2025 Headliners

[CaledonianGonzo]

He mentioned this on Instagram a few weeks back.  My guess is that there's significant difference to coming up with a suitable show for headlining the Pyramid via something he can use out the box for a much less highly scrutinised performance.

[northernangel]

57 minutes ago, mike46 said:

Looks like the Fred Again ‘burnout/year off’ rumour isn’t true, just been announced for Fuji Rocks. 
 

Wonder if Emily and co even asked him or we all just assumed  

To be honest as well, a show at the end of July is well after the Coachella April option and even a month after Glastonbury. It's not like he's doing like Werchter the week after, or even like Mad Cool or something mid July

[NorthernSoul52]

Aye. Far less scrutiny there to, as they say, meet the moment.

 

For any British headliner - especially a younger British headliner - a headline slot on the Pyramid stage is a rarefied moment. It kind of cements your status in the history books. Plenty will want to ensure they leave a lasting mark.

[nikkic]

As it stands there’s nothing pencilled in for The UK this year, potential for a few small pop ups but nothing big. 
 

Something huge being planned for next year though. 

[Dukey]

10 minutes ago, nikkic said:

As it stands there’s nothing pencilled in for The UK this year, potential for a few small pop ups but nothing big. 
 

Something huge being planned for next year though. 

Under the arch in 2026? 

[stuie]

Maybe he just wants to get off his rocker as a Glasto punter this year, popping up about the place 🙂 

[nikkic]

13 minutes ago, Dukey said:

Under the arch in 2026? 

No stadiums planned (atm).
 

A big show was planned for this year, but it’s on the back burner until ‘26.

[NorthernSoul52]

A big show, but not a stadium?

 

I'd assume it's some kind of unexpected venue - like an aircraft hanger - or it is a massive festival slot. But given R+L is done, only the G really works there.

[CaledonianGonzo]

Which wouldn't be next year

[incident]

2 hours ago, NorthernSoul52 said:

A big show, but not a stadium?

 

I'd assume it's some kind of unexpected venue - like an aircraft hanger - or it is a massive festival slot. But given R+L is done, only the G really works there.

 

I have no evidence whatsoever. And I'm speculating for the hell of it, slightly mischievously as I don't think for a second it's on the table.

 

But do the Festival still have planning permission to run stand alone concerts at 50k capacity in fallow years?

[CaledonianGonzo]

The unexpected return of The Variety Bazaar

[incident]

1 minute ago, CaledonianGonzo said:

The unexpected return of The Variety Bazaar

 

Pilton Equinox Party, in this case.

[nikkic]

23 minutes ago, incident said:

 

I have no evidence whatsoever. And I'm speculating for the hell of it, slightly mischievously as I don't think for a second it's on the table.

 

But do the Festival still have planning permission to run stand alone concerts at 50k capacity in fallow years?

Yeah it’s not that. 

[Jamm]

Is he going to unveil a new song on the Graham Norton show?

[Suprefan]

12 minutes ago, Jamm said:

Is he going to unveil a new song on the Graham Norton show?

Not enough time. Cause he will talk for 4 mins and thats all you get

[Claire0406]

12 hours ago, Suprefan said:

I guess Fred made time

Ooooh i remember when i mentioned japan and what was said 😄

Edited February 21, 2025 by Claire0406

[NorthernSoul52]

It's nice to see a very big spot for Radwimps there, one of my favourite bands of the past decade or so. J-rock outfit, celebrating their anniversary this year, and generally a safe arena pull on home turf - but not many homegrown artists tend to command top billing at these festivals.

 

I'd love them down the G, but would have to be a Park booking at the maximum. Don't think they'd command an audience of more than a few thousand.

[NorthernSoul52]

Must admit, despite being very strong on my defence of the sources we had a few months ago, I am starting to have vague doubts about Rodrigo.

 

Which is cobblers, of course. She seems the next safest bet now Young is announced.

