Acts Touring Around Glastonbury 2019

[Matt42]

So in case any of you care I was following the coachella boards / inforoo (the American equivalent of efestivals basically). Apparently Coachella had a really tough time getting their lineup together. The original plan was Childish Gambino, Justin Timberlake, Kanye West.

Timberlake apparently cancelled quite a while ago and Kanye West was believed to have cancelled very recently (some saying even yesterday). They’ve done relatively well putting together a lineup with two major names dropping out in the process.

EDIT: I was following originally because of the info around Paul McCartney which later turned out to be wrong

Edited January 3, 2019 by Matt42

[eFestivals]

Just now, Supernintendo Chalmers said:

Do you think that modern festival audiences appear to care less about the art and more about the entertainment and that organisers are simply reacting to demand?

clearly ... tho I'm not sure it's organisers reacting to demand, it's much more about playing safe.

But to me that's screaming that many festivals won't have much more life.

All credit to Reading/Leeds, who are managing to keep to some standards while embracing plenty of what's currently popular.

[Matt42]

1 minute ago, eFestivals said:

clearly ... tho I'm not sure it's organisers reacting to demand, it's much more about playing safe.

But to me that's screaming that many festivals won't have much more life.

All credit to Reading/Leeds, who are managing to keep to some standards while embracing plenty of what's currently popular.

They can’t help it when Indie has completely died a death in the mainstream and Hip Hop has now dominated mainstream music.

also, as a side note. I don’t think it’s going to cause a death to the American festival scene at all. Hip Hop and Pop sells better than any other genre in the states. Booking acts like Childish Gambino and Ariana probably stabilise coachella sales for years to come (even if it doesn’t look like that here).

i agree though that what will kill our festival scene is when the bands put down their guitars

[Hugh Jass]

5 minutes ago, Supernintendo Chalmers said:

Nice description, I like that. If that is the measurement of quality then I would agree with you. I can't say I know enough about Arianna Grande specifically to comment on whether she is a "manufactured" artist or has some artistic credibility.

Do you think that modern festival audiences appear to care less about the art and more about the entertainment and that organisers are simply reacting to demand?

Does artistic credibility matter with respect to Glastonbury? I know most of us on here are snobbish when it comes to manufactured acts, but ultimately it's a festival of contemporary performing arts, not a festival of earnest worthy song writers. Regardless of how she's made it big she'll still be getting up there singing, dancing and performing.

[eFestivals]

2 minutes ago, Matt42 said:

They can’t help it when Indie has completely died a death in the mainstream and Hip Hop has now dominated mainstream music.

Reading/Leeds shows that crap pop can be avoided, if a festival wants to.

[jparx]

I listened to Ariana Grande's latest record over Christmas since a couple of my mates, who I usually agree with, listed it in their top 10. To be honest, I'm not really sure what I'm missing. I'm not against pop music at all and I'll give anything a go, but I just don't see what elevates her music to that next level. It was perfectly fine, catchy pop music, but nothing more (in my opinion of course). If I had a gun to my head I would say she won't headline Glastonbury, but it certainly wouldn't stun me. 

Fun side fact - my first exposure to Ariana Grande was playing Final Fantasy Brave Exvius while in Tokyo, and she was just released as an unlockable character in the game. Her character was actually pretty decent from what I remember. She seemed immensely popular over there - posters everywhere.

[brettredmayne]

A lot of people were saying Taylor Swift could headline and surely she isn't that much different from the category that Ariana falls into?

[Supernintendo Chalmers]

1 minute ago, Hugh Jass said:

Does artistic credibility matter with respect to Glastonbury? I know most of us on here are snobbish when it comes to manufactured acts, but ultimately it's a festival of contemporary performing arts, not a festival of earnest worthy song writers. Regardless of how she's made it big she'll still be getting up there singing, dancing and performing.

I don't think it does or that it should. I agree with Neil's definition of quality but I think striking a healthy balance between art and entertainment is the way forward. Tip the scales too far in either direction and the festival's future is at risk. In my opinion, this year's Coachella lineup does that and I'd like to see a similar approach at Glastonbury

[Matt42]

8 minutes ago, jparx said:

I listened to Ariana Grande's latest record over Christmas since a couple of my mates, who I usually agree with, listed it in their top 10. To be honest, I'm not really sure what I'm missing. I'm not against pop music at all and I'll give anything a go, but I just don't see what elevates her music to that next level. It was perfectly fine, catchy pop music, but nothing more (in my opinion of course). If I had a gun to my head I would say she won't headline Glastonbury, but it certainly wouldn't stun me. 

