2019 Headliners

[mufcok]

8 minutes ago, chemica said:

Very odd looking at the latest bookies prices here. Stormzy and Fleetwood Mac at 1/3?????? Macca is 5/4. 

I suspect that's just where the money is going rather than any rumours/info. It won't take much to change a market like this

[dentalplan]

15 minutes ago, The Red Telephone said:

Artisitc merits aside, and I don’t particularly like this song, has there ever been such a gaping difference in the quality of singing from one half of a song to the other? 

@CaledonianGonzo where’s that Tina x Cher collab at?

[thisisthesam]

I genuinely can't see Stormzy headlining the pyramid stage. If so, I'll be elsewhere.

Seen him at Brixton and he was great but I think there's so many more deserving acts at this current time. 

Another couple of albums and if still great, go for it!

[eFestivals]

3 minutes ago, mufcok said:

I suspect that's just where the money is going rather than any rumours/info. It won't take much to change a market like this

if anyone really knew, too much money would go on it and they'd kill off betting on that act - exactly as happened when I suggested people put their money on Kasabian a few years back (which more than paid for my own ticket  ).

[mufcok]

2 minutes ago, eFestivals said:

if anyone really knew, too much money would go on it and they'd kill off betting on that act - exactly as happened when I suggested people put their money on Kasabian a few years back (which more than paid for my own ticket  ).

Do shout if you feel there's one where we should be piling money on this time.. especially if it's over evens 

[ghostdancer1]

1 hour ago, Gnomicide said:

The much maligned (on these boards at least) Noel Gallagher summed it up best when being interviewed on telly after playing T in The Park a few years back. "It's a festival. Play the hits and piss off".

FAO: The National

 

e: although it's not like they have hits really. "play some songs that even your fans know and piss off"

Edited October 11, 2018 by ghostdancer1

[The Nal]

Depeche Mode were fantastic at Mad Cool. I'm not a huge fan particularly but was very impressed. Great fun. 

[Zoo Music Girl]

3 hours ago, The Red Telephone said:

For my own entertainment (I am an extremely sad man) I decided to have a look at the festival headliners over the past few years and see if any trends/ patterns emerge with the type of acts booked….even though I know there is no pattern with regards to announcements, obviously (AHTT)

I do not profess to be an expert on statistics (far from it) and I’m sure most other people can arrange what I’ve done into pretty spreadsheets and tables! I can’t and do not have the inclination to learn how to do so at the moment. I’ve double-checked for any errors, so apologies if there are any remaining.

Decided to look at the past 3 decades, starting at 1990. I’ll probably go back at add the other 20 years at some point, but hopefully it will be of interest to someone…saying that, there’s someone else who has probably done a far more professional job of doing this somewhere else on the web!

But hey….

 

HEADLINERS

Going from Wikipedia/ memory, I’m working from this:

1990 – The Cure (I)/ Happy Mondays (I)/ Sinead O’Connor (P)

1992 – Carter USM (I)/ Shakespeare’s Sister (P)/ Youssou N’Dour (W)

1993 – The Black Crowes (R) / Christy Moore (F) / Lenny Kravitz (R)

1994 – The Levellers (I) / Elvis Costello (I) / Peter Gabriel (P)

1995 – Oasis (I) / Pulp* (I)/ The Cure (I)

1997- Radiohead (I) / The Prodigy (D) / Ash* (I)

1998 – Primal Scream (I)/ Blur (I)/ Pulp (I)

1999- REM (I) / Manic Street Preachers (I) / Skunk Anansie (R)

2000 – David Bowie (P) / Travis (I) / The Chemical Brothers (D)

2002 – Coldplay (I) / The Stereophonics (I) / Rod Stewart (P)

2003 – REM (I) / Radiohead (I) / Moby (D)

2004 – Paul McCartney (P) / Oasis (I) / Muse (I)

2005 – The White Stripes (I) / Coldplay (I) / Basement Jaxx (D)

2007 – Arctic Monkeys (I) / The Killers (I) / The Who (R)

2008 – Kings of Leon (I) / Jay-Z (H) / The Verve (I)

2009 – Neil Young (R) / Bruce Springsteen (P) / Blur (I)

2010 –Gorrilaz* (P) / Muse (I) / Stevie Wonder (RB)

