2021 Headliners

[Cream Soda]

1 minute ago, Matt42 said:

@Cream Soda I don’t quite know what you’re asking but I definitely see it in terms of headliner discussions. I do think most of it is that the Glasto Chat crowd just dislike rap, but that’s another thing. 
 

I do find that hip hop bookings have to explain themselves on lineups a bit more than any other bookings though. Like I have to actually pitch to people why they should even mentally allow Kendrick or Stormzy to be on the pyramid stage. However mid ranged U.K. bands who haven’t had a hit single in years can headline no questions asked because they channel that white working class british spirit.

I was just asking whether you thought your own comment about Drake not knowing about Glastonbury could be an example of the behaviour you highlighted (unconscious racism/white supremacy).  I'm not saying I thought it was, but someone else did mention it so I was wondering if you would agree with that or not.

[Mattymooz]

Just now, Matt42 said:

In my circles the crux of the Taylor swift criticism was from people who’ve never explored her beyond we are never getting back together and look what you made me do.

If someone brings up those two songs and her past relationships as a reason why she’s “shit” you know that person doesn’t really know much about her at all. It’s a pointless discussion.

Imagine if I was here to say that Radiohead are a run of the mill English rock band and the only basis I have for that criticism is Creep.

Yep, then McCartney had the whole "he's too old/ he's past it / did you see his olympics performance?" comments and Kendrick had "rap doesn't belong at glasto / maybe he should headline the other / but his R&L set was really disappointing"

[CaledonianGonzo]

14 minutes ago, Matt42 said:

Yeah the smiths fucking suck

Will you stop going on about Stephen Patrick Morrissey, Lynn - you're never going to meet him. 

[jparx]

14 minutes ago, FloorFiller said:

I won't deal with it - Billie ain't headlining next year. There's a 0% chance of that happening.

I doubt the festival would've announced Mumfords as a secret set for this year if there was any chance of them being a backup headliner next. That booking was as good of an indicator as any that they're no longer seen as a viable headliner, friends of the festival or not.

I feel like The Strokes can just be written off entirely these days. It hasn't happened their entire career and they're just not so big of a deal these day that Glastonbury would bother imo.  

RHCP probably just gonna stick to alternating between their own shows and R/L, and maybe even Download some day but even that seems like a stretch.

Still think Madonna is in ongoing talks for a future festival. I doubt it was next year, but who knows... I know it can be looked at in a lot of ways, but Emily following her and going to her show/bigging it up on social media reads to me as a testing the water kind of thing. I'd be shocked if talks weren't happening there, even if they have proven to be fruitless.

Elton's probably one we can write off now. Doing his final tour, wasn't on this years lineup. Outside of him popping up for one last hurrah on the Pyramid, it seems like it's not happening. 

Okay so I'll relent on Billie for the purpose of this. You think below are the only viable options from the list?

Kendrick

McCartney

Swift

Arctic Monkeys

The 1975

Lady Gaga

Anyone missing?

If be VERY happy with four of those six names, so hopefully that's the list we're looking at since I'm guaranteed one mega headliner.

[CaledonianGonzo]

3 minutes ago, jparx said:

Anyone missing?

[FloorFiller]

1 minute ago, jparx said:

Okay so I'll relent on Billie for the purpose of this. You think below are the only viable options from the list?

Kendrick

McCartney

Swift

Arctic Monkeys

The 1975

Lady Gaga

Anyone missing?

If be VERY happy with four of those six names, so hopefully that's the list we're looking at since I'm guaranteed one mega headliner.

That's who I'm seeing for next year, yeah. Ideally it'd be 2020's three for next year and the other three for 2022, but who knows what's going on behind the scenes. The 1975 in for Kendrick and/or Gaga in for Taylor seems like a pretty fair enough switcheroo if that's where we end up, and after Stella's comments last week I think McCartney is probably back in, along with it just making sense to me that he'd rearrange it as more than anybody else it's a now or never for him.

[jparx]

3 minutes ago, CaledonianGonzo said:

Christ.

Well, thankfully based on Emily's "two haven't headlined before" re 2021, it's unlikely both them AND Arctics are in the mix, unless one of them gets drafted in as a late replacement? 

