2024 Headliners

[Avalon_Fields]

1 hour ago, sheffieldlady said:

Let's just say, whilst they were recording The Car, there was talk of it being their last album as not all members of AM enjoyed the recording process or the new direction too much.. 👀

Ah! Interesting. It’s kind of like imagining Dave Grohl or Keith Moon would be happy playing mellow basic beats with brushes rather than drum sticks. No chance! 

[northernangel]

2 hours ago, MEGABOWL said:

They opened with that in 2013?

Sorry, Why'd you only call me when your high?

I thought R U Mine? was impressive this year. I'm definitely done though as far as seeing them goes.

[Skip997]

I'd be happy to have Coldplay, Radiohead and Muse on the Pyramid.

As long as we can have Justice, Public Enemy and Janelle Monáe on West Holts

[CaledonianGonzo]

Yes, I'd love to do nothing but re-experience headliners from previous years for some reason.

[MEGABOWL]

9 minutes ago, northernangel said:

Sorry, Why'd you only call me when your high?

I thought R U Mine? was impressive this year. I'm definitely done though as far as seeing them goes.

Ah gotcha

[MEGABOWL]

Don’t get the beef about repeat headliners. It’s the very lucky few who get to go regularly who are bothered, yet they’re the ones who are most likely to understand the constraints GFL are under when booking headliners, and also that there are always lots of other choices at that time. I wouldn’t want to see Coldplay every other year, but I could totally understand them being booked next year if they were keen.

[CaledonianGonzo]

One in a given year is fine.  Two starts to feel a bit less special ' unless it's for someone like Beyonce which would be a special booking even second time around.

At least realistically the threat of Muse or the Arctic Monkeys has now largely passed forever.

[Hugh Jass II]

Bands coming back and playing the same basic set they did before is pretty lame, which is why you can't really repeat book legacy headliners (or at least a gap of almost 20 years like they did with Macca). If you're coming back then you need to be able to offer something you didn't last time.

Problem with Coldplay coming back is most of the music they've put out since they last headlined has been f**king abysmal.

[mazola]

3 hours ago, Hugh Jass II said:

2013 was good. The idea that they weren't is just repeated by the same few people (who weren't even there) over and over again on here until people think it's a fact.

I think the fact they were up against two worldies at the same time doesn't help with the memory of it, I know a couple of people who wished they were elsewhere on reflection

[incident]

40 minutes ago, MEGABOWL said:

Don’t get the beef about repeat headliners. It’s the very lucky few who get to go regularly who are bothered, yet they’re the ones who are most likely to understand the constraints GFL are under when booking headliners, and also that there are always lots of other choices at that time. I wouldn’t want to see Coldplay every other year, but I could totally understand them being booked next year if they were keen.

Yep - I reckon punter turnover between each festival must be around 20% or so. Maybe a bit higher recently due to the extra fallow years. Scale that across multiple years, and factoring it down slightly to account for overlaps, how many people who'll be going to the festival in 2024 were actually there in 2016 when Coldplay and Muse last played? My guess would be somewhere around a third, but it could even be under a quarter.

Full disclosure: I was at the festival in 2016, and didn't watch either act. I won't be watching if they play 2024 either, but can fully appreciate that many people would be excited about the prospect and for them it'd be a first time experience and potentially a chance to replicate a "magic moment" that they saw on TV and got them interested in the festival in the first place.

[gfa]

22 hours ago, northernangel said:

Exactly. As I said previously, they could have done this years tour in 2013 comfortably on the back of AM. One can only speculate why not earlier.

They didn't like stadiums apparently

10 hours ago, charlierc said:

Well, they did 2 nights at Manchester Old Trafford cricket stadium in 2007 that sold out, so they'd clearly been big enough for years, even if I think they had a slight dip in popularity during Humbug/Suck It. But they very much could have done a full stadium tour in 2014 when AM was perhaps the biggest album of the previous 12 months, certainly at least was in a rock context.

My disdain for Finsbury Park means I think I would've preferred it if they'd done a stadium over FP in 2014, but that's unrelated.

Not doubting they could do it

[Suprefan]

3 hours ago, Hugh Jass II said:

That said if Coldplay are announced yet again then so be it. As long as there's a decent alternative somewhere else I don't really care.

Thats what the chemical brothers are for apparently. 

[northernangel]

11 minutes ago, gfa said:

They didn't like stadiums apparently

I don't blame them. I'd never choose to watch a band inside a stadium

[FuzzyDunlop]

Coldplay would be the pits of a booking. The worst realistic booking there is, due to how many times they've done it.

[On The Blend]

So it's been a slow week at work and I decided to read this entire thread from the start, here's my highlight reel of daft and/ or ambitious takes: 

* No-one over 30 listens to Dave

* Taylor Swift (the second most streamed artist on Spotify) would want the exposure boost from playing the Pyramid

* Kate Bush

* Billionaires are worthy of respect

[Superscally]

20 hours ago, aj6658 said:

Think saying that their fans want Fluorescent adolescent on loop is unfair. 