2011 – U2 (P) / Coldplay (I) / Beyoncé (RB)

2013- Arctic Monkeys (I) / The Rolling Stones (R) / Mumford and Sons (I)

2014- Arcade Fire (I) / Metallica (R) / Kasabian (I)

2015 – Florence and the Machine* (P) / Kayne West (H) / The Who (R)

2016 – Muse (I) / Adele (P) / Coldplay (I)

2017 – Radiohead (I) / Foo Fighters (R) / Ed Sheeran (P)

 

*Not originally booked as headliners, replacements for The Stone Roses, Steve Winwood, U2 and Foo Fighters respectively

 

MUSICAL GENRE

I have used the following descriptions of genres (sure some will disagree with some of the categorisation of certain acts!)

Indie (I) Pop (P) Rock (R) Dance (D) Hip Hop/ Rap (H) R n B (RB) Folk (F) World (W)

 

In the 1990s – 62% of the headliners were an indie act, 13% each for pop and rock, and 4% each for folk, world and dance

2000s – 57% for indie bands, 13% each for dance, rock, pop and 4% for rap

This decade so far – 43% are indie bands, 23% rock, 19% pop, 10% RnB and 5% rap

 

• There has been a slight downturn in the number of indie acts this decade and a rise in the number of pop acts.
• The 1990s were the indiest decade.
• Folk and world music have not featured since 1993.
• There has only been one year when an indie act hasn’t headlined: 2015
• 1995 and 1998 both featured all indie headliners, the only years to do so.
• There have been 7 instances of the headliners being from 3 different musical genres, including last year.
• A dance act have not headlined since Basement Jaxx in 2005.
• Only 2 rap headliners in the history of the festival

 

REPEAT HEADLINERS

The following acts have been headliners before:

The Cure (90), Elvis Costello/ Peter Gabriel (94), The Cure (95), Pulp (98), David Bowie (00), REM/ Radiohead (03), Oasis (04), Coldplay (05), Blur (09), Muse (10), Coldplay (11), Arctic Monkeys (13), The Who (15), Muse/ Coldplay (16), Radiohead (17)

• In the 1990s: There were 5 repeat headliners
• 2000s: 6
• 2010s: 7 (likely to increase with rumoured headliners for 2019 – The Cure will match Coldplay’s 4 headline slots if they play)

There have been no instances of 3 returning headliners in the same year. (Important to note for the idenity of our remaining headliner - assuming The Cure and Macca are true)

 

GENDER/ ETHNIC DIVERSITY

In the 1990s, 3 acts (or bands with female members) graced the stage as headliners or in bands (12%)

In the 2000s this was down to only one! Meg from the White Stripes (4%)

In his decade, we have reached 4 acts with a festival to go (19%)

 

In the 1990s, 4 acts with a person of colour headlined the Pyramid (17%)

In the 2000s this was down to one! Jay-Z (4%)

In this decade, we have reached 3 with one to go (12%)

 

• The 2000s were the Whitest/ Male decade of the past 3.
• This decade has seen a rise in female representation since the 1990s.
• The 1990s is, so far, the most ethnically diverse (likely to stay that way with the rumoured headliners for 2019)
• There have been 15 male solo headliners since 1990 and 3 female...and a 21-year gap between Sinead O'Connor and Beyonce
• One all-female duo/ group has headlined since 1990 – Shakespeare’s Sister.

 

NATIONALITY

In the 1990s -18 British acts headlined (75%), 3 came from the USA, 2 from Ireland and one from Senegal.

In the 2000s – There were 16 British headliners (66%) and 8 from the USA.

In the 2010s – so far we have had 14 British headliners (66%), 5 from the USA and one each from Ireland and Canada.

• Youssou N’Dour and Arcade Fire are the only acts from outside of Britain, Ireland and the USA to have headlined since 1990.
• The longest gap between non-British acts is between 1993 (Lenny Kravitz) and 1999 (REM)
• There have been 9 occassions where the headliners have all been British (4 years in a row from 94-98)
• The last time two all-British headliners were in successive years was 2000 and 2002.

 

This is some sterling work. I first came to Efests for the rumours but it's shit like this that makes me keep coming back.

