VCK

Yes. Think of all the dogshit artists down the years who have been inexplicably huge. If the music press promotes it to no end, a good portion the general public will just go along thinking it must be good, like they do with any trend that gets overly promoted.

The War On Drugs subbing the Pyramid? Has your average Glasto punter even heard of them? Also where are these Rihanna predictions coming from?

Is MGK too big to sub MSE?

They've played a couple of times, but they're another example of a band who are proven headliners elsewhere but don't really have that general mass appeal to headline Glastonbury. See also: Biffy Clyro, Foals. Didn't they play halfway down the Other Stage in 2016, the year after they subheadlined Reading and Leeds?

A very unique live experience too. It's like a perfectly midway point between The Prodigy and a hardcore punk gig!

There is absolutely no way Sum 41 will sub a major UK festival in 2023. Even at their peak of popularity, the best they could manage was 3rd down. Also BBCC are banned from R&L, and Dua Lipa is MSE headliner or nothing.

I'm surprised at how big their following is over here. I saw them when they played Leeds in 2019 and the crowd was absolutely insane.

Watched about ten minutes of them at Leeds this year. They did look really good but their music has just never done it for me. It's way too "sugary".

Death Grips are active next year. Go on Melvin, book them to headline the FR tent.

Unexpectedly. Would be great if they came to the UK next year, but I'd imagine if they were to play any festivals Download or R&L would be more likely.

I'm not ashamed to say I liked them and even went to one of their gigs (and they were really good). They got slammed and mocked by the press for being too derivative of Britpop but just a year or two later there was that wave of bands like Peace and Swim Deep who had the Britpop sound and the Indie crowd loved them.

If only Viva Brother came out a few years later, they'd be as well liked as Catfish and Blossoms.

Don't forget 'gammon', an Efestivals favourite, used against people who listen to music outside of what Capital FM plays and whatever's trending on TikTok.

Wait, why'd the old thread get deleted?

Same here. I had two chances to see them, Leeds 2011 and Sheffield 2012 and didn't take either due to money constraints at the time. I thought I would never have another chance to see them again and I would be taking such a regret to my grave, but here I am, £90 down and worth every penny. That Reading performance has to be one of the greatest festival sets I've never watched in person. And that segue from Hardcore to Sunrise is just sublime, they couldn't have picked a better pairing of songs to play back to back live. Like the daybreak at the end of a long dark night. Honestly I can't think of many other artists who have released four perfect albums in a row (His N' Hers to We Love Life). The Smiths, Manics and Tool, that's it.

Managed to get on Seetickets about 11am, got myself an upper tier seating ticket for Saturday in Sheffield. Pretty much sold out otherwise.

You're likely right, but the festival wasn't really their crowd any more in 2011 either, and their set went down a storm. The same could be said Rage, who like Pulp have a long history with the festival. Admittedly Rage would have drawn the smallest crowd out of this year's six, but even the Gen Z dark fruits/Fiat 500 lot know Common People and probably Disco 2000. It won't happen, I know, but I cling to hope.

Like 2011. I don't suppose they'd be in with a shout of headlining MSW?

Manics are playing IOW so they're active in June. They were supposed to play in 2020 as well of course.

FRIDAYPYRAMID: Arctic Monkeys / Halsey / Royal Blood / Jorja Smith / Michael Kiwanuka / Passenger / Hayseed DixieOTHER: Lizzo / Yungblud / Joy Crookes / DMAs / The Gaslight AnthemWEST HOLTS: Anderson .Paak JOHN PEEL: AitchPARK: Manic Street PreachersSATURDAYPYRAMID: Guns N' Roses / Paramore / Lil Nas X / Dermott Kennedy / Rina Sawayama / Gary Clark JrOTHER: The Prodigy / KSI / Bastille / Beabadoobee / Holly HumberstoneWEST HOLTS: MabelJOHN PEEL: The WombatsPARK: Yeah Yeah YeahsSUNDAYPYRAMID: Elton John / Pulp / Gwen Stefani / Roxy Music / Phoebe Bridgers / Seasick Steve / The WurzelsOTHER: Queens Of The Stone Age / Courteeners / Central Cee / Sigrid / Pale WavesWEST HOLTS: NasJOHN PEEL: Bloc PartyPARK: Pavement

Maybe there are a lot, but if so the music press doesn't promote them well. I mean, if you think about it, what sort of music do female artists that are critical darlings perform? Mostly pop. Think of big name headline sized female acts, they're your Taylor Swifts, Dua Lipas, Beyonces, Ariana Grandes, Billie Eilishes, etc. The music press likes to run with this idea that rock music is now uncool because something something white men something and pop is more credible and has more artistic merit but they could easily shine a light on the non-white and/or non-male guitar acts. Skating Polly are easily better than the above named acts but barely anyone has heard of them. So yeah, it's rather disingenuous to insinuate festival promoters are sexist for not booking female headliners for a festival that caters to a specific genre in which female artists just aren't given a lot of coverage by the press, and therefore less mainstream success than their male counterparts. They can either work with what they've got, or do what R&L did and move away from rock for the sake of gender balance.

Should he? There are a multitude of factors as to why some line-ups lean heavily more towards male acts. Availability, affordability, gender demographics in certain genres, etc. The latter is definitely a thing in rock. R&L have tried to address this in recent years, but by doing so they've had to book acts from outside their traditional genres because, for whatever reason, women just don't have as much of a presence in indie/alternative rock as men do. It's like how there aren't too many white acts on the Wireless line-up, because Wireless books artists of genres in which black people have had much more of a presence.

And because of this new system and having to alternate between each stage, acts have shorter sets than before. Charlie XCX, for example, was only on for about 40 minutes when in previous years Main Stage subs would be on for at least an hour. And of course headliners now only play 1 hour 15 minute long sets. I understand why they went with it in 2021 with COVID concerns still looming high, but they really should have scrapped it afterwards. It's such a crap setup.

It's like how Fall Out Boy subbed Biffy in 2016 and the festival marketed it as "A RECORD NUMBER OF FIVE HEADLINERS!" Same with Panic subbing Kendrick in 2018, and Twenty One Pilots subbing Post Malone in 2019. None of them closed either site, it was all about the festival's marketing team hyping the line-up. MSE is still THE main stage. MSW is basically the Other Stage of R&L. A trio of Meghan, BMTH and Halsey would never have headlined if we still had the single Main Stage format, while Dave, AM and Rage/The 1975 would all indisputably have done.

Where from? The arena seems miles out of the city centre. I ask because I'm from Leeds and would rather not have to stay overnight in Sheffield.😂