[fullfathom5]

Lady Gaga just announced for Rio, a million people on the beach. May time.

[NorthernSoul52]

Very much does put her in the frame, and has old form linking back to the festival. Swapping her in for any of your rumoured picks makes it seem infinitely stronger.

 

But, a lot of hoops and hurdles even without the expectation that the other two frontrunners are not locked in.

[Jamm]

Lady Gaga would slightly more enthuse me than Olivia Rodrigo I think, as rumours stand I think I’ll be watching that slot on the Pyramid anyway so would be an upgrade for me.

Neither is a favourite of mine but both definitely watchable.

 

Would definitely raise the “prestige” in people’s eyes though, and make a lot of other people happier.

[Stokesy10]

No. I'm not letting myself get even a teeny bit excited about a Gaga rumour. It isn't happening.

[Gnomicide]

Being tagged in by Telegraph journalists is a new low, but anyway... more Rihanna rumours, though it's behind a paywall so no idea what is actually said.

 

 

[NorthernSoul52]

41 minutes ago, Gnomicide said:

Being tagged in by Telegraph journalists is a new low, but anyway... more Rihanna rumours, though it's behind a paywall so no idea what is actually said.

 

 

Allow me to do the honours.

[NorthernSoul52]

Is Rihanna heading to Worthy Farm? After years of speculation, the jigsaw pieces are falling into place for the Barbadian pop superstar to finally headline Glastonbury Festival, the world-famous music jamboree that takes place in Somerset over the last weekend of June. I hope she packs her, ahem, umbrella.

 

Word has reached The Telegraph that the 37-year-old singer is planning a residency of up to six concerts at London’s former Olympic Stadium in early July. Rihanna’s opening shows at the now-renamed London Stadium, home to West Ham football club, are tentatively set to take place on Friday 4 and Saturday 5 July with further possible shows earmarked for 8, 9, 11 and 12 July, according to a well-placed live music source. 

 

A second senior concert industry source said that Rihanna’s promoters are “holding” London Stadium, meaning that the shows are at the advanced planning stage. An announcement could come as soon as next week.

 

The run of concerts – her first in almost a decade – would commence just five days after Glastonbury ends on June 29. It is, as Glasto-watchers’ parlance goes, a whopping Glastonbury Shaped Hole – or GSH – in the singer’s schedule. Forget Taylor Swift, another phenomenally successful and wealthy artist who’s often been linked to a Glasto headline slot (Swift was due to perform in 2020 before the pandemic cancelled the festival). It looks like 2025 could be the year for a different pop behemoth to take the honours – Rihanna.

 

The rumours may prove to be just that, but the likely London shows are just too convenient. If she plays, she’ll join Neil Young as a headliner after the Canadian veteran was confirmed in early January. Rod Stewart has also been confirmed in the festival’s Sunday afternoon Legends slot.

 

The timing of the comeback works for another reason. Word of Rihanna’s likely shows comes just days after her partner, rapper A$AP Rocky, was found not guilty in a Los Angeles felony assault trial of firing a gun at a former friend. He had faced up to 24 years in prison if convicted of all the charges. The couple have two sons together.

 

Rihanna’s first tour since 2016’s Anti World Tour would be a very big deal. Rock purists may grumble about a pop act headlining Glastonbury, should it happen. But Rihanna is one of the world’s most successful recording artists, having sold an estimated 250 million records since she signed to Def Jam Recordings in the mid-Noughties. Her eclectic output takes in pop, R&B, dance music, hip hop, reggae and balladry and is bound together by one of modern music’s most versatile and soulful voices. Rihanna’s had 14 US number one singles – the most ever behind The Beatles, Mariah Carey and Elvis Presley.

Tracks like Umbrella, featuring rapper Jay-Z, Only Girl (In the World), Diamonds and We Found Love, her EDM banger with DJ Calvin Harris, were worldwide mega hits. She has also duetted with Eminem, Coldplay and Drake, which leaves plenty of scope for special guests at any Pyramid Stage appearance. Above all this, Rihanna’s a style icon and an actor, appearing in Ocean’s 8 in 2018 and providing the voice of Smurfette in this summer’s forthcoming Smurfs movie.

