Acts Touring around Glastonbury 2023

[Matt42]

1 hour ago, kingcrawler said:

If Bring Me the Horizon can’t get near Other headliner despite being a genuinely big band with plenty of radio play then no chance Ghost will be doing that. I could see them playing opposite the legends slot in the same way they had Babymetal/Bring Me the Horizon on the Other stage in 2019 but nothing more than that.

^^ what he said.

Metal is a dying and fading footprint in modern culture. Hence the fact that Ghost and Babymetal are the only two acts in the last 10 or so years that have emerged and made an impact. Bring Me started getting crossover success when they ditched  “deathcore”. I’m not saying they are bad but only people who are familiar with metal will know who they are. Metal really isn’t big in the public conscious at all.

[Matt42]

2 hours ago, Florian Saucer Attack said:

they are probably the biggest metal band to emerge in the last 10 or so years.

Bit of a self goal this, that the biggest act to emerge in metal in the last 10 or so years can’t even headline download festival.

[Xeph1995]

14 minutes ago, Matt42 said:

Bit of a self goal this, that the biggest act to emerge in metal in the last 10 or so years can’t even headline download festival.

This isn't exactly a good measuring stick, Download is notorious for sticking with the same old bands over and not giving anyone new the bump despite there being plenty of big enough names. 

Glastonbury has clearly had a conscience effort to stay fresh and new and include a lot of genres and contemporary artist, one band out of 100s is hardly going to rock the boat. 

Imo both could 100% do it. 

My original point wasn't that bands like this should play every year, but a one off left field bookings of a huge contemporary act I don't think should be ruled out of the picture. 

 

Edited December 17, 2022 by Xeph1995

[Florian Saucer Attack]

19 minutes ago, Matt42 said:

Bit of a self goal this, that the biggest act to emerge in metal in the last 10 or so years can’t even headline download festival.

If we are talking about headlining the other stage, I don't think not headlining download is a valid measurement. 

As @Xeph1995 says download don't make much space for newer acts to take the top spot. When the old guard are gone and if ghost are still around they will headline download

[Matt42]

52 minutes ago, Xeph1995 said:

This isn't exactly a good measuring stick, Download is notorious for sticking with the same old bands over and not giving anyone new the bump despite there being plenty of big enough names. 

Glastonbury has clearly had a conscience effort to stay fresh and new and include a lot of genres and contemporary artist, one band out of 100s is hardly going to rock the boat. 

Imo both could 100% do it. 

My original point wasn't that bands like this should play every year, but a one off left field bookings of a huge contemporary act I don't think should be ruled out of the picture. 

Or, download HQ seriously doubt Ghost’s ability to sell the tickets they need to sell.

It just sounds to me like you want them to do the slot because you like them, not because it makes any sense.

34 minutes ago, Florian Saucer Attack said:

If we are talking about headlining the other stage, I don't think not headlining download is a valid measurement. 

As @Xeph1995 says download don't make much space for newer acts to take the top spot. When the old guard are gone and if ghost are still around they will headline download

I’ve not seen any evidence anywhere that Ghost would be a sizeable alternative to a pyramid headliner. Just because it would be a leftfield booking doesn’t mean it’s a good one.

This year we had the super mainstream Megan the stallion have a pretty thin crowd because she was up against Macca. Other stage headliners need a strong pull for it to work as it’s a big stage. Ghost are nowhere near reputable enough or well known at a festival like glastonbury to do that.

Falling again into the efestivals trope of acts being “deserving” of slots because of their output alone. I think Sam Smith is utter shit, but I can recognise that they are leaps and bounds more suitable for that kind of slot than Ghost.

there is no precedent for glastonbury doing anything like this.

[kingcrawler]

2 hours ago, Xeph1995 said:

I don't like BMTH but they 100% could and should headline the other stage at some point. 

Got to keep the festival fresh with a left field bookings. 

Going by Spotify statistics (rudimentary metric I know) a few numbers for you,

BMTH - 11.4 million

Ghost - 9.1 million

Bands that have headlined the other,

Foals - 3.3 million 

Christine and the Queen's - 1.8 million

While the latter are definitely more safe bets for a Glastonbury spot I think to say the former aren't big enough with enough crossovers appeal for a lot would be disingenuous. 

I think BMTH could do it at this point. I don’t think they’d pull a massive crowd but as an alternative to a pop act on the Pyramid they’d be fine and they’ve proven they can headline major festivals now. The fact that they were twice only booked for afternoon Other stage despite having popular albums and playing arenas says a lot though.