[Gucci Piggy]

2 hours ago, Woffy said:

Mate at work went to IOW primarily to see DM as he's a massive fan.

Was massively let down.

Said they didn't have a clue how to play a festival set / didn't play a greatest hits with just a few newies slipped in.

Carry on...

I've seen someone say the same on here before (may have been you) and tbf I watched the footage of their IOW set on Sky Arts (think they only showed like two songs, mind) and thought it sounded a bit shit. After that I wasn't too pumped for seeing them at Mad Cool.

However, they were fucking great. Way better than when I saw them in 2013 at Rock Werchter and way better than they looked on TV at IOW.

I don't get the complaints about them not playing the hits. They played Just Can't Get Enough, Personal Jesus and Enjoy the Silence, alongside a lot of what seem to me to be their biggest other songs (although I wasn't around when they were in their heyday so maybe I'm wrong about that - but I'm pretty sure they played a large amount from the Greatest Hits album which I first got into them via).

They played two songs from their new album, one of which is a banger anyway, so it's not like some acts who just fill their set with new songs at the expense of what people want to hear.

[Mouseboy11]

Depeche Mode have ‘hits’?

[CaledonianGonzo]

???  

Yup - I'm not even a fan and I could probably name about a dozen

[Bisque]

They were good at Mad Cool and I barely know any of their songs. I was dancing around like Carl Pilkington to Just Can't Get Enough all week.

[henry bear]

17 minutes ago, Mouseboy11 said:

Depeche Mode have ‘hits’?

They had loads of (largely forgettable) hits in the 80’s - they were all over TOTP, not that I was ever a fan. 

[Mouseboy11]

2 minutes ago, henry bear said:

They had loads of (largely forgettable) hits in the 80’s - they were all over TOTP, not that I was ever a fan. 

I was only joking anyway 

Aren't they often touted as one of the biggest bands to never have a number one?

[Stokesy10]

Gaga is who Madonna tried to be. 

[CaledonianGonzo]

That almost makes sense

[dentalplan]

Did Evita contribute to Madonna's late-90's comeback?

[CaledonianGonzo]

4 minutes ago, dentalplan said:

Did Evita contribute to Madonna's late-90's comeback?

Got her an Oscar for Best Song

[dentalplan]

Just now, CaledonianGonzo said:

Got her an Oscar for Best Song

Oh sure but I mean was it seen as a catalyst for an upswing for Madonna?

I said a few weeks ago in response to suggestion Lady Gaga 'failing to be the new Madonna' that Madge's career has been full of peaks and troughs and getting through them is what made her Madonna, and @Quark expanded on it really well and suggested that Artpop/Joanne were Germanotta's equivalent of Erotica/Bedtime Stories era. Would be major spooky similar if they both bounced back on film roles too.

[CaledonianGonzo]

In that case the Ray of Light album was definitely a bigger factor.

[Woffy]

Bill Orbit helped pull that one out of the bag. 

Then the other dude for COAD.

And him that done the song in Snatch during the hare coursing.

Madge often had a good eye/ear for a collaborator / co-writer. 

Edited October 11, 2018 by Woffy

[dentalplan]

2 minutes ago, CaledonianGonzo said:

In that case the Ray of Light album was definitely a bigger factor.

Fair enough. Eyes turn to this zeitgeit-grabbing Gaga dance-pop album that @Mattymooz keeps banging on about.

[snailcheeks]

So how sure are we on arctics cure and Paul mc? Sounds like arctics are least likely of the three 

[RarerThanDandyB]

6 minutes ago, snailcheeks said:

So how sure are we on arctics cure and Paul mc? Sounds like arctics are least likely of the three 

I reckon Arctics are very likely. Don’t think it could be anyone else realistically and they won’t miss the chance to have them. I think it’ll be that three contrary to others.

[Mattymooz]

10 minutes ago, dentalplan said:

Fair enough. Eyes turn to this zeitgeit-grabbing Gaga dance-pop album that @Mattymooz keeps banging on about.

Definitely feels as though it is make or break for her at this point. Cheek To Cheek and Joanne underperforming is kinda acceptable as they were less-mainstream stuff (Jazz and Country respectively) but if she is going back to electronic/electro pop stuff then there is no excuse for another bad album.

Guess she can become an actor now though if it does do poorly