The band have revealed their summer run leaving a big Glastonbury-shaped gap in the schedule
Florence + The Machine have announced the dates for their summer tour run while re-igniting the hopes of fans for a possible performance at Glastonbury 2023.
The tour, which kicks off on the 28th of May in Brazil and runs all the way through to the 2nd of September for a conclusion in Spain, features a noticeable Glastonbury-shaped hole in the band’s schedule.
Apart from their gig in Italy on the 22nd of June, followed by a string of shows in Ireland on the 26th, 27th and the 28th of June – the band has nothing over the Glasto weekend, leaving them wide open for a potential gig at Worthy Farm.
Glastonbury 2023 is set to run from the 21st to the 25th of June, with the main music stages opening on the Friday of the Festival (23rd June).
@TheGlastoThingy @glastobation @GlastoFestFeed @Glastopia
Clutching maybe. She’s headlined I know. But #GSH ?
— Macca (@JPMCELHINNEY) February 9, 2023
The band, led by frontwoman Florence Welch, last performed at Glastonbury in 2015, when they took the Pyramid Stage to headline the Friday night, after being called in by Glastonbury organisers to replace Foo Fighters due to frontman Dave Grohl breaking his leg.
Emily Eavis issued an official statement at the time, saying: “Once we heard the sad news that Foo Fighters had been forced to pull out, there was only one person we wanted to call and that was Florence. Every time she has played here she’s done something spectacular and we always knew she would headline the Pyramid one day. I’m delighted she’s agreed to step up to it – she’s going to smash it!”
Rumours of the London-formed band returning to Glastonbury and being one of the names mentioned in the context of a possible ‘secret set’ have been circling the web for quite some time.
Welch made her Glastonbury debut back in 2007, as an unknown artist, booked to play the Tiny Tea Tent at 11am on Sunday. Speaking to the Guardian in retrospect she said: “an a cappella set in a tent on the last day, when obviously I hadn’t slept for something like 72 hours.”
Apart from her last performance in 2015, and her first one in 2007, the 36-year-old singer-songwriter also played at The Queens Head pub at Glastonbury in 2008, as well as a gig on the John Peel stage in 2009. She also took to the Other Stage in 2010 and joined Dizzie Rascal during his set on the Pyramid Stage that same year.
In other Glasto news, Kelly Jones has revealed he and his new collaboration project Far From Saints have been offered to play at Glastonbury 2023.
Elsewhere, Gabrielle Aplin said she’ll be playing the Avalon Stage at Glastonbury 2023, while in a separate instance, Becky Hill strongly hinted at a possible Worthy Farm performance this summer.
Guns N’ Roses bassist Duff McKagan also appears to have confirmed the band for playing Glastonbury this year after saying on his radio show that “Glastonbury is gonna be iconic”.
The news comes after the American hard rockers have been strongly rumoured for a Saturday night headline performance at the 2023 edition of the Worthy Farm-held event for quite some time, which has so far only officially confirmed one headliner in Elton John.
As it stands, aside from Sir Elton John, who will be taking to the Pyramid Stage on the Sunday night of the Festival, no other acts have yet been confirmed for Glastonbury 2023 – although Arctic Monkeys are the top talked-about contenders for headlining the iconic Stage on the Friday night.
Staying on the topic of the rumours – Red Hot Chili Peppers‘ Flea got fans pondering about Glasto after retweeting a sketch of the Pyramid Stage created by renowned artist Stanley Donwood.
While other acts who were rumoured for playing at the Festival, and the Legends Slot in particular, included Stevie Nicks, Robbie Williams and Bon Jovi (whose guitarist Richie Sambora recently teased the “possibility” of the band playing at Glastonbury 2023), as well as Roxy Music, who up until not long ago were one of the most strong contenders for this year’s Legends.
However, speaking to NME recently about the possibility of appearing at Glastonbury, Roxy Music’s Phil Manzanera said: “I’ve had friends texting and emailing, saying: ‘I see you might be playing Glastonbury!’ To which my reply is: ‘Well, tell me about it, because I’ve got no idea.’ I’ll wait to see what happens there. Who knows? I don’t.”
