The American rockers will be returning to Worthy Farm this summer
Blondie drummer Clem Burke has revealed that the band will be performing at Glastonbury Festival this June.
The announcement came while the drummer spoke to Foxy Radio in an exclusive interview about his chequered past and the band’s forthcoming “Lust for Life” UK & Ireland tour.
When pointed out by the radio presenter that the band will be back in London for their gig in Crystal Palace Park on the 1st of July with Iggy Pop, Burke said: “We’re also doing Isle of Wight Festival and some other festivals… I guess the full list of artists to be playing Glastonbury hasn’t really been announced yet, but we are going to be playing Glastonbury, so maybe you’ve got an exclusive there.”
You can listen back to the full interview, which was uploaded to MixCloud on Sunday the 12th of February 2023, below – with specific Glastonbury talk and confirmation about 1:54:50 into the conversation, as noticed and pointed out by eFestivals member Big Durbs earlier today (Friday, 17th February).
The band last played at Glastonbury Festival in 2014 when they took to the Other Stage that year, as well as in 1999 when they performed on the iconic Pyramid Stage.
Pioneers of the American new wave scene of the mid-1970s in New York, Blondie was co-founded by singer Debbie Harry and guitarist Chris Stein in 1974.
Their first two albums contained strong elements of punk and new wave, and although highly successful in the UK and Australia, the band was regarded as an underground band in the U.S. until the release of Parallel Lines in 1978.
Over the next four years, Blondie achieved several hit singles including “Heart of Glass,” “Call Me,” “Atomic,” “The Tide Is High,” and “Rapture”.
Blondie then disbanded after the release of their sixth studio album, The Hunter, in 1982, while Harry continued to pursue a solo career with varied results after taking a few years off to care for partner Chris Stein – who was diagnosed with pemphigus, a rare autoimmune disease of the skin.
The band re-formed in 1997, achieving renewed success and their sixth number-one single in the United Kingdom with “Maria” in 1999, exactly 20 years after their first UK No. 1 single (“Heart of Glass”).
The group toured and performed throughout the world during the following years, and was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2006.
Blondie has since sold around 40 million records worldwide and is still active, with the band’s eleventh studio album, Pollinator, released on May 5, 2017.
Looking ahead to Blondie’s performance at this year’s Glastonbury Festival, some fans have expressed their desire for the band to play the coveted Sunday Teatime Legends Slot.
MORE LINE-UP & RUMOURS NEWS
Staying on the line-up and rumours topic, Guns N’ Roses bassist Duff McKagan 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.
Aside from John, who will be taking to the Pyramid Stage on the Sunday night of the Festival, no other acts have yet been officially confirmed for Glastonbury 2023 – although Arctic Monkeys are the top talked-about contenders for headlining the iconic Stage on the Friday night.
Speaking of self-confirmations; Kelly Jones of Stereophonics has revealed that he will be performing at Glastonbury this summer with his new project Far From Saints.
Gabrielle Aplin confirmed she will be playing the Avalon Stage, and Becky Hill, however, didn’t quite self-confirm but did hint at a possible Worthy Farm performance this June.
Elsewhere, Florance & the Machine re-ignited hopes in fans for a possible performance at this year’s Festival, after leaving plenty of room for a Glasto performance in their summer tour dates.
Red Hot Chili Peppers‘ Flea got fans pondering about Glasto after retweeting a sketch of the Pyramid Stage created by renowned artist Stanley Donwood.
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, 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 – 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.
OTHER GLASTONBURY NEWS
In other news, earlier this week Glastonbury Festival announced that it is donating 10 sets of tickets, each with a once-in-a-lifetime experience to raise money for the Disasters Emergency Committee’s Turkey-Syria Earthquake appeal with Oxfam.
DEC member charities, including Oxfam, are working in Türkiye (Turkey) and Syria with local partners to support survivors of the earthquakes and by entering, you’ll be helping them to reach as many people as possible with clean water, food, sanitation, shelter and other urgent support.
Entries are now open and will be accepted until 12 noon on Wednesday 8th March, with a £10 donation guaranteeing one entry – and although there is no limit on the number of times one person can enter, only one prize per entrant will be given. Free entry (without making a donation to the earthquake appeal) is also available by post.
Prior to the Oxfam raffle mentioned above, the Festival also helped raise over £116,000 in aid of the Trussell Trust in a partnership auction to help support people facing hardship across the UK.
The money was put up in a series of 10 eBay auctions run by the food bank charity to raise funds for their network of over 1,300 food banks scattered across the country.
In this instance, similar to the Oxfam appeal, auctions offered 10 pairs of tickets which included once-in-a-lifetime opportunities for fans at the Festival.
The total from all ten Trussell Trust auctions amounted to £116,738 – with the “cheapest” pair of tickets selling for £10,200, which included the chance to watch a set from the Other Stage viewing platform.
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.
