2022 Headliners

[Hugh Jass]

2 minutes ago, CaledonianGonzo said:

If the only booking criteria was to bag the world's biggest acts he'd be near the top of the shortlist.

 

 

Drake, 1D and BTS.

What a year that would have been.

[CaledonianGonzo]

The 3 main criteria for a headliner would be:

Popularity

Quality

Credibility 

and the ideal act sits somewhere in the middle of the Venn diagram.

The issue is that the latter two are subjective.

 

[henry bear]

2 minutes ago, CaledonianGonzo said:

The 3 main criteria for a headliner would be:

Popularity

Quality

Credibility 

and the ideal act sits somewhere in the middle of the Venn diagram.

The issue is that the latter two are subjective.

 

Ain’t that the truth

 

[CaledonianGonzo]

Having an existing relationship with the festival also factors in.

[dentalplan]

I don't get where quality comes into it at all. It's just something people say when they don't want an act to headline.

[CaledonianGonzo]

From Emily and Nick's point of view they probably have a certain standard that they want to maintain.

[jparx]

4 minutes ago, CaledonianGonzo said:

From Emily and Nick's point of view they probably have a certain standard that they want to maintain.

Aye, they clearly do or else there’s all sorts of people who they’d have gone for (inc. examples above, see also Take That, Spice Girls etc). Sheeran is the closest to a truly pants headliner whose popularity trumped quality.

[CaledonianGonzo]

Did he ever headline any other big festivals?

[Matt42]

14 minutes ago, dentalplan said:

I don't get where quality comes into it at all. It's just something people say when they don't want an act to headline.

^^^

 

Lady Gaga not headlining makes no sense to me. Only way I can rationalise it is that she’s not done many festivals, and coachella was a step in job for Beyoncé.  Maybe she just doesn’t like festivals because she wants to micromanage her own shows?

Edited June 2, 2021 by Matt42

[dentalplan]

8 minutes ago, jparx said:

Aye, they clearly do or else there’s all sorts of people who they’d have gone for (inc. examples above, see also Take That, Spice Girls etc). Sheeran is the closest to a truly pants headliner whose popularity trumped quality.

Isn't that what 'credibility' is supposed to mean in this conversation? Because I agree with that. Those acts don't have the credibility. Quality still doesn't come into it.

[Mattymooz]

47 minutes ago, Suprefan said:

: checks his Grammy wins and theyre all for Rap songs or albums :

 

🤔

 

 

other than that. Present the argument on how a rapper is a generic pop star due to how many albums they sell or how much theyre streamed.

 

That's more because the Grammy's are racist rather than anything else, Drake even boycotted the Grammy's because he was fed up of repeatedly getting out in the rap category:

https://www.billboard.com/articles/columns/hip-hop/7694499/drake-calls-grammy-wins-hotline-bling-weird-beats-1-interview

And on the last point, Kendrick has actually never really charted that well on the singles side of things. Humble and All The Stars both made it to no. 5 but not higher. Maybe that's just me talking bs though ...

[CaledonianGonzo]

 

3 minutes ago, dentalplan said:

Isn't that what 'credibility' is supposed to mean in this conversation? Because I agree with that. Those acts don't have the credibility. Quality still doesn't come into it.

Acts like Taylor, Adele or ya boi Ed aren't massively credible. Even Gaga isn't especially- not in the way that someone like Kendrick or Stormzy are.

[jparx]

1 minute ago, dentalplan said:

Isn't that what 'credibility' is supposed to mean in this conversation? Because I agree with that. Those acts don't have the credibility. Quality still doesn't come into it.

They don’t have credibility because they’re pants. 

But nah, it’s just semantics really. You don’t really have credibility as a headliner without popularity either, so it’s not a perfect ven diagram.

[jparx]

Just now, CaledonianGonzo said:

 

Acts like Taylor, Adele or ya boi Ed aren't massively credible. Even Gaga isn't especially- not in the way that someone like Kendrick or Stormzy are.

I’d say Adele and Taylor in particular have massive credibility? Unless we’re using some other definition that’s more to do with capturing the zeitgeist 

[Matt42]

I guess the prestige factor is a big one too. Are they a big ‘get’ for the festival and is Glastonbury living up to its name by putting their name on the top of the lineup?

Acts like Adele, Kendrick Lamar, Lady Gaga, Taylor Swift, Paul McCartney, Ed Sheeran, Beyoncé, U2, The Rolling Stones, Foo Fighters, Radiohead etc while all being different acts live up to that title. Would other festivals give a leg and arm to secure them on their lineups? Definitely.

