Guns N’ Roses and Arctic Monkeys to headline Glastonbury along with Elton John

[1/2]Sir Elton John speaks to members of the media about the impact of U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) over the last 20 years, in Johannesburg, South Africa, February 23, 2023. REUTERS/Sumaya Hisham

LONDON, March 3 (Reuters) – Guns N’ Roses and Arctic Monkeys will join Elton John as headliners at the Glastonbury Festival in June, organisers said on Friday, drawing attention to the largely male line-up of its biggest performers this year.

The festival’s official poster gave U.S. rapper Lizzo joint headline billing but she was the lone, high-profile female performer among the main acts this year.

Rapper Lil Nas X and British folk singer Yusuf/Cat Stevens will perform at Worthy Farm in southern England, alongside Fatboy Slim, Blondie, Nigerian singer Wizkid and dozens of other performers, many of whom not yet been announced.

Organiser Emily Eavis, daughter of Michael Eavis who founded the festival on the family farm in 1970, said the music industry should invest in more female musicians to create future headliners.

“We’re trying our best,” she told the Guardian newspaper. “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.”

Among all the performers due to appear at the festival this year, there was a nearly 50/50 split between male and female acts, the newspaper said.

Glastonbury typically sells out before any headliners – who perform in the key time slots on the festival’s main stage – have been announced given the strength of previous line-ups which have featured stars from Beyonce and David Bowie to Dolly Parton, Bruce Springsteen and the Rolling Stones.

Tickets for the 2023 event were all snapped up in just over an hour.

Paul McCartney, 80, played last year’s Glastonbury, as the festival returned from a three-year absence due to the coronavirus pandemic.

While English rock act Arctic Monkeys will be making their third appearance as headliners at Glastonbury following the release of a new album in October, it will be the first time for American rock legends Guns N’ Roses, who will be touring Europe in June.

Elton John’s appearance was announced in December.

(This story has been corrected to show Arctic Monkeys making third, not second Glastonbury appearance in paragraph 10.)

Reporting by Sachin Ravikumar, Editing by Paul Sandle and William Schomberg

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