Glastonbury Festival Lineups
Bands and Artists Who Have Played the Long-Running UK Rock Festival
Jul 17, 2008
Over the years, some of the best rock, pop and folk musicians in the world have played the Glastonbury Festival bringing an almost surreal air to the village of Pilton in this fairly remote part of Somerset in England’s South West. The list of performers at Glastonbury reads like a who’s who of rock and most artists regard their appearance on either the Pyramid Stage or one of the other stages on site as a badge of honour.
Who are they? Depending on the reader’s age, some names will be very familiar, others will be new, and some will be surprised when they look down the list of performers and think of the stars who have not been invited to appear.
Here’s a list of just some the headliners at Glastonbury Festival in some of the years in which the festival has run.
1970
- T-Rex
- Roy Harper
- Al Stewart
- Quintessance
- The Amazing Blondel
- Sam Apple Pie
- Steamhammer
- Ian Anderson
- Duster Bennet
- Keith Christmas
1971
- David Bowie
- Terry Reid
- Traffic
- Hawkwind
- The Crazy World of Arthur Brown
- Gong
- Family
- Fairport Convention
- Edgar Broughton Band
- Quintessance
1979
- Gong
- Steve Hillage
- John Martyn
- Leyton Buzzards
- The Pop Group
- The Only Ones
- Peter Gabriel and Friends.
1981
- New Order
- Hawkwind
- Gong
- Taj Mahal
- John Cooper Clarke
- Ginger Baker
- Roy Harper
- The Sound
1982
- Van Morrison
- Jackson Browne
- Aswad
- Richie Havens
- Roy Harper
- Steele Pulse
- John Cooper Clarke
- U2
- Thompson Twins
1989
- Van Morrison
- Pixies
- Elvis Costello
- Donovan
- The Waterboys
- The Wonder Stuff
- All About Eve
1993
- Spiritualised
- The Black Crowes
- The Velvet Underground
- Suede
- Robert Plant
- Lenny Kravitz
- The Kinks
- Verve
1998
- The Foo Fighters
- Primal Scream
- Blur
- Bob Dylan
- Nick Cave and the Sad Seeds
- The Jesus and May Chain
- Sonic Youth
- Tony Bennett
- Robbie Williams
2003
- Radiohead
- Moby
- Manic Street Preachers
- The Coral
- The Flaming Lips
- Jimmy Cliff
- Primal Scream
- Super Furry Animals
- Love with Arthur Lee
- The Libertimes
2004
- Paul McCartney
- Oasis
- Kings of Leon
- Black Eyed Peas
- Morrisey
- Wilco
- Scissor Sisters
- English National Opera
- James Brown
- Chemical Brothers
- Basement Jaxx
- Spiritualised
- Television
- Arctic Monkeys
- The Who
- The Killers
- Kasabian
- Kaisar Chiefs
- Paul Weller
- Shirley Bassey
- Brian Wilson
- Elvis Costello
- Van Morrison
- Fatboy Slim
- Kasabian
- Ian Brown
- Babyshambles
- Rufus Wainwright
2008
- Leonard Cohen
- Goldfrapp
- The Verve
- Kings of Leon
- JayZ
- The Zutons
- Amy Whitehouse
- Brian Jonestown Massacre
- Mark Ronson
- James Blunt
- Neil Diamond
So there you have it. just some of the great bands who have played Glastonbury over the years. This list helps us to understand why the announcement of the Glastonbuty lineup is awaited with so much anticipation each time the Festival is held.
The lineups also help to explain why the price of Glastonbury tickets have risen over the years. In the beginning, each of the 2,000 people attending paid £1 each for their admission. Eleven years later, in 1981, 18,000 rock fans attended and each paid £8. As the festival got bigger, and as the legal requirements on promoting festivals got more demanding, prices rose. By 1993, the cost was £58. despite this, 80,000 paying fans turned up. 2003 saw the price soar past the £100 mark and, in 2007, 185,000 fans each paid nearly £150.
In 2008, not all the ticket were sold, the first time for many years this had happened, and rock festivals across the UK were being cancelled. Whether this is a blip because of oversupply, high prices or bad weather remains to be seen in 2009.
