Emily Eavis teases Glastonbury 2024 headliner and legends slot
Emily Eavis has teased line-up details for next year’s Glastonbury Festival, hinting once again that there could be two female headliners.
The 2024 edition of the legendary Worthy Farm event will take place between June 26-30, with the first batches of tickets due to go on sale next week. No acts have been announced as of yet.
- READ MORE: How to get tickets for Glastonbury 2024
Speaking on the latest episode of Annie Mac and Nick Grimshaw’s Sidetracked podcast, Glastonbury co-organiser Eavis spoke about the progress the team has made in putting the bill together.
“2024 is still a little up in the air. I thought it was kind of taking shape and then last week I just got a call, and this is what happens if you wait a little longer, because quite often we’ll be booked up from July,” she began.
“This year we’re holding out for a little bit longer, and last week I got a call from a really big American artist saying this person’s around next year. And I was like, ‘Oh my God, this is incredible’. Thank God we held the slot.”
Eavis went on to reiterate that she is “really passionate about gender split” on the line-up, having faced some criticism in regards to last year’s all-male headliners (Arctic Monkeys, Guns N’ Roses and Elton John).
“Our problem was that I’d been so outspoken about it that having a year where there wasn’t a female [headliner] sent people a bit mad, or some people,” Eavis continued. “And actually, we did have a female [but] she pulled out and we replaced them with Guns [N’ Roses] on the Saturday.”
She added: “I’m always trying to make it the most balanced, diverse bill. It is difficult with female artists because there aren’t enough headliners. But we’re also creating them. We’re putting the bands and female artists on smaller stages and bringing them through all the time so I feel like the pool is going to be bigger soon.
“And who knows? Next year we might get two [female headliners]. And certainly, I can say that the legend [slot] is female.”
You can listen to the full podcast above via Spotify or here on BBC Sounds.
Back in 2019, Eavis promised that she was aiming to ensure “as close to” a 50/50 gender split as possible on the Glastonbury line-up. “I think there’s a light at the end of the tunnel,” she said in 2018 on the strive for gender equality at the festival and in the wider music industry.
Acknowledging this year’s all-male bill-toppers during an interview in March, Eavis attributed the lack of viable female headliners to an industry “pipeline” problem.
Fans are currently speculating over whether Madonna could headline Glastonbury 2024 after Eavis shared an image from a ‘Celebration Tour’ concert in London. The Queen Of Pop is available next June, with her run of North American dates scheduled to end in April.
Other rumoured artists include Dua Lipa, Coldplay and Blur. The first line-up poster is traditionally revealed in March.
Coach and ticket packages for Glastonbury 2024 will be available at 6pm GMT on Thursday, November 2 before the general sale goes live at 9am GMT on Sunday, November 5. Find further details here and in NME‘s full guide on how to secure tickets for Glasto 2024.
