2025 Headliners

[MEGATRONICMEATWAGON]

22 minutes ago, gfa said:

If everyone is white blokes then yeah definitely mate

 

5 minutes ago, Gejonimo said:

Mental that you use the word diversity then offer up the blandest set of white men in the business. 

 

I think he meant diversity of genre...

[rwoo]

Billy Joel has got to be on for a headline slot. I’d love to see him do it, he still sounds great and his setlist is packed. 
 

BJ/Fred/O-Rod

[4AssedMonkey]

2008 - KoL/Jay-Z/Verve

2009 - Neil Young/Bruce/Blur

2010 - Gorillaz/Muse/Stevie Wonder

2011 - Beyonce/U2/Coldplay

2013 - Arctics/Stones/Mumford

2014 - Arcade Fire/Metallica/Kasabian

2015 - Florence/Kanye/Who

2016 - Muse/Adele/Coldplay

2017 - Radiohead/Foos/Sheeran

2019 - Stormzy/Killers/Cure

2022 - Billie/Macca/Kendrick

2023 - Arctics/GnR/Elton

2024 - Dua/Coldplay/SZA

 

I reckon the bookers do a good job every year of trying to bag the best available headliners and having some variety.  There have been some outliers - but if you look at the above list and think about who was available and active at the time, there's loads more hits than misses.

 

FWIW I don't think Bruce will be there.  His most recent live shows have clearly been a cash cow for him after years of the "man of the people" schtick.  I don't see why he'd come back for a low fee having already done it once and the dates don't work well.  I also don't think we'll see Stevie Wonder either as his health is rumoured to be not good.

 

I agree that Billy Joel would be a great headliner and would fit the bill, balancing out O-Rod and Fred Again... so I agree with @rwoo above.  Not sure whether he would care about headlining Glasto, or be prepared to do it for buttons, but would be a great fit.

[MEGATRONICMEATWAGON]

All this talk of Billy Joel nearly had me buying tickets for Billy Joel's Songbook. Didn't realise it was actually Elio Pace until the nick of time and time to confirm purchase! Thought the prices were too good to be true. 75 euro for a front seat, thought I was onto a winner, lol.

[DomDom1984]

Billy Joel is incredible live. Would be a tremendous pick. 

[kalifire]

Billy Joel would almost be as awful as Bruce Springsteen. Old white men with little to offer than ‘remember what I was like?’  
 

G25 needs to be modern, progressive, and reflect an understanding of where music is at currently. 

[incident]

2 minutes ago, kalifire said:

Billy Joel would almost be as awful as Bruce Springsteen. Old white men with little to offer than ‘remember what I was like?’  
 

G25 needs to be modern, progressive, and reflect an understanding of where music is at currently. 

 

Follow that through to the conclusion, and you end up with less acts like Elton, more acts like SZA. I think most people can accept that a balance is needed - Billy Joel as part of a trio of headliners all 60+ would be a bad move. Billy Joel as the only 60+ act a good one.

 

Aside from that, a lot of contemporary acts seem pretty enamoured with him.

 

[Mardy]

Uptown Girl and that one where he lists loads of bad things. Like a worse version of REM's 'the end of the world'. Has he done anything else I'd know?

[CaledonianGonzo]

The Lido Shuffle?

[Mardy]

3 minutes ago, CaledonianGonzo said:

The Lido Shuffle?

 

Man, playing it now, some serious groove going on there. This is something I can firmly get behind.

 

Someone hit up the Eavii  - 'Toe the line or blow it'

[Mardy]

I'd rather have the Boz than the Boss.

[Spindles]

Personally I'd like to see them sack off the heritage act headliners.  O-rod, Fred and the lad Fender would be bob on for me, all at the top of their game right now.

[CaledonianGonzo]

There's only another 10 years or so of those sort of acts being available and viable. We'll miss them when they're gone.

[Skip997]

12 minutes ago, Spindles said:

Personally I'd like to see them sack off the heritage act headliners.  O-rod, Fred and the lad Fender would be bob on for me, all at the top of their game right now.

With you on sacking off the old duffers 

[CaledonianGonzo]

Love The Boss's music - which is why I think they should book Sam Fender

[stuie]

34 minutes ago, Skip997 said:

With you on sacking off the old duffers 

 

Apart from the old duffers you like, that is. 

 

Edited August 12 by stuie

[MEGABOWL]

1 hour ago, kalifire said:

Billy Joel would almost be as awful as Bruce Springsteen. Old white men with little to offer than ‘remember what I was like?’  
 

G25 needs to be modern, progressive, and reflect an understanding of where music is at currently. 

Good idea. Given the ability of the likes of Bruce Springsteen, Billy Joel, and Liam Gallagher to sell tickets they would fit very nicely into a reflection of where music is at currently.

Edited August 12 by MEGABOWL

[CaledonianGonzo]

They should book the act who by common consensus released the best album of the last year.

[4AssedMonkey]

1 hour ago, Spindles said:

Personally I'd like to see them sack off the heritage act headliners.  O-rod, Fred and the lad Fender would be bob on for me, all at the top of their game right now.

 

Never going to happen and I'm glad of it.  The bookers will always want headliners/subs/3rd down on the Pyramid to offer a range of genres, ages, styles and that's what the majority of the public want.  Especially the ones who rarely (if ever) leave their picnic & folding chairs.  Variety is one of Glastonbury's strengths through the bill.  I personally like that.

[CaledonianGonzo]

Ideally Glastonbury should never have booked anyone old ever.

 

They plain f**ked up by booking Bowie rather than genuinely popular at the time year 2000 acts like The Dandy Warhols and the Baha Men.

[Franky]

6 hours ago, Gejonimo said:

Mental that you use the word diversity then offer up the blandest set of white men in the business. 

I mean, that’s down to personal opinion I can’t help that. But equally, genre not race, as someone else pointed out. 

[MEGATRONICMEATWAGON]

[MEGATRONICMEATWAGON]

2 hours ago, Mardy said:

Uptown Girl and that one where he lists loads of bad things. Like a worse version of REM's 'the end of the world'. Has he done anything else I'd know?

 

Watching the first season of the Boys made me realise he's got a plethora of great hits.

 

If Karl Urban comes out dressed as Butcher for a rendition of Pressure, I'd be in bits.

[kalifire]

1 hour ago, CaledonianGonzo said:

They should book the act who by common consensus released the best album of the last year.

No, they should book the act that by common consensus released the best album twenty years ago. 

Edited August 12 by kalifire

[VCK2]

7 hours ago, Gejonimo said:

Mental that you use the word diversity then offer up the blandest set of white men in the business. 

 

Musically, that's a more diverse set of headliners than some of the "diverse" trios of headliners that get suggested.

Edited August 12 by VCK2