Ed is a massive artist even though we all despise him and he doesn’t headline many festivals anymore. After headlining Glastonbury I think his career has gone in the direction of stadiums / huge ticketed gigs or nothing. 

Adele is another one. Name another festival she will headline? Coachella is the only candidate and apparently they can’t get her.

Billie Eilish does fit this category already in my opinion. Lots of places would like her on top of their lineup. She’s now hitting a stage in her career where she’s going to be selective about what shows she does.

Edited June 2, 2021 by Matt42

[CaledonianGonzo]

Yeah- it's definitely pretty subjective.

[thewayiam]

41 minutes ago, CaledonianGonzo said:

Did he ever headline any other big festivals?

V Festival I think.

[Hugh Jass]

45 minutes ago, CaledonianGonzo said:

Did he ever headline any other big festivals?

Gaga? Don’t think she has in this country. 

[Matt42]

8 minutes ago, Hugh Jass said:

Gaga? Don’t think she has in this country. 

Other than big weekend. I don’t think this is a glasto problem I think it’s a festival problem. 

The only proper festival I think she’s done is Coachella, and as I said above that was as a step-in. Maybe she prefers stadiums etc when she can go high budget and micromanage the staging.

[incident]

Other big festivals, in this country at least, isn't a measure of any importance.

By my reckoning, unless I'm forgetting something obvious, there's only a handful of other big (by which I'll arbitrarily set at consistently selling 60k+ tickets) camping festivals in the UK - Download, Reading, Leeds, and Creamfields. Each of those has a very limited genres of acts that they're prepared to book - half the headliners Glastonbury has had in recent years wouldn't fit at any of them, and likewise most of the headliners those events are booking wouldn't top the Pyramid.

[Suprefan]

1 hour ago, Matt42 said:

I guess the prestige factor is a big one too. Are they a big ‘get’ for the festival and is Glastonbury living up to its name by putting their name on the top of the lineup?

Acts like Adele, Kendrick Lamar, Lady Gaga, Taylor Swift, Paul McCartney, Ed Sheeran, Beyoncé, U2, The Rolling Stones, Foo Fighters, Radiohead etc while all being different acts live up to that title. Would other festivals give a leg and arm to secure them on their lineups? Definitely.

Ed is a massive artist even though we all despise him and he doesn’t headline many festivals anymore. After headlining Glastonbury I think his career has gone in the direction of stadiums / huge ticketed gigs or nothing. 

Adele is another one. Name another festival she will headline? Coachella is the only candidate and apparently they can’t get her.

Billie Eilish does fit this category already in my opinion. Lots of places would like her on top of their lineup. She’s now hitting a stage in her career where she’s going to be selective about what shows she does.

Oh we’re getting Adele dont you worry. She didnt tour with AEG last time for nothing. Fits the criteria for not wanting to do a lot of live dates and a big paycheck on top of that.

[Suprefan]

1 hour ago, Matt42 said:

Other than big weekend. I don’t think this is a glasto problem I think it’s a festival problem. 

The only proper festival I think she’s done is Coachella, and as I said above that was as a step-in. Maybe she prefers stadiums etc when she can go high budget and micromanage the staging.

She did Lollapalooza at the end of her tour for The Fame in 2010. Still 100,000 people right there.

[Suprefan]

2 hours ago, CaledonianGonzo said:

Having an existing relationship with the festival also factors in.

So where did Jay Z come into that without it. It got the fest Beyonce and Kanye, though.

[nikkic]

9 minutes ago, Suprefan said:

So where did Jay Z come into that without it. It got the fest Beyonce and Kanye, though.

I always think Jay Z is the most important headliner of the modern era.

Was a ballsy move from Emily and allowed the festival to go in a different direction. 

Seems weird calling it ballsy now because he was the biggest rapper on the planet and critically acclaimed, but it really was a big move then. 

 

Edited June 2, 2021 by nikkic

[Zacko]

51 minutes ago, nikkic said:

I always think Jay Z is the most important headliner of the modern era.

Was a ballsy move from Emily and allowed the festival to go in a different direction. 

Seems weird calling it ballsy now because he was the biggest rapper on the planet and critically acclaimed, but it really was a big move then. 

 

I still get a sense of amazement watching that set back. Remember watching it on TV at the time and just feeling the intense feeling of "I need to go to this next year". 

Felt like lightning in a bottle and a proper cultural zeitgeist moment with all the Gallagher stuff leading up to it. 

Gaga is an interesting one, as she's played before, and by all accounts she got properly stuck in right? Shangs etc. So you do wonder whether she's just not been asked again.