kingcrawler

I think that ended up being Spice Girls.

I saw this the other day where he says he’s not been asked. He does seem to be talking about playing quite a lot, so I think he actually hasn’t been asked and is just keen to do it rather than him hinting at playing this year. My guess for a while has been Eurythmics since there was talk of them touring this year.

I could be wrong but I feel like you were against the idea of Billie doing it as you thought she’d go for higher paying offers rather than her not being big enough. I’m starting to think Fred might be an Other headliner this year to be honest. Sam Smith and The Prodigy make a lot of sense as two of them and he’d draw a big crowd as a dance option up against Axl and the lads. Going beyond that and keeping up the hype to levels where he’s booked to headline would be unheard of for dance acts in recent years but who knows.

Yeah I suggested that the other day. While Elton obviously had the Paris date planned for a while, Emily talking up GnR ages ago makes me think they’ve been lined up in some form for a while. We never really know how early the headliners are booked but going for Elton John last spring/summer after it became clear that Taylor wouldn’t be touring Europe seems sensible to me.

Seems this is a new song out on Monday from an album out in April. Really looking forward to this, they’re probably my favourite band of the last decade. Two brilliant albums and the EPs/soundtrack album are great too. It seems like this album will be a bit happier sounding, which wouldn’t be hard but will be interesting to see where they go with it.

They used to but Stormzy aside, they very much seem to be going for big established acts now rather than promoting newer acts who maybe haven’t had the chance to headline a major festival here. Most of the first time headliners within the last 10 years or so have already been very established acts (Adele, Ed Sheeran, Billie Eilish etc, even Mumfords at the time) and some of the biggest acts in the world. I’d much rather see Lizzo headline but Guns make more sense based on the bookings since 2015 or so.

I think Where the Streets Have No Name got played two years in a row, first when The Edge came out with Muse and then with Bono and the lads a year later.

Yeah, I do think they were trying for Swift but given Emily was talking about them a couple of years ago, I do think Guns have been lined up for a while. To be honest, given Elton was due to play Paris on the Sunday and that was only rearranged in June, I reckon he's who they went for once Taylor became unavailable and Guns have been there all along.

Arctic Monkeys - 95%: They've never fully wowed me live but hard to turn down one of my favourite bands on the Pyramid. Something spectacular elsewhere could sway me but I'll most likely be here. Guns N' Roses - 0%: Very few bands I have less interest in seeing. Elton John - 90%: Not as dead set on seeing him as I was with Macca but it would take something big to keep me away from him.

That poster looks remarkably similar to this one that was posted by someone as a prediction recently, so I'm guessing it's not real. Who knows if someone big has pulled out late on but The Who debacle aside, Glastonbury never seem to have these issues do they? I'm not trying to compare the two festivals but come March/April we generally have a good idea who the headliners and there's rarely any drama. Maybe the Stones in 2013 and when they seemingly tried for Prince in 2014 and 2015 but other than the odd incident where a headliner has to pull out very late on for medical reasons (Foo Fighters, U2), it's normally just us overthinking things and coming up with suggestions like Adele in the sunset slot because she's scared of big crowds.

I’d only want to see Lizzo but her, Lewis Capaldi and Guns N Roses on the one day would be a strong evening on the Pyramid. I could see Lizzo and Capaldi pulling very big crowds. I’ll guess that QOTSA are subbing Arctic Monkeys as they are at a few other festivals.

They played there in 2019 to be fair. As much as his relationship with the festival might be overstated a bit, Dave Grohl did seem really taken on with it when they headlined and the whole Cheese & Grain thing isn’t something you do for just another stop on the tour. It wouldn’t be an exciting booking for us but they’d pull a massive crowd. There will be huge demand to see them when they start touring again and I’m sure Emily would want to be part of that.

I meant across festivals overall next year, lots of alright lineups but not many particularly exciting bookings, Glastonbury getting Elton aside. As I said earlier, the rumoured trio would go down very well overall and are three huge acts. If they book those three alongside Lizzo, Pulp, QOTSA, The Prodigy etc with the usual varied undercard then while it’s maybe not a vintage lineup for some, it’s still stronger than pretty much every other festival.

