Frankly Mr Shankly

So are Bono and Adele but it didn’t stop them.

That show is amazing, one of the best live acts I’ve seen. But, I don’t think he’d be appreciated in the legends slot (anymore). He’d be better suited to headlining West Holts.

100% this. Bestival was perfect. It encompassed all the great bits about Glastonbury, but with its own unique identity and on a much more manageable scale. In terms of being a full experience and not just feeling like you were watching bands in a soulless field, I’d say Bestival was as close to Glastonbury as you could get. I personally preferred it to Glastonbury.

I’d say 87% of Britain in favour of pro choice vs 66% in Ireland is a pretty big difference. Perhaps I’m wrong in assuming Catholicism has an influence in Ireland, but the stats speak for themselves on the culture differences on that particular issue. Anyway this thread keeps going off topic. Moving on.

She isn’t from the UK, but the issue affects her rights directly. Also the US is a global superpower, so its influence across the world is far greater than, for example, Ireland. She wasn’t the only person performing that weekend to bring it up either. Ireland is a Catholic majority country, the UK is not. So no, I don’t really consider their view on abortion rights to be comparable to the UK despite how close they may be in Geography.

An example from another country, that isn’t relevant to the UK or the artists you were talking about, but sure ok. The way you worded your original comment about a young woman using her platform to ‘whinge’ about her rights is what got people’s backs up. It stuck out like a proper gammon comment. Had you said something like ‘I don’t like politics in music, I don’t think it’s needed’ then I think less people would have jumped on you. You have a point about how hypocritical a lot of things are (Bono is a prime example), I just think some of it is getting lost in your delivery.

I once saw d*ck or Dom (can’t remember which) slumming it like a regular punter at West Holts.

Not entirely sure why an Irish referendum is relevant to Glastonbury. Glastonbury has always had a political angle, singling out a young female for being pro women’s rights/choice is an odd hill to die on.

They had to get the Who to cancel a show in Paris to play, lack of forward planning. Beyoncé in 2011 was not the same level as Beyoncé today. She was subbing festivals at that time. Yes it paid off, but it was a risk at the time. Metallica & GnR are huge acts, but they’re not the ones you think of when you think Glastonbury demographics are they. They were risks that paid off. None of that negates my point though. I wasn’t saying those examples were terrible headliners, I was saying that Emily in particular goes all in on trying to get one huge act & then scrambles around last minute when that falls through. Hence a more professional booking team would be better (and arguably balance the lineup across the site better as well, which is a separate issue altogether).

The Killers and the Who were uninspired but fine, Metallica & GnR were risks for the audience but ultimately paid off, yet everybody knows they would never have been Glastonbury’s first choices. I think people forget that in 2011 Beyoncé wasn’t the same power house she is now, she subbed T in the Park that year so by all accounts it was a ‘risk’ to bump her to headline, one that did pay off. I agree SZA is the only one where it’s gone really south. I think the issue this year with SZA was more that the festival felt the need to have another female headliner, so when Madonna fell through rather than going to a more suitable option they chose to bump SZA. Ironically last year when the same situation happened with Rihanna, they could and should have bumped Lizzo but chose not to. Maybe professional was the wrong word. But what I meant was, when they go after these elusive white whale bookings (Prince, Fleetwood Mac, Madonna) they seem to put all their eggs in that basket & don’t seem to have a strong contingency when it inevitably fails.

Don’t get me wrong, I wasn’t saying they shouldn’t be ambitious, just that they should have more robust back up plans when it doesn’t come through. Absolutely agree with your points, this year more than ever looked like 4 or 5 different festivals booked in isolation without any crossover thought to the process. For example Sugababes & Avril both should have been on the Pyramid, whereas PJ Harvey & Janelle Monae would have benefited being on a smaller stage.

They could have got away with bumping Lizzo up last year. I think the backlash from them not doing that inspired them this year to bump SZA. Equality and diversity is important, but it shouldn’t be the sole factor in booking decisions.

They need to get more professional with the booking of pyramid headliners and have genuine back up plans. Every time they’ve gone hard after a white whale that’s failed they’ve been left scrambling around for a headliner… 2011: Failed to get Prince, ended up bumping up Beyoncé 2014: Failed to get Prince, ended up with Metallica 2015: Failed to get Prince, ended up with the Who 2019: Failed to get Fleetwood Mac, ended up with the Killers 2023: Failed to get Rihanna, ended up with GnR 2024: Failed to get Madonna, ended up bumping up SZA Obviously some of those worked out great, some were fine but uninspired, some flat out failed.

I’ll take an early guess and go with… Fri: Sleep Token, Korn, Spiritbox Sat: System of a Down, Bad Omens, Killswitch Engage Sun: Iron Maiden, Deftones, Trivium Second stage headliners: Motley Crue, Idles, Bullet for My Valentine

More like second stage I’d say. If they continue beyond these couple of shows.