Mumford & Sons confirm Glastonbury Festival headline show

and Eavis aims for half a century of festivals

By Scott Williams | Published: Tue 25th Jun 2013

Glastonbury Festival 2013 - Mumford and Sons @ Other Stage
Photo credit: Gary Stafford

Glastonbury Festival 2013

Wednesday 26th to Sunday 30th June 2013
Worthy Farm, Pilton, Shepton Mallet, Somerset, BA4 4AZ, England MAP
£205 (secured with a £50 deposit) - SOLD OUT
Daily capacity: 177,500

Glastonbury Festival headliners Mumford & Sons have confirmed that they will be making an appearance after their bassist, Ted Dwane, was hospitalised for emergency surgery to treat a blood clot on his brain two weeks ago.

The band had to cancel American dates and festival appearances. Keyboard player Ben Lovett told the BBC, (here), that his fellow band member had recovered and was "going to be okay. We're going to get back out on that stage at Glastonbury as four brothers and do what we do." 

Five years ago the band first attended the Festival only a couple of months after they formed. Lovett adds, "To have 1,000 people turn up and sit in a field and watch us play some songs... that completely blew my mind. Each time we play we're slightly out of our comfort zone. But that's an inspiration - every time it's just a bit madder than we were expecting. But whenever we tour elsewhere then come back to Glastonbury, it always reminds us how brilliant it is to be British, and what a great British institution it is."

In other Glastonbury news the farmer, who is now 77, and has run the Glastonbury festival for the past 43 years since it started in 1970 as Pilton Pop, Blues and Folk Festival, has said that he hopes to be running the festival for another seven years in order to reach the event's fiftieth birthday, in 2020.

Glastonbury Festival's gates open tomorrow and under what should be fairly rain free skies will offer attendees the most extensive line-up across more than 50 stages has been announced, as well as music there's theatre, circus, comedy, speakers, special guests, films, installations, and campaigners who will be keeping Festival goers entertained over the five full days from Wednesday 26th June until Monday 1st July 2013 across a 1000 hectares (2470 acres) of beautiful countryside at Worthy Farm, Somerset.

Even those not attending will be able to enjoy the event from their armchairs with 250 hours of coverage from the Festival's six stages. Farmer and organiser Michael Eavis has explained why he has kept the coverage with the BBC despite better offers from other broadcasters, "All through the years, we'd have people phone us from Sky and Channel 4 – 'Can we do it, we’ll do it better, we'll pay you more money' – and I said, 'Well, we're not interested in the money. We want to support a national institution that benefits the whole wide world for free. OK? That's it. Period'."

Tickets were priced at £205, and have sold out.

The Rolling Stones, Mumford & Sons, and Arctic Monkeys headline with Bobby Womack, Dizzee Rascal, Primal Scream, Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds, Vampire Weekend, Elvis Costello, Portishead, Chase & Status, The xx, Foals, Example, The Smashing Pumpkins, Alt-J, Two Door Cinema Club, Public Image Ltd. (PiL), Tame Impala, Alabama Shakes, Editors, Chic Ft. Nile Rodgers, Public Enemy, The Weeknd, Seasick Steve, Major Lazer, Tom Tom Club, Maverick Sabre, Lianne La Havas, Crystal Castles, Hurts, Phoenix, Bruce Forsyth, Bastille, Everything Everything, James Blake, Johnny Marr, The Courteeners, Jessie Ware, Cat Power, The Horrors, Fuck Buttons, Django Django, Rodriguez, Dinosaur Jr, Calexico, Steve Mason, Palma Violets, Devandra Banhat, Michael Kiwanuka, Steve Winwood, Sinead O' Connor, Lucinda Williams, Glen Hansard, Bill Wyman's Rhythm Kings, Gabrielle Aplin, The Proclaimers, Martha Wainwright, Seth Lakeman, KT Tunstall, Ben Caplan, Beverley Knight, Crowns, Evan Dando, Gary Clark Jr, and many, many more.

There are still a few more to be confirmed for the Festival including BBC Introducing, Arcadia, The Croissant-Neuf Bandstand, Greenpeace, Shangri-La: Heaven, Strummerville, and The Arctic Dome.

To take a look at the music line-up see our Glastonbury 2013 line-up here.




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