Arctic Monkeys and Guns N’ Roses will join already confirmed Elton John in headlining this year’s event
Glastonbury Festival has revealed its first line-up poster for the 2023 edition of the Worth Farm-held event, with Arctic Monkeys and Guns N’ Roses named as the final two headliners.
Alex Turner and co. will take to the Pyramid Stage for the third time on Friday, the 23 of June, ahead of American heavy rockers Guns N’ Roses which will be making their Worthy Farm debut the following night (24th June). Elton John will then top the bill on Sunday night of the Festival (25th June).
The news comes as no real surprise for those following the recent rumours, as they were strongly pointing at both bands joining already announced Elton John at this year’s Festival.
The announcement came this morning, Friday, 3rd March at around 9:30am, after an article was published in the Guardian half an hour earlier, essentially revealing the line-up of acts so far – which originally featured 55 artists on the list.
However, about half an hour later, the daily newspaper updated the original article while omitting Queens of the Stone Age which were originally featured on the list, saying in the footnote: “This article was updated on Friday 3 March to remove the description of the headliners as “all-white”, as Guns N’ Roses feature two non-white members. The number of announced artists was also reduced from 55 to 54 after an artist had been wrongly included in the initial lineup by Glastonbury organisers.”
UPDATE: The Guardian has now removed Queens of The Stone Age from the line-up list after updating the article, saying: “The number of announced artists was also reduced from 55 to 54 after an artist had been wrongly included in the initial lineup by Glastonbury organisers.” pic.twitter.com/db5fR0JqIg
— Glasto Fest Feed (@GlastoFestFeed) March 3, 2023
In the article, Glastonbury organiser Emily Eavis says that Guns N’ Roses were booked when a previously confirmed female headliner pulled out because she “changed her touring plans”. Eavis declined to name names but said she hoped they would headline within the next five years.
Taylor Swift was due to headline Glastonbury back in 2020 prior to its forced cancellation due to the worldwide pandemic – but the US leg of her Eras tour this summer obviated the possibility.
Guns N’ Roses had been discussed as prospective headliners pre-pandemic, said Eavis. “They’ll be brilliant and provide something totally different to the rest of the headliners.” Lizzo will open for the US rockers and has joint headline billing. “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.”
According to the BBC, “Singer-songwriter Cat Stevens will play the coveted “legend slot”, previously occupied by Kylie and Dolly Parton […] with Blondie taking to the Pyramid stage immediately after Stevens – effectively creating a “double legend” slot”.
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.
Further down the bill, this year’s lineup includes debut performances from the Eurovision winners Måneskin, the Brit-winning girl band Flo and the US country stars the Chicks. Lil Nas X will return to play prior to headliner Elton John, while Lana Del Rey will graduate from her 2014 Pyramid stage afternoon slot to headline the Other stage.
As The Guardian points out in its article, 53% of the 55 names on this week’s partial lineup announcement – with many more acts still to come – are male. Eavis said she remained “entirely focused on balancing our bill. It’s not just about gender, it’s about every aspect of diversity.” 43% of those 55 names are non-white, or feature non-white members: Afrobeats star Wizkid will headline the Other stage on Friday. “We’re probably one of the only big shows that’s really focused on this.
Addressing some of the recurring rumours that have been circling the web for quite some time, Eavis denied that the Spice Girls would appear at this year’s Festival, saying: “That is not a conversation we’re having at the moment,” but added that Melanie C would perform solo.
This year’s poster drop is one of the earliest-ever poster release announcements – with the 2022 poster being announced just a day later on the 4th of March. In 2019 the first poster was released on the 15th of March, and in 2013 the revelation came on the 27th of March.
The number of artists featured on the poster is also less than usual, with “only” 54 performers on this year’s first poster – compared to 89 names in 2022 or 65 in 2019.
You can view the full list of artists announced so far (in text form) below the poster while keeping in mind that there are many more acts and attractions still to be announced.
Glastonbury 2023 line-up so far:
Arctic Monkeys
Guns N’ Roses
Elton John
Lizzo
Aitch
Alison Goldfrapp
Alt-J
Amadou & Mariam
Becky Hill
Blondie
Candi Staton
Carly Rae Jepsen
Cat Burns
Central Cee
Christine And The Queens
Chvrches
Ezra Collective
Fatboy Slim
Fever Ray
Flo
Fred Again..
Hot Chip
Joey Bada$$
Kelis
Lana Del Rey
Leftfield
Lewis Capaldi
Lil Nas X
Loyle Carner
Maggie Rogers
Mahalia
Måneskin
Manic Street Preachers
Nova Twins
Phoenix
Raye
Rina Sawayama
Royal Blood
Rudimental
Shygirl
Slowthai
Sparks
Stefflon Don
Sudan Archives
Texas
The Chicks
The War On Drugs
Thundercat
Tinariwen
Warpaint
Weyes Blood
Wizkid
Young Fathers
Yusuf / Cat Stevens
IN OTHER GLASTO NEWS
Last month 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.