[Field of Avalon]

29 minutes ago, FloorFiller said:

I won't deal with it - Billie ain't headlining next year. There's a 0% chance of that happening.

I doubt the festival would've announced Mumfords as a secret set for this year if there was any chance of them being a backup headliner next. That booking was as good of an indicator as any that they're no longer seen as a viable headliner, friends of the festival or not.

I feel like The Strokes can just be written off entirely these days. It hasn't happened their entire career and they're just not so big of a deal these day that Glastonbury would bother imo.  

RHCP probably just gonna stick to alternating between their own shows and R/L, and maybe even Download some day but even that seems like a stretch.

Still think Madonna is in ongoing talks for a future festival. I doubt it was next year, but who knows... I know it can be looked at in a lot of ways, but Emily following her and going to her show/bigging it up on social media reads to me as a testing the water kind of thing. I'd be shocked if talks weren't happening there, even if they have proven to be fruitless.

Elton's probably one we can write off now. Doing his final tour, wasn't on this years lineup. Outside of him popping up for one last hurrah on the Pyramid, it seems like it's not happening. 

Although not a massive fan I don’t think you can rule out Mumford and Sons not to headline again just because they were booked to play a secret set this year. After all The Killers played a secret set  in 2017 and were back headlining last year. 

Edited July 3, 2020 by Field of Avalon

[FloorFiller]

1 minute ago, Field of Avalon said:

Although not a massive fan I don’t think you can rule out Mumford and Sons not to headline again just because they were booked to play a secret set this year. After all The Killers played a secret  in 2017 and were back headlining last year. 

I'm probably stupid to rule out any past headliner now after 2019 threw a massive curveball and proved that even Glastonbury isn't susceptible to having very few options available, but Mumfords is one I really don't see happening again. They headlined on a wave of worldwide hype but it's been a steady decline for them since. They're probably gonna stay at their current arena headlining level for a while, but headlining Glastonbury again seems a way off now.

[Field of Avalon]

1 minute ago, FloorFiller said:

I'm probably stupid to rule out any past headliner now after 2019 threw a massive curveball and proved that even Glastonbury isn't susceptible to having very few options available, but Mumfords is one I really don't see happening again. They headlined on a wave of worldwide hype but it's been a steady decline for them since. They're probably gonna stay at their current arena headlining level for a while, but headlining Glastonbury again seems a way off now.

Guaranteed 2022 headliner then 😂😂

[Cream Soda]

39 minutes ago, Mattymooz said:

I would say she was pretty easily the best received booking out of the 3 this year on here and on my timeline (and any Glasto booking is going to get a large amount of discussion revolving around them anyway).

Seems it was a mixed reaction on here:

[FloorFiller]

2 minutes ago, Cream Soda said:

Seems it was a mixed reaction on here:

Think it was more the people who were up for it were continuously very vocal about their excitement and the people who weren't know better than to moan so just kept quiet once it was set in stone.

[Deaf Nobby Burton]

1 hour ago, jparx said:

Drake is unequivocally a headliner if he does the festival, i just don't think he ever will. Frankly I don't think he's worth the amount he'd be demanding. He's an act that I'm sure would have a big crowd at the festival if he did play, but equally I don't hear anyone clamouring for him to do it. If you polled all those with Glastonbury registrations on who they want to headline, I doubt Drake would enter the top 20 or even 30 to be honest.

Edit: to clarify here - I'm not saying they should only book headliners that those people want or else we'd clearly end up with RHCP every year and we wouldn't have had the likes of Jay-Z breaking down barriers, there's just a trade off between going all out and offering way above the usual price for someone who isn't particularly being clamoured for. Stones were worth it, Prince would have been worth it, not sure Drake would be.

If he accepts a standard headliner fee then sure, go for it. I just don't think he's entered their thinking when they're drafting up potential headliners.

Yes completely agree with this. He’s easily big enough, he’s about as big as it gets in fact. But he isn’t worth spending over the odds for. I’ve no doubt that he knows all about Glastonbury but as far as I’m aware he hasn’t shown any interest in playing it. He’s not worth booking for the sake of it just because he’s a huge act, he would’ve needed to have shown some interest in playing and a willingness to do it for the lower fee. It’s not like him headlining would be groundbreaking in the way it was when Jay-z or stormzy did it so there wouldn’t be any point pursuing him from that point of view. Glastonbury don’t need to shell out big bucks to get popular headliners to sell tickets, it’s the exact opposite hence why it would be down to him if he ever played it. 

