether the average Glastonbury festivalgoer will be familiar with or even receptive to James Hetfield and co.'s music.

Continue reading: Say Your Prayers! Enter Metallica For Glastonbury Festival

The well-trodden fields of Worthy Farm will be privy to live music, stabbed by tent pegs and defecated on for another decade thanks to Glastonbury Festival’s new 10-year license, ensuring the world-famous annual weekend get-together will run on.

Glastonbury revellers having a whale of a time

The festival attracts 135,000+ visitors nearly every year to the South West of England, in Somerset, where the world’s biggest stars enjoy the sunshine/endure the mud playing huge headline sets and intimate gigs in any of the myriad stages on offer.

Continue reading: Ten More Years! Glastonbury Festival Gets License For Another Decade

Some acts may still be rumours and others are yet to be confirmed, but we have a strong suspicion that this is what the Glastonbury Festival Lineup for 2014 will end up looking like! Eek, we can't wait! The three day music festival is the hottest (and most quickly sold out) ticket of the year, and with a (rumoured) lineup like this, who’s surprised?

Prince is rumoured to be performing at Glastonbury Festival 2014

Indie rock band Arcade Fire have already confirmed their Friday night slot on the Pyramid Stage at the festival. The Canadian band are fortunate to be playing on the Friday night before everybody has had a sleepless few days and energy starts to die down!  Actually, on second thought, Glastonbury Festival goers never really lose any energy.  There must be something in the air which keeps them all going.

Continue reading: Could This Be The Lineup For Glastonbury Festival 2014?

With the news that Dolly Parton will be playing at this year’s Glastonbury festival, we’ve decided to brush up on our knowledge about the legendary country singer.

Dolly Parton will be performing at this year's 'Glastonbury' festival

She started young

Continue reading: Dolly Parton: 10 Facts About The Glastonbury Performer

Speculation that Prince will headline the Glastonbury 2014 line-up reached fever pitch on Tuesday, when the Purple Rain singer refused to deny the rumours at a special press conference held in the living room of singer Lianne La Havas.

Prince To Headline Glastonbury 2014?

Prince was non-committal when asked by BBC6 Music's Matt Everitt whether he was playing the famous Pilton festival, replying, "(I'm) concentrating on these shows in London, I don't know what's happening after." When pushed on whether he could rule out the slot, Prince gave a definitive, "No," adding, "We'll work our way up, if people like us, to bigger venues."

Continue reading: Prince Refuses To Rule Out Headlining Glastonbury 2014

Arcade Fire have never been afraid to approach their live shows with unpredictability and finesse. Their latest jaunt – over in Australia for the Big Day Out festival – saw the band sporting oversized papier-mâché heads, and we’ve got some cool photos.

Arcade Fire rock the Australian crowd

While the U.K’s festival season is far from kicking off – the rainy weather isn’t exactly conducive to a hassle free camping experience – Australia is in full swing, dancing around like idiots to the latest cool band.

Continue reading: Arcade Fire Wear Big Papier-Mache Heads At Big Day Out Festival [Pictures]

As we speculated back in October, Dolly Parton is to be confirmed to perform at Glastonbury 2014. The "9 to 5" singer is likely to appear in the Sunday Legends slot on the Pyramid Stage, previously filled by Tom Jones, Shirley Bassey and Ray Davies.

Dolly Parton Is Likely To Play Glastonbury

It would mark the 67-year-old's debut appearance at the legendary festival at Worthy Farm in Pilton, Somerset.

Continue reading: Dolly Parton To Be Announced For Glastonbury 2014

Arcade Fire are officially headliners at Glastonbury 2014! After much speculation and finger crossing, the Canadian alt-rockers have been confirmed as the first headline act for 2014's outing at Worth Farm in Somerset next June.

Arcade Fire will headline Glasto for the first time

The band confirmed their billing themselves, taking to Twitter to reveal a list of European dates due to take place in the same week at the end of June. As well as the stop off at Worthy Farm, AF will also be paying Rock In Roma and Villa Franca Di Verona a visit, as well as headlining a show at Marlay Park in Dublin. The band's own announcement was later followed up by a tweet from festival organiser Emily Eavis, with a statement from the festival's own Twitter page reading: "We're very pleased to announce that Arcade Fire will headline the Pyramid Stage at Glastonbury 2014 on Friday 27th June."

Continue reading: Arcade Fire Confirmed As First Headlining Act For Glastonbury 2014

Is legendary country star Dolly Parton in line for Glastonbury 2014? A suspicious gap in her UK June touring schedule suggests it could be a possibility.

