Headliners 2023

[Guest]

Just now, henry bear said:

You judge the whole festival purely on how many female Pyramid headliners there are?

Oh no sorry I meant for me those 2 as headliners are better than the 3 they have announced this year. 

[rivalschools.price]

19 minutes ago, henry bear said:

You judge the whole festival purely on how many female Pyramid headliners there are?

The media will though.

 

Look at this week, only the headliners gender and ethnicity were mentioned, not the whole festival.

[fraybentos1]

Lizzo isn’t big enough to headline on any metric. She can’t even sell out standing tickets for her arena tour. 
 

Taylor or whoever clearly pulled out and they were left with a gap to fill. Lizzo is still playing, the festival would be mad to not get a massive band to headline above her. 

[DJL]

34 minutes ago, fraybentos1 said:

Lizzo isn’t big enough to headline on any metric. She can’t even sell out standing tickets for her arena tour. 
 

Taylor or whoever clearly pulled out and they were left with a gap to fill. Lizzo is still playing, the festival would be mad to not get a massive band to headline above her. 

Fair point about her arena sales, more monthly listens on spotify than GNR, though that's a flawed metric admittedly. It's quite subjective what makes a headliner but as has been said GNR + Lizzo is clearly stronger than Lizzo + another sub act (my personal preference would be to not have AM, then have Lizzo headline and add Pulp as sub but that's personal taste)

Edited March 4, 2023 by DJL

[clarkete]

49 minutes ago, fraybentos1 said:

Lizzo isn’t big enough to headline on any metric. 

“She could totally headline,” said Eavis, adding that the Pyramid stage often sees bigger crowds in the afternoon than at night. “Many of the artists could. But the headline slot had already been promised to someone else.”

[fraybentos1]

35 minutes ago, clarkete said:

“She could totally headline,” said Eavis, adding that the Pyramid stage often sees bigger crowds in the afternoon than at night. “Many of the artists could. But the headline slot had already been promised to someone else.”

She’s talking shite. If she could headline then she’d headline, not the gimmicky placement they gave her.

Also it makes no sense. If they say Swift dropped out then they obviously then went and looked for a replacement which was GnR. Lizzo was clearly available as she is playing so why did they look for a replacement for swift and not just make lizzo headliner? Cause she isn’t a headliner. 

52 minutes ago, DJL said:

Fair point about her arena sales, more monthly listens on spotify than GNR, though that's a flawed metric admittedly. It's quite subjective what makes a headliner but as has been said GNR + Lizzo is clearly stronger than Lizzo + another sub act (my personal preference would be to not have AM, then have Lizzo headline and add Pulp as sub but that's personal taste)

I cba looking but I’d imagine the likes of capaldi and lil nas x both do too, it’s barely relevant imo 

[fraybentos1]

She could totally headline even though she’s playing and we booked her to sub cause we don’t think she’s big enough to headline. It’s utter nonsense. Just say, we couldn’t book the female we wanted but there’s more next year and there’s plenty of balance in the lineup anyway. It’s patronising imo 

[MEGABOWL]

3 hours ago, Ozanne said:

I’m sure they do have diversity on their agenda but I just found it a bit odd that the organiser who can do something about it passes the responsibility onto the industry when there are female acts that could easily do it. 

If there isn’t a Female headliner available they can’t book one. Dua/Swift/Madonna/Rihanna/Gaga/Adele aren’t available, Flo would be a repeat, Paramore would be a dubious headliner and Lizzo and Lana aren’t there yet.

Meanwhile they’ve got three literal stadium acts wanting to do it for the reduced fee, two of which have never done it and probably won’t be available again. Of course they’re going to take it. As nice as it would be to bump up Female acts for the sake of it they’ve got tickets to sell at an increased price in a year of high inflation, a cost of living crisis, and hugely increased running costs.