I think a lot of her success is down to her popularity in the ‘kidz’ market. A lot of her fans are very young and she’s very much the in thing.

4 minutes ago, brettredmayne said:

A lot of people were saying Taylor Swift could headline and surely she isn't that much different from the category that Ariana falls into?

I think it’s because Taylor’s sales and tours are a fair bit beyond what Ariana could reasonably pull off right now. A large part of Taylor’s superstardom is that anything she touches either sells out or sells incredibly. Also Taylor had a bit of a head start to Ariana, she’s been around a bit longer. Taylor could definitely headline if she approached the festival.

Edited January 3, 2019 by Matt42

[Hugh Jass]

3 minutes ago, Supernintendo Chalmers said:

I don't think it does or that it should. I agree with Neil's definition of quality but I think striking a healthy balance between art and entertainment is the way forward. Tip the scales too far in either direction and the festival's future is at risk. In my opinion, this year's Coachella lineup does that and I'd like to see a similar approach at Glastonbury

Indeed, I wouldn't like to see the festival overran by manufactured types, but I don't think booking the odd popstar is going to bring the place crashing down to its knees either.

[The Nal]

We could get that Kony guy to headline. People were really into that too. 

[dentalplan]

Pop seems that bit more culturally important now so that’s probably why. @Bradders did a good post about this thing; it’s not that festivals are just booking shameless crap like Take That or anonymous mass unit shifters like Jess Glynne and Rag’n’Bone Man to headline - guessing Rick Astley in the 80’s is in one of these categories - but it’s acts who people actually care about instead and have some cultural cachet.

19 minutes ago, Matt42 said:

‘kidz’

Wtf is this son are you 55?

[Hugh Jass]

15 minutes ago, The Nal said:

We could get that Kony guy to headline. People were really into that too. 

Yeah but he's done nothing since.

Sub at best.

[Matt42]

12 minutes ago, dentalplan said:

Wtf is this son are you 55?

What’s funny is that i’m probably one of the youngest on this forum. 22 going on 55

[The Nal]

15 minutes ago, Hugh Jass said:

Yeah but he's done nothing since.

Sub at best.

Yeah I prefer his early stuff

[Gucci Piggy]

There's our surprising-solo-act-Macca-replacement hiding in plain sight. Last US date on the Wednesday of Glasto.

[dentalplan]

10 minutes ago, Gucci Piggy said:

There's our surprising-solo-act-Macca-replacement hiding in plain sight. Last US date on the Wednesday of Glasto.

She was definitely mentioned back when that was a thing.

[CaledonianGonzo]

Not sure why Grande shouldn't be taken seriously now.  She's established herself as a credible player who's probably not going anywhere.  Comparisons with SAW-type acts aren't really valid.

But then I'd put Beyonce on a par with Elvis rather than Sonia.

[jyoung]

8 minutes ago, CaledonianGonzo said:

Not sure why Grande shouldn't be taken seriously now.  She's established herself as a credible player who's probably not going anywhere. 

Yep. Well said.

[Matt42]

Ooo Stormzy, Cure, Ariana would be an interesting trio for me. But I think it would go down as the weakest set of headliners glastonbury has ever had

[eFestivals]

39 minutes ago, CaledonianGonzo said:

But then I'd put Beyonce on a par with Elvis rather than Sonia.

I'd say that Jay-Z is her Col. Tom more than she's Elvis.

[Gnomicide]

16 minutes ago, Matt42 said:

Ooo Stormzy, Cure, Ariana would be an interesting trio for me. But I think it would go down as the weakest set of headliners glastonbury has ever had

1992 says "Thank God For that."

[henry bear]

34 minutes ago, Matt42 said:

Ooo Stormzy, Cure, Ariana would be an interesting trio for me. But I think it would go down as the weakest set of headliners glastonbury has ever had

Define ‘ever’?

[Bradders]

17 minutes ago, eFestivals said:

I'd say that Jay-Z is her Col. Tom more than she's Elvis.

Wanna explain why you believe Jay Z is responsible for the career of Beyoncé?

[zero000]

Part of this comes down to the breakdown of music tribalism which is only a good thing. Glastonbury being comfortable booking Radiohead and Beyonce is what makes it such a strong festival.