So it's U2- Fri, Prince- Sunday...

[Derby_Dave]

Kylie has more hits more recently and they're both in the same pop category.

Why would Kylie be unsuitable to headline but Prince be suitable?

[russycarps]

Kylie has more hits more recently and they're both in the same pop category.

Why would Kylie be unsuitable to headline but Prince be suitable?

[Filthy]

If you're talking about status overall Prince is in a completely different league to Kylie in terms of worldwide success, popularity and talent. I'm not biting

[russycarps]

I haven't said she is

but...

do you really think Kylie is of a similar status as a musician/songwriter/performer as Prince?

[MEGABOWL]

Why do we need 100 threads on the same shit?

[Lynne Scratch Perry]

It took me 15 minutes to think of four Prince songs. Out of those, I only liked one.

Reading this thread, there are about two more songs I know.

He's really not my cup of tea and, in my opinion, is nowhere near the status of Stevie Wonder.

However, if he were to play, I'm sure he'd put on a good show. As a mate of mine said while watching Muse: I suppose you have to put on a good show if you're music's this sh*t.

[eFestivals]

do you really think Kylie is of a similar status as a musician/songwriter/performer as Prince?

In terms of popularity she defo is.

In terms of credibility, there's not a massive difference - Prince was very much a pop act (at least, in the UK) in the same vein as Kylie.

I appreciate that for some he was an album act, but those will mainly be for his mega-fans. While he did have a couple of big selling albums, they were very much of the time and driven by his pop success - so don't really elevate him above other 'two big albums' here-today-gone-tomorrow acts of that time.

None of the above is a comment on his status as "musician/songwriter/performer" (particularly in the way I suspect you're viewing him), but that side of things is one mainly for his mega-fans. The people who gave him the success he had - pop fans - have that side of things pass them by.

[eFestivals]

If you're talking about status overall Prince is in a completely different league to Kylie in terms of worldwide success, popularity and talent. I'm not biting

worldwide, yep.

UK? Not much difference - but Kylie is of far more relevance to today's UK audiences I'd say.

[Glastoboy]

OMFG! Prince at Glastonbury would be awesome. Please let it be so.

He is one sexy motherf**ker.

[Derby_Dave]

worldwide, yep.

UK? Not much difference - but Kylie is of far more relevance to today's UK audiences I'd say.

[Lynne Scratch Perry]

While he did have a couple of big selling albums, they were very much of the time and driven by his pop success - so don't really elevate him above other 'two big albums' here-today-gone-tomorrow acts of that time.

[Filthy]

worldwide, yep.

UK? Not much difference - but Kylie is of far more relevance to today's UK audiences I'd say.

[MEGABOWL]

based on nothing but my own guesswork, but I have a hunch that if it's U2 Friday and Prince/whatever American artist they've 'been trying to get for yonks and yonks' on Sunday, that means two acts who have never headlined or even played before. Therefore I suspect they'll go for a 'safe pair of hands' on the Saturday (see Muse this year), a Coldplay/Radiohead/Kasabian/Elbow* type.

*disclaimer-I hate Kasabian and love Elbow but am not convinced they're big enough or would hold a Pyramid headline crowds attention

[eFestivals]

UK audiences as a whole perhaps, I'd venture that he may have more relevance to the glastonbury demographic

I take it you weren't watching the Scissor Sisters this year then?

I'd say that Kylie got the biggest cheer of any act over the whole weekend. Which probably says there's not that many acts who'd better her on that basis.

(I ain't pushing for Kylie BTW - I'm just giving my perspective on things).

[ivan]

I suspect that Lady Gaga will be headlining one of the nights.

[eFestivals]

he's had more than a couple of big selling albums, I listed them.

He's revered by fans and musicians alike. He was never 'just' a pop act in the same vein as Kylie.

I'm not trying to say that he was only a pop act.

But it remains the case that in the UK at least he was mainly a pop act. I'd say that for the majority of people who would have considered themselves 'serious about music' at the time, he wasn't on their radar (tho I'd say he's crept onto it since, but not hugely).

[eFestivals]

you're basing all this on a 5 minute guest appearance?

(where she came on and sang badly)

Yep, and yep.

Who did you hear that got a bigger cheer then? Stevie certainly didn't.

[eFestivals]

the last time Prince was in the uk, he sold out about 30 nights at the O2. How is he not relevant now?

whatever relevant means

It's one thing selling tickets to fans. It doesn't make him festival relevant.

Bon Jovi did the same. Would you put them in the running alongside Prince too?

(PS: many of those Prince tickets weren't sold to UK punters - about half went overseas!).

[coma girl]

I'd love to see Prince playing, he's one of the best live acts I've ever seen but I'm not getting my hopes up yet.

[eFestivals]

sorry

he wasn't mainly a pop act, he was an accepted musical genius. He was talked about in musicians magazines, was respected as multi-instumentalist/genius/singer/songwriter by anybody who was aware or interested. You obviously weren't

yep, I'm aware of that now just as I was at the time.

And you're right - I wasn't interested in that, just as most of his UK 'fans' weren't. He was a pop act putting out pop singles to most people.

[eFestivals]

I don't see what relevance one guest appearance has on anything

a bigger response demonstrates a bigger liking, surely?

(I wish that wasn't the case BTW. I'd personally prefer it if the Glasto audience had much less of a liking for pop).

[russycarps]

I take it you weren't watching the Scissor Sisters this year then?

I'd say that Kylie got the biggest cheer of any act over the whole weekend. Which probably says there's not that many acts who'd better her on that basis.

(I ain't pushing for Kylie BTW - I'm just giving my perspective on things).

[eFestivals]

many of his albums went platinum in the uk

what do you mean, just as most of his uk fans weren't? Who was going to his shows or buying his albums then?

lots of those albums certainly sold to the types who would today perhaps buy a Westlife album. Pop fans buy albums too.

It was certainly the case amongst the 'serious music fans' (as we'd have up-our-own-arses considered ourselves at the time) who I hung out with that just one out of 50+ was into Prince (and in a BIG way) - the rest rejected him (small-mindedly perhaps, but it happened) as a passing pop act, while perhaps secretly enjoying the singles.

[Rhymenoceros]

I'm not sure that a Kylie performance would have the same "wow" factor as Prince. Both would go down well I imagine, but given the choice I would plump for Prince anytime

[Lynne Scratch Perry]

lots of people I knew then were totally into his albums. Sign O The Times, Lovesexy, Purple Rain, Lovesexy, Parade... and more... all drop dead great albums, then as well as now