Glastonbury Festival has announced the headliners for its 2023 line-up and it’s causing an uproar amongst fans. Guns N’ Roses and the Arctic Monkeys have been announced as the ‘final two headliners’ for the Saturday night and Friday night slots on the Pyramid Stage; joining Elton John, who was previously announced as the show’s closing headliner on Sunday night. However, all three top-billed slots at Glastonbury 2023 are filled with white, male artists, which has led to criticism from fans who argue that this is a direct symptom of industry failures to support female artists.
Emily Eavis, co-organiser of the annual Glastonbury Festival, released a statement to The Guardian, seemingly pre-empting the backlash. “The music industry needs to invest in more female musicians to create future headliners,” she said. “We’re trying our best so the pipeline needs to be developed. This starts way back with the record companies, radio. I can shout as loud as I like but we need to get everyone on board.”
Despite the criticism, the rest of the lineup includes decent levels of diversity, and many fans have noted that Lana Del Rey, Lizzo, or Lil Nas X could have easily filled a headline slot. However, Lizzo will open for Guns N’ Roses at Glastonbury Festival 2023, despite Eavis’s admission that “she could totally headline”. The lineup was shifted around last-minute after a female artist “changed her touring plans”, and many fans had hoped for Taylor Swift to headline after her 2020 headline slot was cancelled due to COVID.
Although the headliners are all white men, Eavis hopes that the artist who had to cancel will headline “within the next five years”. Meanwhile, fans have taken particular umbrage with the announcement of rock band Guns N’ Roses’s headline slot for Glastonbury Festival 2023, seemingly due to previous poor experiences with the group. Regardless, many more acts are yet to be announced for Glastonbury Festival 2023.