Glastonbury Festival 2024 Finally Drops First Wave Of Acts

by | Mar 14, 2024

In unusual form for Glastonbury Festival, today (14th March) marks the first official confirmation of names that will be descending upon Worth Farm this June to play the legendary Somerset festival. In years past, at least one Pyramid Stage headliner has been revealed ahead of the year commencing, but while the rumour-mill has been rife with suggestions of who might be playing this year, and specifically who will be closing the main stages each night, it was last week that event organiser Emily Eavis officially confirmed that the first wave of acts would be announced this week and that we would be rewarded with not one, but two female headliners. This follows the 2023 edition when not a single female act closed the Pyramid Stage, although Lana Del Rey made headlines for her tardiness when headlining Glastonbury’s Other Stage and subsequently being cut-off!

Glastonbury Festival 2023

Glastonbury Festival 2023 (Kalpesh Patel)
Glastonbury Festival 2023 (Kalpesh Patel)

Anglo-Albanian popstress Dua Lipa, Exeter-hailing pop-rockers Coldplay and hip-hop/R&B star Solána Imani Rowe – AKA SZA – top the bill at this year’s festival, closing the Pyramid Stage on each of festival nights with Country Music legend Shania Twain taking up Sunday’s “Legends” slot following a residency at Las Vegas’ Planet Hollywood.

Coldplay @ Glastonbury 2016

Coldplay @ Glastonbury 2016 (Kalpesh Patel)
Coldplay @ Glastonbury 2016 (Kalpesh Patel)

Say Glastonbury Festival of their announcement:

Dua Lipa makes her Pyramid Stage debut as our Friday night headliner, on a Friday bill also featuring Glastonbury veterans LCD Soundsystem and PJ Harvey.

Dua Lipa @ Shepherd's Bush Empire

Dua Lipa @ Shepherd's Bush Empire (Kalpesh Patel)
Dua Lipa @ Shepherd's Bush Empire (Kalpesh Patel)

Coldplay will make their first Pyramid Stage appearance since 2016 on the Saturday night, with the only European festival appearance of their record-breaking current world tour, in the process beating their previous joint headliner record (with The Cure) and becoming the first act to headline Glastonbury five times. Little Simz comes back to Glastonbury to play her biggest slot yet immediately before Coldplay.

Coldplay @ The IndigO2

Chris Martin of Coldplay (Kalpesh Patel)
Chris Martin of Coldplay (Kalpesh Patel)

Our Sunday night headliner is SZA, the multiple Grammy and Brits winner – and quite possibly the hottest hip hop / R&B act on the planet – who will make her Glastonbury debut following Sunday sets from Afrobeats megastar Burna Boy and Janelle Monáe.

This year’s Sunday teatime legend will be Shania Twain, who makes her first trip to Worthy Farm for what promises to be one of the most popular sets of the weekend.

The Pyramid Stage will also see performances by the likes of thirteen-piece K-Pop band confusingly called Seventeen, marking the first appearance of a K-Pop act, the world-consuming contemporary music phenomenon, on Glastonbury’s main stage.1980’s pop mainstay Cyndi Lauper will make her Glastonbury debut on the main stage, while Michael Kiwanuka follows his 2019 Park Stage headline set with a shift over to the Pyramid.

Glastonbury Festival 2019

Michael Kiwanuka @ Glastonbury Festival 2019 (Kalpesh Patel)
Michael Kiwanuka @ Glastonbury Festival 2019 (Kalpesh Patel)

In addition to a host of acts being announced, the stages on which they appear have also been announced today with Idles, Disclosure and The National topping the bill on The Other Stage alongside The Voice UK host Anne-Marie, EMO-rock star Avril Lavigne, Essex rockers Nothing But Thieves and, following opening Woodsies on Saturday last year, baroque rock indie darlings The Last Dinner Party will play to a much larger crowd on The Other Stage this time around.

The Last Dinner Party @ Glastonbury Festival 2023

The Last Dinner Party @ Glastonbury Festival 2023 (Kalpesh Patel)
The Last Dinner Party @ Glastonbury Festival 2023 (Kalpesh Patel)

Elsewhere, Jamie XX and Romy (also of The XX) will each take a turn on Woodsies alongside the wonderful Arlo Parks, Soccer Mommy and L.A.-based Blondshell.

Arlo Parks @ Hammersmith Apollo

Arlo Parks @ Hammersmith Apollo (Kalpesh Patel)
Arlo Parks @ Hammersmith Apollo (Kalpesh Patel)

The 2023 edition was memorable of course for featuring rousing sets from the likes of Rick Astley, RAYE and The Hives along with a divisive sets from headliners Arctic Monkeys and Guns N’ Roses. We were also treated to a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it secret set by Foo Fighters (with Dave Grohl going on to appear with The Pretenders as well as Guns N’ Roses in true Chris Martin-style!) as well as a festival-closer to beat them all as we bid goodbye (yellow brick road) to Sir Elton John. Let’s see if Coldplay frontman Chris Martin can keep himself constrained to his band’s slot following many a meme in 2016 after Martin popped up during both Stormzy’s highly-anticipated headline appearance as well as Kylie’s legends slot.

While a longer list of acts playing this year’s event is expected closer to the summer followed by day and stage breakdowns, the full list of artists confirmed for Glastonbury Festival 2024 so far are:

Glastonbury 2024 - Lineup Poster 1

Photography by Kalpesh Patel

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