Another band who was rumoured for a slot on this year’s line-up but now looks unlikely to appear at Glastonbury 2023 is Britpop legends Blur, whose drummer recently went on record to say they haven’t been asked to play this year.
Meanwhile, the Spice Girls, who have also been mentioned countless times over the past years in the Legends Slot context, are unlikely to be playing Worthy Farm in 2023, after Victoria Beckham ruled out a Glastonbury appearance as part of a Spice Girls reunion, following long-time speculation fuelled by her former band mates.
Additionally, Emma Bunton, aka Baby Spice, also revealed in an interview last year with BBC Radio 2’s Dermot O’Leary, that the Spice Girls “have actually been asked” to play at the Festival – but said that they “won’t be doing it next year [2023]”.
The Legends Slot, often seen as being the 4th headliner slot of the Festival, takes place on the last day of Glastonbury on the Sunday afternoon.
Previous Legends who took to the Pyramid Stage to perform at the coveted slot include Diana Ross (2022), Kylie Minogue (2019), Barry Gibb (2017) and Jeff Lynne’s ELO (2016), to name a few.
Although the first line-up poster doesn’t usually get revealed until around March/April time, followed by the full line-up announcement sometime at the end of May/beginning of June – there are many artists who ‘self-confirm’ prior to the official announcements by divulging the news via interviews, social media or website listings to accompany the ever-growing rumours.
Along with Kraftwerk and Jack Johnson, some other acts rumoured for this year’s event include The 1975, who are once again mentioned in the Glastonbury context after speculation started building throughout the web when the Cheshire band confirmed new tour dates – leaving them wide open over the 2023 Glastonbury weekend.
Pulp revealed dates of their upcoming reunion tour scheduled for this summer – while leaving plenty of room for a Glastonbury performance.
Eminem (who is another act to yet step foot on Worthy Farm) was said to be in “advanced talks” to headline the Pyramid Stage at the Festival this year – but now looks highly unlikely.
Rihanna‘s name had also been mentioned as a possible headliner for 2023, while Taylor Swift, however, effectively ruled herself out of the run for 2023 after announcing her long-rumoured return to the road – scheduled to hit U.S. stadiums beginning in March 2023 and running into August.
It is worth noting though that Glastonbury organiser Emily Eavis did however say last year that all three headliners for the 2023 Festival have already been booked.
Therefore, some of these rumours are obviously to be taken for what they are, rumours – any insider claiming to know anything about anything, either has access to unreleased information or is outright mistaken.
Stay up to date with all the latest artists that have been officially confirmed, self-confirmed or are rumoured for Glastonbury 2023 via our daily updated line-up & rumours list.
Glastonbury 2023 takes place from Wednesday 21st to Sunday 25th of June 2023 at Worthy Farm, Pilton, Somerset.
Although tickets for the 2023 event sold out late last year [2022], there will be resales of any unpaid and/or cancelled tickets that will take place later in the Spring (around April time).
As part of Glastonbury’s ongoing efforts against ticket touting, anyone who would like to attend this year’s Festival will need to have registered in advance.
As in previous years, registration remains free of charge and only takes a few minutes at glastonburyregistration.co.uk.
Those who have already registered in the past can also check their existing registration here.
In addition to the upcoming ticket resales, some other opportunities for getting to Glastonbury include working at the Festival, volunteering and entering competitions – once these options make themselves available.
To learn more about registration, the sale process and how you can maximise your chances of getting Glastonbury 2023 tickets, click here.
Don’t be fooled
Glastonbury Festival would very much like fans to be aware that there are people out there who will try and sell fake Glastonbury tickets to unsuspecting, willing and innocent potential purchasers.
Although Glasto-veterans who have been going to the Festival for quite some time may recognise these scams for what they are, newcomers might not.
Therefore, please remember that tickets are only sold on one site, which is: glastonbury.seetickets.com.