The 'Jolene' singer would make a wonderful addition to next year's Glastonbury Festival line-up and, although nothing has yet been confirmed, it looks like there's a major gap to fill on her 2014 UK summer tour. The festival is set for June 25th - 29th 2014 with bands playing, as per usual, on the last three days. Although Dolly will be hitting London's O2 Arena on Friday 27th, she has the following weekend free which would certainly open up a Glastonbury opportunity. Exciting stuff! Plus, her fellow country star and 'Islands In The Stream' collaborator Kenny Rogers hit up the Pyramid Stage at this year's event and, after a show like that, there's definitely a fresh demand for country legends.

We are hoping, of course, that Dolly doesn't wind up in any more accidents while hitting her UK tour next year, following yesterday's 'fender bender' which took place in Nashville. She revealed in a statement yesterday (October 21st 2013): 'I was in a fender bender this morning, here in Nashville. But I am all good. Just a little tired and sore, resting at home.' 

Continue reading: Dolly Parton For Glastonbury Festival 2014?

Glastonbury Festival came back with a bang this year following a one-year hiatus in 2012 due in part to the London 2012 Olympics. The return of Somerset's most famous summer event was such a success that people are clearly awaiting 2014's annual gathering at Worthy Farm more eagerly than ever before, as all of the 120,000 tickets made available today sold out in record time.

It took only one hour and twenty-seven minutes for Glasto 2014 to sell out completely, shattering previous records. The incredible reception afforded to the festival resulted in the festival organisers Michael and Emily Eavis being "blown away" and admitting that they were "genuinely sorry" for the many who were just that little bit too late in securing their ticket for next year's festivities. The two posted a joint statement on to the Glastonbury Twitter page issuing their condolences to those who failed in their attempts to get a ticket, with many an angry tweeter using it as a chance to voice their frustrations with the "unfair" and "fixed" booking system.

Ticket company See Tickets were also forced to apologise for any inconvenience caused when their servers crashed, rendering the site useless for about thirty minutes, causing some to miss out on tickets. The site, which was serving as the official ticket retailer for the festival, admitted to having a "very difficult half an hour" whilst it struggled to cope when as many as 3000 tickets were sold per-minute.

Continue reading: Glastonbury 2014 Tickets Sell Out In Record Time Of Just 1.5 Hours!

Glastonbury Festival boss Michael Eavis has revealed that he has more or less signed the headliners for 2014, teasing that neither act has played the historical music gathering in the past.

In an interview with NME, Eavis explained, "Next year's headliners are more or less in place. They're three bands who haven't played Glastonbury, and that's important." Though the article sent the internet into frenzy with speculation over Eavis's dream headliners Prince and Madonna, the emphasis on the word 'band' appears to suggest the acts will be more conventional four or five-pieces, perhaps in the rock genre.

Of course, both acts travel with accomplished bands - Prince particularly - though Eavis's comments leaves those possibilities in doubt - for this writer at least.

Continue reading: Glastonbury 2014 Headliners Are First-Timers, Fleetwood Mac, Pearl Jam, Depeche Mode?

After 2011's triumphant headlining set at Glastonbury, Beyonce Knowles returned to the British festival calendar to top the bill at V Festival over the weekend. 

The problem is that Glastonbury is chilled out, and nice weather makes everyone more chilled out and happy to accept pretty much anything. V Festival is that little bit drunker, that little bit rowdier and in Chemsford on Saturday, that little bit wetter.

According to The Metro, the singer left fans sodden in the rain by arriving on-stage 20 minutes later, "Boo-yonce! Crowds ain't happy she is late at V Festival! 20mins in the rain and counting," tweeted one unhappy reveller.

Continue reading: Did Beyonce Ban Channel 4 From Broadcasting V Festival Performance?

Mumford & Sons headlined a one-day festival at London's Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park last night (July 6, 2013) playing to a 60,000 strong hometown crowd. The band closed out the Pyramid Stage at the Glastonbury Festival on Sunday, though appeared to slight the Pilton crowd in Stratford.

"Were any of you lot at Glastonbury last weekend? It was a very pleasant experience... [but] you guys are sh*t loads better than that gig ever was," said keyboard player Ben Lovett, according to NME.com, "Probably because you haven't done as many drugs as the people there," added banjo player Winston Marshall.

Arriving on-stage at 8.45pm, the band began with the title track from their sophomore album Babel. "We can't tell you how happy we are to be home. Thanks so much for coming tonight," said frontman Marcus Mumford. 