They’re doing the right thing by emphasising the split across the line up as that will create the space for Female acts to naturally graduate to Headline status. In fact that’s all they’ve ever done, Emily has never made any promises about Female headliners and only last June said that some years there would be Female headliners. Yet she’s having to field criticism based on a non-existent promise and her words being misrepresented despite them doing way more than most festivals.

[MEGABOWL]

55 minutes ago, clarkete said:

“She could totally headline,” said Eavis, adding that the Pyramid stage often sees bigger crowds in the afternoon than at night. “Many of the artists could. But the headline slot had already been promised to someone else.”

She’s being nice. ‘Many of the artists could.’ In that case why aren’t they? Because they can’t. Not when there are acts available who are Headline status.

[CaledonianGonzo]

7 minutes ago, MEGABOWL said:

She’s being nice. ‘Many of the artists could.’ In that case why aren’t they? Because they can’t. Not when there are acts available who are Headline status.

Once again, exactamundo Fonzie

[CaledonianGonzo]

 

[CaledonianGonzo]

I mean I really d@bbed them down for booking The Killers to headline but I didn't try to construe it as a signifier of the end times.

[MEGABOWL]

1 minute ago, CaledonianGonzo said:

 

Great shout on that Lizzo remix. 5-year-old was bouncing round the kitchen

[MEGABOWL]

2 hours ago, fraybentos1 said:

Lizzo isn’t big enough to headline on any metric. She can’t even sell out standing tickets for her arena tour. 
 

Taylor or whoever clearly pulled out and they were left with a gap to fill. Lizzo is still playing, the festival would be mad to not get a massive band to headline above her. 

I’m stealing a line from @CaledonianGonzo but they could book

A) Lizzo

B) GNR

C) Both

 

Only one answer makes sense

[Guest]

38 minutes ago, MEGABOWL said:

If there isn’t a Female headliner available they can’t book one. Dua/Swift/Madonna/Rihanna/Gaga/Adele aren’t available, Flo would be a repeat, Paramore would be a dubious headliner and Lizzo and Lana aren’t there yet.

Meanwhile they’ve got three literal stadium acts wanting to do it for the reduced fee, two of which have never done it and probably won’t be available again. Of course they’re going to take it. As nice as it would be to bump up Female acts for the sake of it they’ve got tickets to sell at an increased price in a year of high inflation, a cost of living crisis, and hugely increased running costs.

They’re doing the right thing by emphasising the split across the line up as that will create the space for Female acts to naturally graduate to Headline status. In fact that’s all they’ve ever done, Emily has never made any promises about Female headliners and only last June said that some years there would be Female headliners. Yet she’s having to field criticism based on a non-existent promise and her words being misrepresented despite them doing way more than most festivals.

Flo would be a repeat but Artic Monkeys have headlines before and Flo only headline set was a substitute. Even still there’s plenty of female acts that could headline or they could take a risk on an act that isn’t massive.

I understand GF has done a lot for diversity but my original point was Emily essentially passing the blame onto the industry when they can book female headliners. The festival sells out in minutes anyway so they have the luxury of not having to worry too much about tickets being sold. It just seems a bit strange to me that’s all.

Edited March 4, 2023 by Ozanne

[clarkete]

1 hour ago, fraybentos1 said:

She’s talking shite. If she could headline then she’d headline, not the gimmicky placement they gave her.

For some reason I value her opinion on this matter above yours 😉

[Guest]

I realise this is more wishful thinking but Pink is touring with a new album out, she would’ve been an amazing headliner. I appreciate she’s probably very expensive to book though. 

[FloorFiller]

3 minutes ago, Ozanne said:

I realise this is more wishful thinking but Pink is touring with a new album out, she would’ve been an amazing headliner. I appreciate she’s probably very expensive to book though. 

I’ve seen Pink live and she’s a great live performer, but I kind of get the impression she’s not somebody who’d be on Emily’s wish list, at least not as a headliner, and yeah maybe money is also an issue when it comes to her. Think there’s probably a good reason she’s never really in the rumour mill for Glastonbury despite quite often touring around it. 

