Glastonbury addresses lack of female headline act for 2023 festival
With festival season just around the corner, many music lovers have been excited for the long-awaited line up announcement for Glastonbury Festival 2023.
Fans couldn't wait to finally find out who would be gracing the headline stages this year.
Organisers released the lineup this morning (3 March) yet many have been quick to notice some major issues with the programming - namely having all-male headline acts.
The festival has since addressed their lack of female headliners, explaining the reason for this lack of 'diversity'.
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The lineup currently sees the likes of Elton John closing the festival on Sunday night for his final ever UK date - an act which ticket-holders already knew about before the controversy.
Joining the British icon includes the Arctic Monkeys who will be returning to play for their third time at the event on the Friday alongside Guns n' Roses for the Saturday headline slot.
Just minutes after the news was released, fans were quick to call out the festival organisers for their lack of 'diversity' in the long-anticipated lineup.
One Instagram user wrote: "Please please diversify your line up! This is so disappointing."
Another sarcastically posted: "Glad to see so much diversity for headline acts."
"All! Male! Headliners!" pointed out a third.
Emily Eavis, co-organiser of the famed British festival, has since addressed such concerns and the 'pipeline' problems related the lineup.
Emily explained that the main stage act for Saturday, Guns N' Roses, were not the first choice to fill the prime time slot.
She confirmed that the hard rock band were, in fact, replacing a female singer who 'changed her touring plans', The Guardian reports.
Keeping the 'female singer' in question hush-hush, Emily was careful not to name anyone in particular.
However, there had been some speculation that Taylor Swift, who is about to embark on her 'Eras' tour, was going to headline the festival.
Bad news for any Swifties out there.
The 'Anti-Hero' singer was also originally set to perform in 2020 when the festival was unfortunately cancelled due to the events of the coronavirus pandemic.
Emily has since expressed her excitement for the addition of Guns N' Roses on the roster, telling the news outlet: "They’ll be brilliant and provide something totally different to the rest of the headliners."
This 'totally different' headline act still leaves us with a totally male headline lineup though.
On top of that, 53% of the performers named in this first wave of acts are men, including major names in music like Aitch, Fred Again.., Lewis Capaldi, Lil Nas X, and Thundercat.
Responding to this, Emily claimed she and the other organisers - one of which is her father, Michael Eavis - were 'entirely focused' on balancing their bill.
"It’s not just about gender, it’s about every aspect of diversity," she explained.
Emily was sure to mention that she and her father have already got one female headliner confirmed for 2024 as well as being close to confirming another.
Both of which, she revealed, are Glastonbury first-timers.
Other acts confirmed for this year's festival include the likes of Slowthai, Rina Sawayama, Raye, Loyle Carner, Manic Street Preachers, Lana Del Rey, Blondie, and Lizzo.
While the all-male headliners may come as a let-down for some, Emily promised a whole load of secret sets for this year's event suggesting that the 'big surprises' will happen on the bigger stages.
The iconic festival will take place from 21 to 25 June - for anyone lucky enough to have secured tickets.
And, for those that have, it's finally that time to get out the glitter and the camping gear once again.
Rhiannon Ingle