Madonna will reportedly headline Glastonbury next year, the first time the singer has performed at the iconic festival.
Dua Lipa will also headline the event for the first time along with Coldplay, according to the Mail on Sunday, making it the first time that two female artists have headlined in the festival’s history.
Madonna, 65, is understood to have agreed to close the festival on the Sunday night on the Pyramid stage. Lipa is expected to be Friday’s headline act while Coldplay, who have headlined four times previously in 2002, 2005, 2011 and 2016, will reportedly play on Saturday.
Next year’s festival in Worthy Farm, Somerset, is scheduled to take place on 26–30 June.
Last year the lineup was all male with Arctic Monkeys, Guns N’ Roses and Sir Elton John performing.
Last month organiser Emily Eavis, daughter of Glastonbury founder Michael Eavis, said the “legend” slot on Sunday teatime would be a female artist. She also disclosed that a “really big” female US singer’s team had got in touch with her to say she was available, believed to be Madonna.
Eavis told Annie Mac and Nick Grimshaw’s Sidetracked podcast: “2024 is still a little up in the air, and I thought it was taking shape, then last week I just got a call, and this is what happens if you wait a little longer, because often we’ll be booked up from July.
“This year we’re holding out for a little bit longer and last week I got a call from a really big American artist saying this person’s around next year, and I was like: ‘Oh my God, this is incredible.’ Thank God we held the slot.”
No performers for the 2024 festival have yet been officially announced.
Addressing the lack of female headliners, Eavis added: “I’ve always been really passionate about gender split [on festival line-ups] and I think, actually, our problem was that I’d been so outspoken about it that having a year when there wasn’t a female sent people a bit mad – or some people.
“And we did have a female – she pulled out and we replaced them with Guns N’ Roses. But everyone knows that it’s top of my list.
“It is difficult with female artists because there aren’t enough headliners. But we’re also creating them.
after newsletter promotion
“We’re putting the bands and female artists on smaller stages and bringing them through all the time. And who knows? Next year we might get two. And certainly, I can say that the legend is female.”
Earlier this week, Glastonbury festival moved its ticket sales for 2024’s event, originally due to begin on Thursday, back by two weeks.
Organisers said the decision was “to ensure that everyone who would like to buy a ticket is registered and therefore eligible to purchase one … it has come to light that some individuals hoping to buy tickets for 2024 have discovered after Monday’s registration deadline that they are no longer registered, despite believing they were.” The sale has now been moved “out of fairness to those individuals”.
Tickets will now go on sale at 6pm GMT on Thursday 16 November for packages including coach travel. General admission tickets will go on sale at 9am GMT, Sunday 19 November.