[Mouseboy11]

Not hugely keen on Taylor but yeah she was a great headliner choice. I'd have probably ended up watching her as Sunday night was looking like slim pickings headliner wise.

[Matt42]

1 hour ago, Cream Soda said:

I was just asking whether you thought your own comment about Drake not knowing about Glastonbury could be an example of the behaviour you highlighted (unconscious racism/white supremacy).  I'm not saying I thought it was, but someone else did mention it so I was wondering if you would agree with that or not.

No idea what you’re on about here chum. My point about Drake not really knowing about Glastonbury is because he’s a mega star and extremely successful. He’s not exactly a grassroots artist which has needed festivals to give his career a kickstart. He’s done that pretty well on his own.

[jyoung]

1 hour ago, Mattymooz said:

I still think rap gets far too much shit than it deserves compared to other genres, especially when speaking about Glasto headliners (most likely because most people still view it as "black people music")

I completely agree, there is a refusal to even acknowledge it let alone celebrate its success and quite frankly that is a bias rooted in prejudice. I am with you on this.

[Cream Soda]

1 minute ago, Matt42 said:

No idea what you’re on about here chum. My point about Drake not really knowing about Glastonbury is because he’s a mega star and extremely successful. He’s not exactly a grassroots artist which has needed festivals to give his career a kickstart. He’s done that pretty well on his own.

Like I said, it wasn't me that called out your comment, it was someone else.  I was just wondering if you thought they had a point or not.

I personally don't think either saying Drake shouldn't headline Glastonbury or saying he might not have heard of it are necessarily racist comments.  I just find it interesting that I think neither are, you think one could be but not the other and someone else thinks both could be.  Just goes to show what a minefield this whole topic is.

[jyoung]

37 minutes ago, FloorFiller said:

Think it was more the people who were up for it were continuously very vocal about their excitement

That's my efests gang.

[K2SO]

10 hours ago, Mattymooz said:

Yeah nah you cant seriously be believing that arguably the biggest act in the world right now would only be a sub/third down unless your either really ignorant to what is popular or a lil racist...

 

10 hours ago, Matt42 said:

 

Also on this point as I’ve seen @Mattymooz is getting downvoted for this. While I don’t think this post was intended to be racist it can definitely come across that way. You’ve mentioned two of the largest artists in the hip hop scene right now and belittled their credentials to headline a major festival, which both have done way before being booked / being discussed to headline Glastonbury. With what is going on at the moment I think it’s important to highlight how white supremacy embeds itself within modern discourse, as I see a lot of commentary which unconsciously expresses this. It reads like you’re saying black art can achieve great things but can never be considered equal to white art on the world stage. Or that black art has to “do more” to be considered worthy.

Just food for thought.

Just to be clear (maybe I wasn't clear enough in my original post), that I wasn't disputing the popularity of Drake to the public as a whole, but more as how people would perceive booking him as a headliner for Glastonbury. I would be genuinely shocked if he did, as he doesn't seem like a Glastonbury headliner. Does that make sense?

As for Kendrick, I genuinely didn't know he was that big. His booking reminded me of the Arcade Fire booking. The majority of people I spoke to that aren't Glasto-goers had no idea who they were.

I don't know if that makes what I originally said any clearer, but I hope it does. Not so much one of hate or anything, but more of confusion 😂

[K2SO]

1 hour ago, Mattymooz said:

Personally, given recent events, I'm more inclined to call it out when I see it. I'm not trying to say @K2SO is a big old racist by any means, but that comment did come across as though it was loaded with more of a racial bias to me. Trying to normalise this kinda stuff is important imo, I still think rap gets far too much shit than it deserves compared to other genres, especially when speaking about Glasto headliners (most likely because most people still view it as "black people music")

Also, @Mattymooz hope you saw my last post just above. I understand why anyone might have perceived a slight racist undertone from the first post. After all, all anyone really knows of myself (or anyone else on this forum, for that matter), are the posts I make on here, and nothing about who I am as a person outside of this bubble.

