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This year’s worst kept secret is officially out.
Glastonbury Festival bosses have finally confirmed that former Beatles superstar Sir Paul McCartney will headline Glastonbury in June 2020, on the 50th anniversary of the world-famous festival in Somerset. McCartney will take to the Pyramid Stage on Saturday 27the June, one week after his 78th birthday. This will be the first time McCartney has performed on the Pyramid Stage since the summer of 2004.
Ahead of any official announcement by Glastonbury, Paul McCartney tweeted out a teaser photo of Philip Glass, Emma Stone and Chuck Berry, basically confirming the news to the Twittersphere. Get it? Glass… Stone… Berry? I hope Paul came up with that himself, ’cause that’s my kind of basic humour.
The news was officially confirmed by Glastonbury bosses on Monday (18th November) afternoon, who tweeted:
“We are incredibly excited to announce that @PaulMcCartney will headline the Pyramid Stage on the Saturday night of Glastonbury.”
McCartney responded on Twitter, saying:
“Hey Glasto – excited to be part of your Anniversary celebrations. See ya next summer!”
Emily Eavis, daughter of Glastonbury founder Michael Eavis said:
“Having Paul McCartney coming back to headline the Pyramid for the second time next year is an absolute dream come true.”
If any of this is even a remote shock to you, then I don’t know what rock you’ve been hiding under this year, but I’m keen to go on holiday there to really get away from it all, at some point.
Rumours circulating over which artist will headline Glastonbury is a yearly tradition – we know this – but it seems like this year, bosses, nor McCartney really made any effort whatsoever to even try and keep the secret airtight from festival-goers. Personally, I love a good jaw-dropping reveal – Drag Race is responsible for whetting that appetite over the years – not endless teasing.
In April, Michael Eavis admitted to a BBC reporter that he had a huge star in mind for the festival’s 50th anniversary and then told the journalist not to “make a big thing of it”. As a journalist myself, I can confirm that phrases like that often fall on dead ears with us.
Then, of course, during an interview with BBC Radio 2 breakfast show host Zoe Ball in September, McCartney said his Glastonbury booking was “starting to become [a] remote kind of possibility.” He added:
“My kids are saying, ‘Dad, we’ve got to talk about Glastonbury’, and I think I know what they mean.
“We played there quite a long time ago so maybe it is time to go back. I don’t know. I’d have to put a few things in place.”
Glastonbury 2020 is shaping up to be quite the f*cking show. Legend Diana Ross has also confirmed that she will be performing at Glastonbury next year and rumours that the Spice Girls, Taylor Swift, The 1975 and Elton John are all set to perform are gaining serious momentum. Read more here.
If they throw in another live David Attenborough appearance, next year’s Glastonbury has the potential to be almost too much for me to handle. I don’t know if I can handle that much legend on one stage.
Images via Glastonbury Festival and Getty
Having worked in children's media and publishing for almost a decade, Ben is thoroughly excited to now be able to swear in stories and features. He is such a big fan of Disney and Horror films that he started an LGBTQ+ podcast called 'Once Upon A Scream'. His mum listens. You can contact Ben at [email protected] Twitter: @PulsfordBen / Instagram: @thebenmidler
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