For me, the last two albums sound like uncomfortable elevator music. Gave it a couple of listens, will never go back. Anecdotally, no one I know actually likes their last two outings. (again that's anecdotally) just shows different audiences and I think that's backed up by the sales - If they haven't sold well, it suggest it has alienated who swathes of their fanbase. Doesn't mean its bad, just means they're playing for a different audience 

I'll focus on the last sentence. They're playing for themselves and anyone who wants to come along for the ride is welcome. Thats the way to longevity as a band, alongside being sensible with their live offering which is exactly what they're doing....

[Superscally]

6 hours ago, Hugh Jass II said:

2013 was good. The idea that they weren't is just repeated by the same few people (who weren't even there) over and over again on here until people think it's a fact.

Sorry Hugh mate, I was at 2013 and didn't rate it. Maybe it's because I was squashed in the front snaffle, but I much preferred this year.

[Superscally]

3 hours ago, northernangel said:

Sorry, Why'd you only call me when your high?

I thought R U Mine? was impressive this year. I'm definitely done though as far as seeing them goes.

Why'd you only call me is f**king SHITE.

[charlierc]

5 hours ago, fightoffyour said:

Isn't that always their problem?

Well I can say that at 2 of the times I've seen Arctic Monkeys and the only time I've seen Last Shadow Puppets that I've thought the sound system wasn't very good.

Equally, 2007 seems to have a reputation for having shite sound on the Pyramid after a new sound system debuted that year was rigged improperly. Though consensus is that it was worse for The Killers than for AM. And a slight contrast given that when The Killers returned in 2019, a report said they broke the record for loudest Glastonbury headline set.

[fraybentos1]

11 hours ago, northernangel said:

 

Half the argument was can they do it down south. They could always do it in the North given where they are from.

No it wasn’t,  they’re not the courteeners. They could easily done it at basically any point in their career 

[charlierc]

3 hours ago, CaledonianGonzo said:

At least realistically the threat of Muse or the Arctic Monkeys has now largely passed forever.

It is quite something the last few pages have ended up heavily debating Arctic Monkeys when it would be a big surprise for them to turn up as headliners 2 years running. Well unless they're kept in reserve like Reading now seems to do with the 1975.

[MEGABOWL]

2 hours ago, incident said:

Yep - I reckon punter turnover between each festival must be around 20% or so. Maybe a bit higher recently due to the extra fallow years. Scale that across multiple years, and factoring it down slightly to account for overlaps, how many people who'll be going to the festival in 2024 were actually there in 2016 when Coldplay and Muse last played? My guess would be somewhere around a third, but it could even be under a quarter.

Full disclosure: I was at the festival in 2016, and didn't watch either act. I won't be watching if they play 2024 either, but can fully appreciate that many people would be excited about the prospect and for them it'd be a first time experience and potentially a chance to replicate a "magic moment" that they saw on TV and got them interested in the festival in the first place.

Exactly. I don’t get it. There’s a small pool of acts that can headline Glastonbury, and an even smaller pool in any particular year once you factor in availability. There’s gonna be 100k+ people paying probably near £400 for tickets next year, but they shouldn’t get to see a particular act headline because they’ve done it before and those lucky enough to go every year are bored of them? Doesn’t seem fair.

Equally yes a big headliner is going to play a lot of songs they played last time they headlined. Part of the reason they’re a headliner is because they’ve got a stash of popular songs that have endured. I’m going to see The National in September, I’ll be a bit miffed if they refuse to do any of the songs they played last time they were in Glasgow because ‘we’ll we’ve played these here before.’ 

[Hugh Jass II]

56 minutes ago, Superscally said:

Why'd you only call me is f**king SHITE.

Most of AM is.

[charlierc]

32 minutes ago, MEGABOWL said:

I’m going to see The National in September, I’ll be a bit miffed if they refuse to do any of the songs they played last time they were in Glasgow because ‘we’ll we’ve played these here before.’ 

I'm seeing them in London in September. As a big fan of High Violet I'm hoping for a few cuts from that more than anything, not least England which seems to usually be a staple of theirs but was not played when I saw them for the only time so far in Italy 5 years ago.

[charlierc]

15 hours ago, Avalon_Fields said:

Trouble is, I’m always thinking it’s a terrible waste of a great drummer. I’d love to know what Matt Helders really thinks of the last two albums.

Well he was asked about this when The Car was released and he said he quite enjoyed the challenge: Matt Helders says being the "rock guy" is less challenging than drumming on Arctic... - Radio X

Tbf I used to play the drums and from that experience I can tell there's some tracks on the last 2 albums that do seem to be a bit more intricate than they perhaps first appear. Though I do agree that we're due a proper sticks-and-skins thrash from him given none of AM, TBHC or The Car has a song where he just gets to let loose.