 

She’s also a wildly successful entrepreneur through her fashion, lingerie and cosmetics companies under the Fenty umbrella. In 2021, Forbes named Rihanna the wealthiest female musician in the world with a business empire estimated to be worth $1.7 billion, or £1.35 billion. (It took Swift until 2024 to become a billionaire, according to the same publication.)

Which brings us to another, tantalising aspect of Rihanna’s London summer sojourn. Her shows would come a month after archrival Beyoncé plays six concerts at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, five miles to the north of West Ham’s ground. It would be the mother of London music diva derbies, a clash of the pop titans to end all clashes. And, if Rihanna plays Glastonbury in addition to her six shows, she’d be one up on Beyoncé’s six concerts at Spurs. Granted, Beyoncé has already headlined Glastonbury (in 2011) but Rihanna’s tour would come with a definite sense of Beyoncé’s limelight being challenged.

 

Rihanna and Beyoncé have long been friendly competitors. Both are entertainment polymaths with vast business empires to their names. And they’re halves of music power couples: Rihanna with Rocky and Beyoncé with Jay-Z. Their lives have overlapped. Jay-Z has always been a mentor to Rihanna, first at Def Jam, which he ran, and then at his own label Roc Nation, to which Rihanna later moved. As well as on Umbrella, Rihanna and Beyoncé‘s husband duetted on his 2009 track Run This Town and her 2011 song Talk That Talk.

And what of Glastonbury? Securing Rihanna would be a coup. She doesn’t need the money and she would bring an unforgettable show to the Vale of Avalon. As well as heritage acts like Paul McCartney and Elton John, the festival has opted for increasingly poppy headliners in recent years, with Dua Lipa, SZA and Billie Eilish topping the bill. Rumours that Rihanna was plotting a comeback tour and would possibly headline Glastonbury started circulating in 2023.

 

Towards the end of that year stories also appeared that a new album – her ninth – was in the works, her first since album since 2016’s Anti. Some reports suggested that she’d signed a multi-year contract with promoter Live Nation, said to be worth £32 million, although at the time Billboard quoted a source saying that the figure was “made up” and that no tour had been confirmed.

 

It is not known if Rihanna’s London dates would form part of a larger world tour, although one source said these would be her only stadium shows anywhere in the world this year. Rihanna has an affinity with London, having lived in the capital between 2018 and 2020. She is thought to have rented a £32 million mansion in St John’s Wood. It was only after fans spotted her carrying a Sainsbury’s Bag for Life that she confirmed she had moved here. Meanwhile last year she was reportedly spotted at Red Bus recording studio in the capital, fuelling speculation that a comeback was on the cards.

Rihanna’s opening London date of Friday July 4 would coincide with one of the biggest music weekends of the year. Oasis will kick off their highly-anticipated reunion tour on the same night in Cardiff, while Lana Del Rey plays Wembley Stadium. Meanwhile, a reformed Black Sabbath will headline the Back to the Beginning festival – dubbed “the heavy metal Live Aid” – in Birmingham the next day. Also performing that weekend in London’s Hyde Park are Sabrina Carpenter and Noah Kahan, and Fontaines D.C. and Stereophonics in Finsbury Park.

 

In recent years, Rihanna has largely stayed away from the limelight to bring up her young family. Not that having children has completely stopped her, though. When Rihanna performed at the Super Bowl half-time show in 2023 (a show arranged by Jay-Z’s Roc Nation), she was pregnant with her second child with Rocky. She accidentally revealed her baby bump to 121 million people when the zip of her red jumpsuit failed to do up, she said after the show.

 

A spokesperson for Rihanna declined to comment; Glastonbury was approached for comment. But pop fans should brace themselves for a very busy summer indeed.