Bands that should never have headlined

[strummer77]

Bruce Springsteen has been the worst choice of headliner in recent years for me, and yeah Rod Stewart previously: forgot he'd played.

Didn't go anywhere near either of them though as there's so much more on: this is the beauty of Glastonbury.

[MEGABOWL]

Ash (though to be fair they were a last-minute fill in)

Skunk Anansie

Moby

[eFestivals]

Whether you thought the set was dull or great, its hard to say against the choice of Bruce as headliner. One of the most acclaimed and biggest selling live artists in the world isn't really a bad 'choice'... not really comparable to Rod- whether it was ultimately a success or not.

I agree with this 100%, despite thinking that Bruce was a bland as it gets.

Whatever I think of his music or his performance on the night, there's no doubt that in advance he was very worthy of the slot, far more so than probably 90%+ of the bands who have headlined over the years.

[worthyraver]

I agree with this 100%, despite thinking that Bruce was a bland as it gets.

Whatever I think of his music or his performance on the night, there's no doubt that in advance he was very worthy of the slot, far more so than probably 90%+ of the bands who have headlined over the years.

[Alcatraz]

Skunk Anansie

[fullfathom5]

I so wish I'd bothered to make my way thru the Pyramid crowd to the John Peel tent to see Jarvis instead of watching Springsteen - bland as hell!

[muffin]

Rod Stewart.

[tevaburger]

a lot of these responses have been to the quality of the set, rather than the quality of the booking, as in whether they had done enough in their careers to warrant the prestige of a Glastonbury Pyramid headline slot. Taking that angle...

Skunk Anansie have to be the absolute most mind-boggling headliner booking ever

I think Killers, Artic Monkeys, Prodigy (1997 - when Smashing Pumpkins surely should have been billed on top of them), and Travis, all jumped the queue a bit.

Moby was questionable in '03. But i think it was an era where they figured they always tried to add in a club/dance/dj headline act from time-to-time (Chems, Moby, Prodigy)

Muse in '04 raised eyebrows when announced, but give credit to Glasto for knowing full well how they would pull it off. A career-defining performance.

Stevie Winwood called in sick in '97, but that was a strange initial choice to close out the festival.

Also, you can't blame Ash, Basement Jaxx, Gorillaz as they were all late replacements.

[scudetto_boy]

Skunk Anansie or whatever they were called in 1999

[scudetto_boy]

a lot of these responses have been to the quality of the set, rather than the quality of the booking, as in whether they had done enough in their careers to warrant the prestige of a Glastonbury Pyramid headline slot. Taking that angle...

Skunk Anansie have to be the absolute most mind-boggling headliner booking ever

I think Killers, Artic Monkeys, Prodigy (1997 - when Smashing Pumpkins surely should have been billed on top of them), and Travis, all jumped the queue a bit.

Moby was questionable in '03. But i think it was an era where they figured they always tried to add in a club/dance/dj headline act from time-to-time (Chems, Moby, Prodigy)

Muse in '04 raised eyebrows when announced, but give credit to Glasto for knowing full well how they would pull it off. A career-defining performance.

Stevie Winwood called in sick in '97, but that was a strange initial choice to close out the festival.

Also, you can't blame Ash, Basement Jaxx, Gorillaz as they were all late replacements.

[Davness]

I'd say Kings of Leon. I wasn't there so I can't judge whether they pulled it off, but it has clearly had a detrimental effect on them. I remember reading that they said being given that slot made them feel they needed to write more anthems; the result? One of the worst albums of the last 10 years (from a good band) and a complete selling out. Had they not been thrust into the headline slot perhaps they wouldn't have approached Only by the Night the way they did. Who knows, however for me Glasto was the beginning of their fall from grace.

[Vieuphoria]

Basement Jaxx (should have been the Scream )

Rod Sterwart

Chemical Brothers and Travis seem to be rather weak

in retrospect the duo of Fun Lovin' Criminals and Skunk Anansie is weak... but i would fecking love it. and from what i've seen Skunk Anasie nailed it

People will be naive and say Gorillaz. These people are wrong

Edited September 23, 2010 by Vieuphoria

[thesecretingredientiscrime]

I'd say Kings of Leon. I wasn't there so I can't judge whether they pulled it off, but it has clearly had a detrimental effect on them. I remember reading that they said being given that slot made them feel they needed to write more anthems; the result? One of the worst albums of the last 10 years (from a good band) and a complete selling out. Had they not been thrust into the headline slot perhaps they wouldn't have approached Only by the Night the way they did. Who knows, however for me Glasto was the beginning of their fall from grace.

[duggie20]

I'd say Kings of Leon. I wasn't there so I can't judge whether they pulled it off, but it has clearly had a detrimental effect on them. I remember reading that they said being given that slot made them feel they needed to write more anthems; the result? One of the worst albums of the last 10 years (from a good band) and a complete selling out. Had they not been thrust into the headline slot perhaps they wouldn't have approached Only by the Night the way they did. Who knows, however for me Glasto was the beginning of their fall from grace.

[strummer77]

the album was already out when they played glastonbury and was probably one of the reasons they got the headline slot,

[duggie20]

You'd be right f you weren't wrong. The album was out around September/October, Glastonbury is June.

[strummer77]

yes sorry

Edited September 23, 2010 by strummer77

[guypjfreak]

I am by no means a fan of his and I only saw the first 20 minutes, but he did seem to be putting on a good show, the field was packed and people were loving it. He certainly seemed to have a good idea of how to play to a festival crowd i.e: he realised the people were not there just to see him and his set reflected this, at least the first 20 minutes did.

I had to be elsewhere, David Seaman in dance west I believe, otherwise I may well have stayed.

[daley]

People will be naive and say Gorillaz. These people are wrong

[strummer77]

Im glad someone else thought the Gorilaaz set was not 2 bad! I feel If u didnt know the Gorillaz catalog then you wouldnt have enjoyed the show! As a Gorillaz fan I thought itwas amazing! xx

[OneLittleFish]

Bruce Springsteen was f**king awful IMO.

Couple of songs you know - hour and three quarters of stuff only the hardcore fans do - handful of tracks you know - goodnight.

What a load of shite. Interestingly, NME named it amongst their 20 great Glasto sets, and somehow ignored Blur from last year

Edited September 24, 2010 by OneLittleFish

[Craigston]

Whether you thought the set was dull or great, its hard to say against the choice of Bruce as headliner. One of the most acclaimed and biggest selling live artists in the world isn't really a bad 'choice'... not really comparable to Rod- whether it was ultimately a success or not.

Edited September 24, 2010 by Craigston

[swede]

Ash (though to be fair they were a last-minute fill in)

Skunk Anansie

Moby

[strummer77]

What a load of shite. Interestingly, NME named it amongst their 20 great Glasto sets, and somehow ignored Blur from last year

Edited September 24, 2010 by strummer77

[eFestivals]

You say that as if Bruce is a typical NME band? Easy answer- don't read the shite. Although me and my mates and the majority of people I spoke to enjoyed Bruce, although Neil had a very different experience which is fair enough.

It was an awful lot more than just me. Asking people if they'd seen him/enjoyed him the next day, nearly everyone I asked said it had bored them rigid.

I'm not claiming my little survey was scientifically accurate, but I think it's more than reasonable to deduce from the responses I got that there were a large number of people that were far from impressed.