Continue reading: Mumford & Sons Take Dig At Glastonbury Crowd During Olympic Park Show

One of the three Haim sisters fell ill whilst on the Pyramid Stage today at Glastonbury Festival (28th June) - Este Haim began falling ill in the middle of the first of the band's two performances this weekend, blaming diabetes. Despite feeling a little off, the bassist began to play the rest of the songs on a stool and explained after their set: "Sometimes diabetes gets the better of you." According to DIY, Este declared to the crowd mid-set: "I'm not going to let this get the better of me, especially when there are so many beautiful people here. If I pass out, will someone give me mouth to mouth?" After she recovered, she declared it to be "the best day of [her] life."

Bassist Este Haim In Action.

Este is the eldest of the three sisters in the band from California's San Fernando valley- with Alana and Danielle Haim, and also including drummer Dash Hutton. She has become famous to her extreme facial expressions she pulls whilst playing bass guitar, with her "bassface" even having a Twitter account dedicated to it. She holds a degree in Ethnomusicology, revealing to the London Evening Standard that she finished the five year degree in just two, and plays guitar as well as bass.

Continue reading: Haim Bassist Gets Ill During Glastonbury Festival Set

Mick Jagger considered being a teacher, a politician and a journalist. 'Start Me Up' singer revealed his early career plans during a televised interview. Speaking on the Today programme, The Rolling Stones singer said a career as "a schoolteacher would have been very gratifying". Had the singer gone on to be a teacher he would have kept his families' tradition as both his father and grandfather were teachers.

Mick Jagger in New York, 2011

Teaching is surprisingly more rock and roll than you'd expect. Sting was a teacher before he became a hit in the 80's, as was Sheryl Crow, Gene Simmons, Brian May, Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel. 

Continue reading: Schoolboy Blues: Mick Jagger Wanted To Be A Teacher!

Liam Gallagher and his band Beady Eye played an unbilled set at the Glastonbury Festival on Friday morning (June 28, 2013), officially opening three days of music set to be headlined by Arctic Monkeys, The Rolling Stones and Mumford & Sons. The show took place on The Other Stage at the rather early time of 11am, though thousands made the journey from their soaked tents to watch the former Oasis man.

Liam Gallagher Performing With Beady Eye At The Glastonbury Festival

Though Beady Eye's show did not feature in the programme, frotman Liam has dropped a major hint earlier in the week, tweeting, "11am Friday - BE there or BE square.LG," while photographs showed the band travelling to Glastonbury on the train. Gallagher had always vowed never to return to the Pilton site following his former band's headlining set in 2004, telling The Sun, "The sound is s*** and really quiet. You can hear the crowd talking while you're playing.It's like Bond Street with mud, with loads of celebrities walking around in their boots and umbrellas. I'm not having it."

Continue reading: Liam Gallagher Opens Glastonbury Festival With Oasis Songs [Pictures]

Liam Gallagher was given the enviable job of opening the 2013 Glastonbury Festival with a surprise set on The Other Stage on Friday morning (June 28, 2013). The singer, who aired his dismay for the festival following his former band Oasis' set in 2004, arrived on-stage and immediately launched into Flick of the Finger, a recent single for Beady Eye.

Liam Gallagher Performing With Beady Eye At Brixton Academy

The cloudy weather and early start did nothing to deter the famous Mancunian, who was on typically brash form. "It's never too early for a bit of Rock'n'Roll aggro, is it?" asked Gallagher as his new band launched into Morning Glory, an Oasis hit written by his brother Noel Gallagher.

Continue reading: Liam Gallagher's Beady Eye Open Glastonbury Festival With Morning Set

Daft Punk might have the most successful single of the year, having recently hit the billion mark on sales for Get Lucky, but the band remains as mysterious as ever. Case in point: Glastonbury. Thomas Bangalter and Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo have not announced any tour dates following the release of Random Access Memories. Surely that’s impossible though, they have to promote the album somehow.

The robots at Glasto?

This seems to match up with bookies’ line of reasoning. Currently, the odds for the duo making a surprise appearance at the festival (which kicks off today) are set at 6/4, according to NME. For reference, the odds for Beady Eye (5/1), David Bowie (6/1) and Queens of the Stone Age (10/1) are also pretty high.

Continue reading: Get Lucky? Odds In Favour Of Daft Punk Playing Surprise Gig At Glastonbury

Many Glasto goers woke up to the pitter patter of rain on canvas this morning as Wednesday's warm, humid weather well and truly dissolved into rain. By the Thursday evening, the site was drenched - what had initially been forecast as a "short sharp shower turned into an all-day deluge," according to the BBC. And where there's rain, there's mud: big sticky, gloopy, welly-stealing piles of it. This didn't deter any of the 118,000 ticket holders already onsite, with revellers retreating to indoor tents or embracing the wet weather and sludge with gusto by making mud slides. As the main festival wasn't even fully underway by then, we can't say we'd like to be sharing their tent this weekend - let's hope they've brought some babywipes!