I just want to re-iterate that that wasn't my intention at all, and I should have been clearer in saying that my point about Drake is that I thought it wouldn't go down well with 'the people' as a headliner, but I thought they'd be very excited about it if he was literally anywhere else on the lineup. Kendrick, however, I had no idea he was so big. Maybe it was just blind ignorance, because I didn't know any of his songs. Since his announcement, I tried listening to him a bit, but it just didn't click for me.

Just a final note, I'd like to think that I'm not racist, but I think that everyone on the planet, especially at the moment, has something to learn about racism and how they can do their bit to not be a part of the problem. I know I personally don't have any prejudice against anyone, and I only judge people based on their behaviour as a human being... But obviously being a white guy, I have rarely experienced being a victim of racial abuse, and naturally won't have a complete understanding of how the way things are said can be taken in a bad way, even if it is unintentional, such as my post was, in a lack of detail in explaining my opinion. Thanks for pointing it out and helping me understand a little better so I can hopefully be clearer in future.

[jparx]

23 minutes ago, K2SO said:

 

Just to be clear (maybe I wasn't clear enough in my original post), that I wasn't disputing the popularity of Drake to the public as a whole, but more as how people would perceive booking him as a headliner for Glastonbury. I would be genuinely shocked if he did, as he doesn't seem like a Glastonbury headliner. Does that make sense?

As for Kendrick, I genuinely didn't know he was that big. His booking reminded me of the Arcade Fire booking. The majority of people I spoke to that aren't Glasto-goers had no idea who they were.

I don't know if that makes what I originally said any clearer, but I hope it does. Not so much one of hate or anything, but more of confusion 😂

I certainly get that. I do think that now more than ever an act can become enormous but still be an unknown to a decent chunk of the population. Dunno if it's a lack of things like TotP, or the decline of radio and rise of streaming services where you can listen to exactly the music you want to, but there does seem to be an attitude now more than ever of "who? never heard of 'em" around these big acts. If you just listen to 6 Music and your own playlists on Spotify, why would you be exposed to Drake, for example.  There are plenty of people going through life simply not being exposed to stuff outside of their comfort zone and if you're not regularly on social media and YouTube, you can quite easily miss a lot of pop culture.

But, ultimately, that doesn't particularly matter when it comes to Glastonbury headliners. It's a festival of "contemporary performing arts" after all. An act like Kendrick, for example, is far from a household name but he has enough of a following and critical acclaim to headline Glastonbury quite easily. And if they booked Drake, it obviously wouldn't be to appeal to a large chunk of the (probably) older audience who want to see indie/rock bands at Glastonbury, but again he's comfortably a big enough star to do it regardless. I think nowadays you just have to accept that there are plenty of huge acts that you probably won't be up to speed with if you're in your own bubble.

[hoils]

Re. Reg; I reckon he was booked for a final hurrah on the Pyramid in 2021. Looks like his touring plans will be pushed back a year, meaning he headlines in 2022 before retiring from touring. Just a hunch. 

[jparx]

5 minutes ago, hoils said:

Re. Reg; I reckon he was booked for a final hurrah on the Pyramid in 2021. Looks like his touring plans will be pushed back a year, meaning he headlines in 2022 before retiring from touring. Just a hunch. 

I do think there's a chance he was booked for 2021 and it's something that seems plausible to have been pencilled in quite a way in advance. He's just in the Fleetwood camp for me - i'll believe it when he walks out on the Pyramid.

[Matt42]

The thing with Arcade Fire though is being a bit of an invisible presence in pop culture is kinda their stick. Win butler would always say that they would prefer their music was handed down by big brothers to younger brothers than people hearing it on the radio.

[Deaf Nobby Burton]

1 hour ago, hoils said:

Re. Reg; I reckon he was booked for a final hurrah on the Pyramid in 2021. Looks like his touring plans will be pushed back a year, meaning he headlines in 2022 before retiring from touring. Just a hunch. 

Wasn’t he on his farewell tour more recently? I remember some annoying mates going on about it saying it will be the last ever chance to see him. Until his next tour that is.