I’m sure Ghost are a bigger band worldwide than Foals but they don’t have anywhere near as much crossover appeal with a Glastonbury crowd. I wasn’t there but Foals seemed to be pretty busy this year and I’d guess the majority of people at the festival who aren’t fans would know who they are, their genre and maybe even a song or two. I genuinely don’t know any Ghost songs and I reckon loads of people would have no clue who they were.

I’m all for the festival taking risks and doing something different, if anything the bookings are often a bit too safe, but as Matt says there’s just no evidence of Glastonbury even attempting something like this. 

[Mich1268]

Surely JK is playing?

[Gnomicide]

I've just listened to Ghost for the first time,  I guess it was the make up thing but they sounded nothing like I expected, closer to early Bon Jovi than Mercyful Fate.

[Florian Saucer Attack]

51 minutes ago, Matt42 said:

This year we had the super mainstream Megan the stallion have a pretty thin crowd because she was up against Macca.

It could have been McCartney's fault or it might have been that not that many Glastonbury punters were interested in witnessing someone explain to them how amazing their arse is for an hour an half

[Muppetmark]

1 hour ago, Mich1268 said:

Surely JK is playing?

this has been out for ages. JK seems to stick to headlining gigs. Would absolutely love if he played though.

[Xeph1995]

1 hour ago, Gnomicide said:

I've just listened to Ghost for the first time,  I guess it was the make up thing but they sounded nothing like I expected, closer to early Bon Jovi than Mercyful Fate.

Spooky Abba is how I'd describe them.

[anditmakesmesmile]

5 hours ago, Matt42 said:

Ghost headlining other is a riddic suggestion. If you don’t follow metal you won’t have a clue who they are.

I know this totally subjective, but…

I listen to a lot of music. According to Spotify I listened to 2849 different artists this year. I go to a lot of live music, more than anyone I know. 
I don’t know whether this is an embarrassing admission, but… I’ve never heard of Ghost.  
Sorry. 

[Florian Saucer Attack]

1 minute ago, anditmakesmesmile said:

I know this totally subjective, but…

I listen to a lot of music. According to Spotify I listened to 2849 different artists this year. I go to a lot of live music, more than anyone I know. 
I don’t know whether this is an embarrassing admission, but… I’ve never heard of Ghost.  
Sorry. 

Do you like metal though?

Would you consider yourself relatively up to date with modern metal music?

I listen to lots of music too but there is probably huge J pop and K pop acts I've never heard of as I'm not interested in that sort of thing

[Guest]

Ghost could headline the Pyramid in my opinion. They're clearly big enough.

[anditmakesmesmile]

9 minutes ago, Florian Saucer Attack said:

Do you like metal though?

Would you consider yourself relatively up to date with modern metal music?

I listen to lots of music too but there is probably huge J pop and K pop acts I've never heard of as I'm not interested in that sort of thing

Again courtesy of Spotify, I know that I listened to 65 different genres of music this year. I reckon metal probably wasn’t one of them. 
But I think someone like me would need to have heard of Ghost for them to headline Other. I don’t think there has been a headliner of any main stage over the past twenty years that I hadn’t heard of before they were announced to play. 

[charlierc]

On 12/16/2022 at 9:32 AM, Pr0paneNightm4re said:

Don’t think they were talked about playing much but this might potentially rule Biffy Clyro out as the lead singer is touring with another project the week before

As far as I know Biffy Clyro didn't have anything announced beyond the arena run they did in November. Presumably this is a further demonstration that they're going to be taking a break next year.

Whether the metal contingent that gets Glasto gigs extends to them is another question ofc.

[Florian Saucer Attack]

33 minutes ago, anditmakesmesmile said:

Again courtesy of Spotify, I know that I listened to 65 different genres of music this year. I reckon metal probably wasn’t one of them. 
But I think someone like me would need to have heard of Ghost for them to headline Other. I don’t think there has been a headliner of any main stage over the past twenty years that I hadn’t heard of before they were announced to play. 

I think your logic is flawed just because you've listened to polka, Mongolian throat music and 63 other genres this year but crucially not metal does not qualify you as someone who can cast judgements on festival placements of a metal band,

 

[anditmakesmesmile]

33 minutes ago, Florian Saucer Attack said:

I think your logic is flawed just because you've listened to polka, Mongolian throat music and 63 other genres this year but crucially not metal does not qualify you as someone who can cast judgements on festival placements of a metal band,

 

Actually none of the above. Well, maybe the Mongolian throat music… 

Generally I’d agree with you - it is a really subjective thing. And they may be brilliant. And I will listen to them later.  but I do think the last point I made is valid, which is that there isn’t a single headliner of any main stage over the past 20+ years that I hadn’t heard of at time of announcement. That possibly qualifies me as someone who can pass judgement on this festivals placements. But Ghost may well be the first. And seeing how much you like them, I hope they are. It’s always good to be challenged. 