Glastonbury Festival Organisers Michael & Daughter Emily Eavis.

Unlike everywhere else in the country, the rest of the weekend in the South-West is set to be mild, but not exactly toasty, with mean temperatures of 18°C combined with average windspeeds of about 15mph: so that little weather forecaster's cartoon of a grey cloud will pretty much sum up the weekend. 2009's extreme weather saw torrential downpours and thunderstorms lighting up the valley but was followed by 2010's glorious sunshine, which caused sunstroke and dust problems. Punters have a whole weekend of musical, comical and performance joy ahead of them to distract them from any weather woes though. Saturday night will be headlined by The Rolling Stones who have described the Glastonbury headline slot as an experience they were "destined" for, with organisers Michael and Emily Eavis "thrilled" to have the legendary Stones perform.

Continue reading: Glastonbury Weather Dries Up Ready For The Big Acts

The weather forecast for the Glastonbury Festival this weekend does not look brilliant: expect a lot of cloud. However, those visiting the Glastonbury Festival this year may be pleased (or rather not depending on your predisposition) to hear the traditional mud is likely to be back. Around 135,000 people attend the festival annually and this year is no exception. The festival site, located near the Somerset village of Pilton, opened its gates for early goers. Most slept in their cars overnight lying in wait to get a decent (probably on higher ground) site to set up camp.

Beyonce Played A Barmstorming Set At Glastonbury In 2011

The weather forecast for Shepton Mallet (the closest town to the festival site), according to the BBC, is:

Continue reading: Glastonbury Festival Weather 2013: Get Your Wellies On

Glastonbury Festival will be returning after a year off this weekend (June 28 - 30) and after a year away it looks as though at least one classic Glasto tradition will be void from this year's itinerary; the rain. Weather forecasts are indicating that in a much-needed break from the norm, the weather at this years Glastonbury will actually be good for a change and the sun will shine on in Somerset for the full stretch festivities.

BBC Weather is predicting an overall mix of sun and cloud over the course of the week, with a few chances of rain cropping up at points. Of course this is the British summer, and the British summer is never complete without buckets of rain at the worst possible time. Forecasters are predicting that the rainfall will only really be a problem on Tuesday and Thursday, which might make setting up the festival a living hell for organisers, and the same for earlier-comers on Thurs, but hopefully the sun will pull through and things will go off without too much disruption.

Temperature wise, weather experts are predicting an average in the mid-teens, with highs of 24C on the Sunday, when the headliners are Mumford And Sons. Also playing headlining slots during the weekend are the Arctic Monkey and Rolling Stones, who are making their first ever appearance at the festival in it's many years as a British summer institute - not that you'll be able to see them unless you have tickets for the festival that is.

Continue reading: The Forecast Looks Good For A Sunny Glastonbury Festival

Arctic Monkeys have returned with 'Do I Wanna Know,' the first single to be taken from their fifth studio album.

The new track, first played at a concert in California last month and subsequently used as a set opener during the bands Scandinavian shows, is now available to download on iTunes. A new video for the track has also rolled out online.

Featuring a thudding beat throughout and a rip-roaring Queens of the Stone Age-esque chorus, Do I Wanna Know is certainly an interesting track, if a little unremarkable. The band have also premiered new song 'Mad Sounds' at the Hultsfred Festival in Sweden on Friday (June 14, 2013) and again at the Danish NorthSide festival on Sunday. Both new songs re likely to feature on the band's forthcoming new album.

Continue reading: Arctic Monkeys Return With New Single 'Do I Wanna Know' [Listen]

Festival goers may turn to hallucinogenic drugs or alcohol for mind altering experiences this summer but a peaceful group of Buddhist monks will help you seek enlightenment through meditation.

To coincide with the 100th anniversary of the Tibetan Declaration of Independence, the Dalai Lama's monks will make an appearance at Glastonbury, bringing their Buddhist choral chanting to the fields of Somerset.

On June 27th (the Thursday), the Grammy-nominated group will perform and carry out Buddhist rituals by creating a Sand Mandala - a ceremony that symbolises the transitory nature of material goods - in honour of their special anniversary's coincidence with the world-renowned arts and music festival.

Continue reading: Dalai Lama's Monks To Play Glastonbury

If you’re still after a ticket for this year’s Glastonbury Festival, think again. The final batch of tickets went on sale today at 9am and sold out in just over an hour, The Guardian reports. The tickets on sale today were all returns from people that had previously purchased a ticket but were no longer able to attend. Such is the enduring hype surrounding the festival, the few remaining chances to go were all snapped up.

