Whether he’s playing or not it’s all about attracting a younger audience, says Michael Eavis.
Last week the speculation over who will bag the coveted Saturday night headline slot at this year's Glastonbury festival began in earnest.
Previous years have seen landmark sets from Radiohead, Coldplay and Robbie Williams among others. This year Eavis has promised, "a big black American artist," from New York, leading to speculation that the musician in question was rapper Jay-Z. This would be a radical departure from the usual Glastonbury headliner, typically a household name rock or pop act. Coincidentally, Jay-Z recently collaborated with Glastonbury favourite Chris Martin and last September became the first rap act to play London’s Royal Albert Hall. He has also supported the UN’s Water For Life programme, which campaigns to ensure clean drinking water and sanitation in the developing world. Glastonbury supports the charity WaterAid, whose aims are similar.
Radiohead had been rumoured to be headlining on Saturday 28 June, although this was largely a result of announcing a UK tour that, theoretically, left them free that night. (They play Glasgow on 27 June and Manchester on 29 June). Interviewed by Q, Eavis neither confirmed nor denied the Jay Z story, stating. "I can't tell you who it is at the moment but it's something slightly different from the Anglo-Saxon rock aspect."
Eavis has made no secret of his desire to ensure the festival continues to attract a young audience. "Those late teens are the kids who make it work," he said last year, when he also worried that the festival had become too, "middle-aged". Speaking to Q, he insisted his chief concern is the future relevance of the festival, and its charitable message.
"The Glastonbury audience is fantastic," he says. "But we're all getting older. I want to make sure we have a new crop of youngsters coming on board, so we don't all grow old together. There's a lot of campaigning going on at the festival and a whole lot of atmosphere. It would be nice for the younger generation to experience that too."
Glastonbury festival takes place at Worthy Farm, Pilton, Somerset, 27-29 June.
4:59 PM | 14/01/2008
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This is ridiculous. How many teenagers can afford Glastonbury?
And does the average rap fan like camping out in a muddy field all weekend?
What Michael said is very disrespectful to the 'middle aged' people who've been enjoying the festival for years.
I'm in my 20's and always liked the fact that all ages were welcome at Glastonbury, and there always seems to be a real cross-section of ages there.
If he wants something different, and to attract teens, how about getting S Club 7 to play or something equally silly?
Another point i have to make is should we really be incouraging teens to like rap music? What's wrong with them getting into real bands, as i did as a teen.
Posted by Laura at 5:46 PM | 15/01/2008 | Report Abuse
Laura you are just racist.
Glastonbury has had enough poor indie rubbish to last a lifetime
its time for a welcome change
Posted by mike at 6:43 PM | 17/01/2008 | Report Abuse
very difficult to understand why Laura is racist ...??!!!
The question is here whether the fact that Jay Z is only rumoured (since no act is ever confirmed before the tickets are sold) would be enough to attract different people to the festival: i.e. register next month, get up at 9am on Sunday April 6th to buy tickets etc... I think the answer is 'I doubt it'.
I also doubt that a lot of teenagers will be able to pay £150 + £££ to get there, buy camping gear, eat-drink etc... just because there is one act likely to play there.
So just like the other statement that teenagers were not able to buy tickets because tickets are sold online (as if most teenagers don't know about computers nowadays), this statement is also far from 100% proof.
Posted by eki at 12:40 PM | 23/01/2008 | Report Abuse
Haha, thanks for your comment Mike! It put a smile on my face as I find it absolutely hillarious! Ali G springs to mind. I'm not going to explain myself you you, there would be no point as you're possibly not able to understand anything. I'm sure 99.9% of people reading this will wonder how you jumped to such a conclusion. Anyway, moving on...
Eki you've got a good point, people aren't just going to go to Glaso because of J Kay, if they're not into everything else the festival has to offer.
I don't think teenagers could afford Glastonbury, which was my original point.
Evis has stated that he's trying to attract a younger audience, so one of this year's headliners will be "different from the Anglo-Saxon rock aspect." My question, is why does Evis think that to attract younger people he must change the music genre, and not make the entrance fee cheaper?! Surely this would make more sense.
Posted by Laura at 2:06 PM | 04/02/2008 | Report Abuse
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