[Robinn]

6 hours ago, Matt42 said:

Metal is a dying and fading footprint in modern culture. Hence the fact that Ghost and Babymetal are the only two acts in the last 10 or so years that have emerged and made an impact.

Couldn't disagree more!

[BBC7BBCHEAVEN]

3 hours ago, anditmakesmesmile said:

Again courtesy of Spotify, I know that I listened to 65 different genres of music this year. I reckon metal probably wasn’t one of them. 
But I think someone like me would need to have heard of Ghost for them to headline Other. I don’t think there has been a headliner of any main stage over the past twenty years that I hadn’t heard of before they were announced to play. 

Those Spotify stats are just nonsense to be honest

Mines always says I've listened to 50-100 different genres but I basically listen to rock and hip hop when it boils down to it. It's just that they specify things to the point of ridiculous genres - indie rock, rock, Brit pop, indie pop, chamber psych etc., They're all basically the same genre

 

I've never heard of ghost, and giving the link someone posted above would have absolutely zero interest in it, the idea they could headline other seems like nonsense 

[MaxPower]

10 hours ago, Matt42 said:

 

Metal is a dying and fading footprint in modern culture. Hence the fact that Ghost and Babymetal are the only two acts in the last 10 or so years that have emerged and made an impact. Bring Me started getting crossover success when they ditched  “deathcore”. I’m not saying they are bad but only people who are familiar with metal will know who they are. Metal really isn’t big in the public conscious at all.

Think the harshness of your language has meant people misinterpreting your point.

It’s pretty undeniable imo that where metal sits in mainstream culture is vastly different to 10 years ago and basically incomparable to 20/30/40 years ago.

As others have pointed out there are literally no bands that have emerged in the past 10-20 years that are in any way comparable in terms of mainstream cultural relevance or commercial success to Metallica, Iron Maiden, Black Sabbath, Bon Jovi, Motörhead etc etc. 

that doesn’t mean metal is “dying” (I know you didn’t say it was), it’s just not relevant to mainstream culture and is a subculture. That’s not a bad thing necessarily (I wish electronic music was more of a subculture than it currently is personally), tho it does mean that for big commercial metal festivals, there’s no acts with the mainstream or commercial success to dislodge those acts that found such success when metal was mainstream as a genre. 

[assorted]

Ghost plays arenas, as you can see if you look at their upcoming tour. In terms of selling seats in venues, they are as big as any of the 3 Other Stage headliners this year.

As much as I would love to see Ghost at Glastonbury, I agree the above makes it difficult to place them as I also agree the average Glasto attendee may not know them as well as, say, those 3 Other Stage headliners this year (even though they play equivalent venues). 

I don’t see them taking the mid-afternoon slots BMTH & BabyMetal have taken, maybe a secret set on John Peel, which at least is a bit darker? 

About metal “dying” - why are pop fans so insecure they have to shit on other genres of music? You literally like one of the most popular genres on the planet, so why so insecure you have to bust out words like “relevance” and “footprint” to shit on subcultures that should by their own goals and definitions not threaten your beloved pop music and its surrounding monoculture? 

[nikkic]

11 hours ago, SomeoneListeningIn said:

Ghost could headline the Pyramid in my opinion. They're clearly big enough.

If you put a hologram of Patrick Swayze making a clay pot on stage, it would make more sense than Ghost. 

[Matt42]

3 hours ago, assorted said:

About metal “dying” - why are pop fans so insecure they have to shit on other genres of music? You literally like one of the most popular genres on the planet, so why so insecure you have to bust out words like “relevance” and “footprint” to shit on subcultures that should by their own goals and definitions not threaten your beloved pop music and its surrounding monoculture? 

You’re assuming a lot here. Such as the music I’m familiar with and what I grew up listening to. I listened to a lot of rock and metal growing up, and I’m very familiar with pretty much all of the big players and their back catalogues.

And what I’ve gradually felt is that over time metal has dropped off the public conscious substantially and now become a huge niche. People are aware of the classics, but there’s virtually no knowledge of new emerging acts. I find it quite remarkable really, and it really signals the slow death of a genre if it’s no longer hitting highs and winning over new fans. It feels like metal is now just for who has always listened to it and there’s no “roping in” of new fans because there’s no new and exciting acts doing innovative things to garner peoples attention.

[danmarks]

Dunno. Youd better have a word with my son and his partner and their mates that they're too young to listen to the new metal stuff. Acts that ive never heard of and the stuff he plays me sounds awful to my ears.