With the line-up for the festival now announced, those lucky people with tickets now know exactly who it is that will be entertaining them for the weekend. Headliners over the three main days will be Arctic Monkeys, Rolling Stones and Mumford & Sons. Remarkably, it’s the first time that the Rolling Stones have ever appeared at the festival, in their 50 year career. They will be joined by a vast array of band, comedians, theatre acts and street entertainers. Amongst the best-known musical acts on the bill are Dizzee Rascal, Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, Portishead and Rita Ora.

Emily Eavis, one of the festival organisers, apologised to anyone that was disappointed by not being able to get a ticket. She asked people to email [email protected] with any feedback of the ticket purchasing (or not) experience. The festival will take place this year between June 28-30. 

Continue reading: Glastonbury Hopefuls Left Disappointed As Last Tickets Sell Out In An Hour

For everyone shelling out £200+ for a Glastonbury ticket, you can pretty much be sure that their dreams include winning the lottery or playing the Pyramid Stage. But it turns out, not even all rock stars want to play the festival.

And we’re not talking any rock stars, but the Rolling Stones – this year’s headliners of the now infamous stage. Alright, not all of them, just Charlie Watts, the drummer. “I don't want to do it,” moans Charlie in an interview with The Guardian. “Everyone else does. I don't like playing outdoors, and I certainly don't like festivals. I've always thought they're nothing to do with playing. Playing is what I'm doing at the weekend. That's how I was brought up. But that's me, personally. When you're a band … you do anything and everything. But Glastonbury, it's old hat really. I never liked the hippy thing to start with. It's not what I'd like to do for a weekend, I can tell you.” This is all great news for those you have actually shelled out the pricey cover fee for a ticket. Now they know the drummer of the headline act would rather be at home drinking tea.

“The worst thing playing outdoors is when the wind blows, if you're a drummer, because the cymbals move … it really is hard to play then,” adds Charlie, giving a musical reason why outdoor playing isn’t the best.

Continue reading: Got That Festival Spirit? Charlie Watts Doesn’t - He Really Doesn’t

Albums of Note... It’s been a long two years since James Blake released his debut eponymous album and now, the pioneering producer returns with Overgrown, album number two. Peppered with quality collaborations, with hip-hop legend RZA and electronic music’s figurehead Brian Eno, Overgrown is the sound of an artist still trying to find his niche, but releasing high quality, accomplished tracks, whilst he’s on his journey. “Blake really is a talent to behold, as his ingenious moulding together of poles apart genres and production wizardry clearly shows… when you're already as accomplished at all manner of musical exercises as he is then it will obviously be hard to focus all this talent and all this energy into one place.”

Splitting opinion like musical Marmite, John Grant returns with Pale Green Ghosts. This album may sound unrecognisable as Grant, to anyone already familiar with his work. He’s hooked up with Gus Gus’ Biggi Viera and has decamped to Reykjavik. As a result, a new reliance on vintage-sounding synthesisers and a nod to club-land has John Grant sounding like an altogether different proposition to the John Grant of days gone by.“Grant's dyspeptic edge may be blunted, but when called upon the man can make a fine ass post-modern disco song, like we ever doubted that he could, and Blackbelt is a tweaked remix away from the transient world of A Lists, charts and chat shows. Cleverly poignant, its way with knock out disses would give Jake Shears something to think about if it proved to be a permanent change of direction…”

Continue reading: A Week In Music - James Blake Still Seeking His Niche, Yeah Yeah Yeahs Triumph With Lily Cole Video, Eels Stage A Love-In In Bournemouth

An additional 20,000 tickets for this year's Glastonbury Festival sold out quickly on Sunday morning, to the delight of successful music fans who missed out in the main sale three weeks ago.

Today's tickets constituted those from the April 1st sale which were returned or where payment for the £145 tickets failed to process properly.

A total of 137,500 of the festival's 177,000 maximum capacity were sold three weeks ago using organiser Michael Eavis' new registration system, designed to beat ticket touts.

Previous ticket sales for the festival have been blighted by tickets appearing on internet auction websites soon after the annual sell-out is completed.

This year 400,000 applicants passed through the festival's online pre-registration process, which required them to provide photo identification.

Most of those will have failed to get tickets to the extremely popular festival, which returns after taking a break in 2006.

Headline acts already confirmed for this year's event include the Arctic Monkeys, The Killers, The Who and Dame Shirley Bassey.

Continue reading: Extra Glastonbury Tickets Snapped Up