Headliners 2015

[thewayiam]

Wasn't the issue last year that they had to wait for Sonisphere to sell out?

To sell enough tickets. That and Download are accustomed to the point they'll balance things on what a decent amount of tickets they need to sell. Download the longer running for example, rarely ever sells out, but they know what they need to sell to keep running sort of thing.

[Woffy]

funny that amongst all that dogshit we got one of the best ever glastonbury sets in leonard cohen.

only at glastonbury!

That was one of the years i took my eldest two children.

The Pyramid field during Leonard was like nothing i've ever experienced during 10+ Glastonburys.

It was - to use words so overused for guff they've lost some resonance - spellbinding and transcendent.

It transcended genre, age, everything conceivable...because it was just just so inherently (here comes another word whose meaning is often lost except perhaps when used in the context of morality) good.

Silence and respect and awe, in equal measure. All earned and deserved.

My eldest daughter - 13 at the time - turned to me and said:

"Dad, this is AMAZING. I've got goosebumps"

[Russy, have you read the Sylvie Simmons (very, VERY authorised...almost collaborative, almost auto-)biography?]

[Woffy]

And, yes, the Verve smashed it.

Better than Haigh Hall...which was effectively the 'Nick McCabe Show'.

Leonard was like a gold-plated, diamond-studded tenderiser to the Verve's unexpected filet mignon that day.

[incident]

That Cohen set remains one of the best things I've ever seen. Not just at Glastonbury, anywhere. Never felt such a feeling of love, respect, serenity even reverence amongst a crowd of that size before or since.

I think part of it was that so few people saw it coming - I suspect a lot of people wanted to see him out of respect, almost to tick him off their list - but the man hadn't toured for 15 years so expectations weren't that high. Hell apparently he wasn't even supposed to be on the Pyramid, at one point he was pencilled in for the JazzWorld but in one of the best decisions ever got bumped up to the Pyramid.

The only thing even arguably wrong with it was that he wouldn't let the BBC record it so all we've got is low grade youtube videos.. But maybe even that was a good thing.

[klipper]

2008 seems like a great year in the sense that not much was expected of any of the headliners, particularly Jay-Z who a lot of people (*cough* Noel *cough*) thought was wrong for the festival and would go down awfully, and both The Verve and Jay-Z absolutely smashed it (based on online videos/what people say on here), although I imagine KOL were relatively mundane. Shame I was 11 years old at the time and probably didn't even know what glasto was.

Could we see a similar situation in terms of low expectation and awesome reality in 2015 if kanye and taylor are booked? (I probably won't be at Taylor though, but I appreciate she's got some tunes).

[michael eavis' beard]

KoL were actually pretty decent. Cohen was magical. Verve were great. And Massive Attack played an absolute blinder on the Other Stage!

[Badlands]

I'll always have fond memories of 08, Jay aced it imo. Verve were a great end and 2 hours of Shlomo on the Park was a cracking way to spend Saturday afternoon.

[klipper]

KoL were actually pretty decent. Cohen was magical. Verve were great. And Massive Attack played an absolute blinder on the Other Stage!

Hearing about past Glastos makes me feel oddly gutted that I missed out on them, but also makes me realise how many great glastos I'll have ahead of me.

Its weird, I haven't been to this festival yet, but my few months on this forum have already made me fall in love with it...

[willutalk]

It's getting to the point where I don't really care what happens headliner wise, well to an extent anyway. We've got Foo Fighters, one of the biggest Rock bands out there, and they are rock very much to my flavour.

[General Lee]

KoL were actually pretty decent. Cohen was magical. Verve were great. And Massive Attack played an absolute blinder on the Other Stage!

Ha, different strokes and all but I thought KOL were really boring, I didn't see Cohen, The Verve, I used to love were decent enough and Massive Attack (I only really like Mezzanine) I found depressing. That year did have great sets by Elbow and Neon Neon though

[Wooderson]

KoL were actually pretty decent. Cohen was magical. Verve were great. And Massive Attack played an absolute blinder on the Other Stage!

Yes! KoL -were- decent

West Holts was super that year.

[FloorFiller]

Glastonbury got KOL headlining at just the right time - before it all went so wrong. would've loved to have seen them that year

[cdm22]

Ha, different strokes and all but I thought KOL were really boring

Yep, this! They were so dull that they are the only band at Glastonbury I have ever walked away from due to boredom!

[willutalk]

If Kings of Leon beefed things up a bit, got a bit heavier they'd be worth a listen to, but they seem to build up to nothing really.

[Gucci Piggy]

KOL were so sick back then

[russycarps]

I saw Jimmy cliff on the Friday, he was ace. Though I was overcome by paranoia I seem to recall.

Jay z was the worst thing I've ever seen!

[WS_Jack_III]

Glastonbury got KOL headlining at just the right time - before it all went so wrong. would've loved to have seen them that year

totally agree with this. I was pleasantly surprised when i went to see them last summer though. i had 4 years of moaning about the direction they had gone but when i saw them in Newcastle they played lots of their older stuff again.

[Festiboi69]

KoL pre-only by the night (is that what its called?) Were great, although theres is some good tunes on there.

[WS_Jack_III]

KoL pre-only by the night (is that what its called?) Were great, although theres is some good tunes on there.

yeah Only By The Night is half an album worth of good tracks. Come Around Sun Down was god awful. Mechanical Bull was a great return to form. Edited March 8, 2015 by III

[Guest]

I saw Jimmy cliff on the Friday, he was ace. Though I was overcome by paranoia I seem to recall.

Jay z was the worst thing I've ever seen!

Hang on, I like Jay-Z, but I still have to ask what the fuck you were playing at watching him, Massive Attack were on the Other.

[dentalplan]

Hang on, I like Jay-Z, but I still have to ask what the fuck you were playing at watching him, Massive Attack were on the Other.

Russy seems to put more effort into disliking acts than most, which is pretty commendable actually.

[Icewulf]

Russy seems to put more effort into disliking acts than most, which is pretty commendable actually.

You could never say that Russy doesn't give good hate.

[hjglasto]

Foo Fighters

Florence + The Machine

Kanye West

Taylor Swift

Blur

Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds

Please.

[Rose-Colored Boy]

Foo Fighters

Florence + The Machine

Kanye West

Taylor Swift

Blur

Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds

Please.

No can do, TS has her BST date on the Saturday.

[Guest]

Kanye West

Taylor Swift

Blur

Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds

I like that there's a theme of headliners having previously had big publicity-baiting beefs with the subs, and they're all pally now. Glastonbury Festival Of Contemporary Performing Arts 2015: The "let's all get along" edition.