That’s a fair point. I think I’m the same age as you and Elton has generated a lot more interest than Kendrick or Billie did but I agree plenty will be looking for more acts like that. As we’ve all said, it’s a weak year overall and it does feel like most festivals are lacking big acts of that ilk.

Yeah, I know a couple of people who didn’t bother in November but are now pretty keen after Elton’s announcement. I do agree that there will be more in the resale than usual but equally they’ve still booked three massive acts (if it is the proposed trio) and there will still be far more people trying than there are tickets. As much as it wouldn’t be a very eFests set of headliners, it would still be popular with the overall crowd.

Clydebank would be a fair old trip, I’m not sure what time the last train there is but there will definitely be places a bit nearer. I don’t know much about hotels in and around Glasgow but alternatives to the city centre could be hotels/airbnb’s in the east end of the city (Dennistoun maybe the best bet here) or the southside (Shawlands, Queen’s Park, Pollokshields etc) which have loads of public transport and are walkable too.

2019 was the weakest since the 2000s but as you say, all three acts nailed it. The 2017 headliners were probably one of the biggest trio’s they’ve had and yet as much as I loved that Radiohead set, it’s fair to say none of them unanimously smashed it. I’m not a fan but if they had managed Prince as intended in 2015 then Foo Fighters, Kanye West and Prince would have been a ridiculously big set of headliners, maybe the biggest they’d ever booked. A shame The Who decided Paris wasn’t for them.

I always assumed Primal Scream subbing The Rolling Stones were one too, as rebooking them after they’d played a massive slot at the previous festival was an odd choice.

Let’s bring back Palma Violets next.

I think this is where I’m at too. AM and GNR could well be wrong, I’m certainly nowhere near putting the mortgage on it happening, but equally there’s been plenty to suggest that the majority of other names people keep bringing up aren’t playing anyway. As I said earlier, it’s not a trio I would have predicted but it seems by far the most likely outcome at the moment. I think GNR are this years curveball, we just heard about them a bit earlier than we usually might.

I think so too. To be fair, I don’t think anyone is saying they set out to book these three headliners initially, Taylor Swift was presumably lined up for next year. It seems entirely possible though that once she became unavailable, while unbalanced they might have considered GNR or Elton as the next best options available to them. I certainly wouldn’t have predicted them but given the complete lack of info on any other headliners, as well as a lack of decent alternatives at other festivals, I do think we’ll end up with those three.

It was in an interview with Edith Bowman I think. I did listen to it and it was mentioned in a thread on here too but struggling to find it as well. I agree with you that they’d probably book Beyonce over GNR but while she’s supposedly touring, there’s just nothing to suggest that she’s likely to want to play or be booked for next year. I think that’s the main reason some of us are so set on the currently rumoured trio, there just hasn’t been any credible rumours for anyone else yet, certainly not compared to a reliable poster who usually has good information.

Emily also said, earlier this year I think, that some years might have three men headlining, others years three women. You can still book a balanced lineup without a woman headlining, if anything it’s more important to make sure you’re consistently doing that and giving smaller acts opportunities.

This is a good point actually. Other than Idles, all of my highlights that I mentioned above were acts I saw for the first time. The lineup certainly felt very fresh to me, probably more than the original 2020 lineup actually.

I think all in it was my favourite year so far. It was my girlfriends first time going and she loved it, so seeing her amazed by everything other than the queue to get in was a nice way to do it. I saw less acts than I usually would and had gaps between most acts rather than running from stage to stage which was a lot more relaxed. McCartney was fantastic. I enjoyed the first half but the second half was ridiculous, best thing I've seen live. Most of my other highlights were acts I was planning to see but was surprised at just how much I enjoyed them, particularly First Aid Kit, Turnstile, Olivia Rodrigo and the Sunday lunchtime double bill of Just Mustard and Dakhabrakha, which was one of my favourite parts of the weekend. I really enjoyed Idles too, I had gone off them a bit but they were amazing and that Other stage set really rekindled my interest in them. Only big disappointments for me were Wet Leg and Diana Ross, though I was just too far back for Wet Leg. The only other disappointment was Overmono but I think that was me not being in the mood for that rather them them. The Libertines were rubbish too but that's hardly unexpected.