[Suprefan]

12 minutes ago, Ozanne said:

I realise this is more wishful thinking but Pink is touring with a new album out, she would’ve been an amazing headliner. I appreciate she’s probably very expensive to book though. 

She is literally at BST that same weekend so maybe there was a choice and she took the paycheck.

 

Fyi, her acrobatics couldve been pulled off outdoors. At ACL last year she did it during her headline set.

 

And funny how Emily is talking about diversity when Coachella has 2 headliners that dont primarily sing in english at the top of of the bill with one thats the biggest artist in the world currently. And also all 3 are poc. 

Edited March 4, 2023 by Suprefan

[Guest]

9 minutes ago, FloorFiller said:

I’ve seen Pink live and she’s a great live performer, but I kind of get the impression she’s not somebody who’d be on Emily’s wish list, at least not as a headliner, and yeah maybe money is also an issue when it comes to her. Think there’s probably a good reason she’s never really in the rumour mill for Glastonbury despite quite often touring around it. 

She never is mentioned for the festival really is she, do you know why she isn’t?

6 minutes ago, Suprefan said:

She is literally at BST that same weekend so maybe there was a choice and she took the paycheck.

 

Fyi, her acrobatics couldve been pulled off outdoors. At ACL last year she did it during her headline set.

Fair play I didn’t know she was booked that weekend, I never thought she would be a serious shout though. 

[maelzoid]

14 minutes ago, Suprefan said:

And funny how Emily is talking about diversity when Coachella has 2 headliners that dont primarily sing in english at the top of of the bill with one thats the biggest artist in the world currently. And also all 3 are poc. 

I know you're a fan, but this is not the case, by any metric.

[DJL]

1 hour ago, fraybentos1 said:

I cba looking but I’d imagine the likes of capaldi and lil nas x both do too, it’s barely relevant imo 

Yeah, they do.What is relevant for deciding suitability for a headliner though, it’s very subjective. 

[FloorFiller]

7 minutes ago, Ozanne said:

She never is mentioned for the festival really is she, do you know why she isn’t?

Honestly, I think she’s a bit too mum-pop, especially these days. Doesn’t really do bangers anymore and I don’t think she’s really got the ear of the younger audience anymore either, although maybe I’m totally off with that. Reckon they’d book her lower down the lineup a-la Katy Perry, Miley, if she was up for it, but given the size of the shows she does (and sells out) I can’t see why she’d want to do that. I imagine at some point it might’ve been floated to her, she saw the low pay, and that was the end of that. 

[Suprefan]

4 minutes ago, maelzoid said:

I know you're a fan, but this is not the case, by any metric.

I guess outgrossing Ed Sheeran in touring revenue  last yearfor one thing means absolutely nothing. And half of  his tour was in arenas.

Edited March 4, 2023 by Suprefan

[MEGABOWL]

46 minutes ago, Ozanne said:

Flo would be a repeat but Artic Monkeys have headlines before and Flo only headline set was a substitute. Even still there’s plenty of female acts that could headline or they could take a risk on an act that isn’t massive.

I understand GF has done a lot for diversity but my original point was Emily essentially passing the blame onto the industry when they can book female headliners. The festival sells out in minutes anyway so they have the luxury of not having to worry too much about tickets being sold. It just seems a bit strange to me that’s all.

I don’t think that’s fair to Emily. And this applies to the general reaction as much as what you’re saying. Out of everybody in the entire industry, Emily seems to be one of the most aware of the imbalance and the most committed to fixing it. Despite that she’s being criticised more than others, and for something happening (all ‘male’ headliners) that she told us last year might happen, but nobody listened.

Also there’s a balance to be struck. She’s also in charge of a business that needs to sell tickets or the whole thing falls apart. Part of the attraction to many is that the festival constantly punches above its weight (financially speaking) in terms of headliners. As soon as she/GFL start to think ‘oh we sell out every year, we can book whoever we want, it doesn’t matter’ arrogance and complacency will set in and they’re in serious trouble. They simply can’t approach it that way.