‘This will be a monumental moment’: Noel Gallagher ‘to perform at Glastonbury’ for the first time in 18-years… after slamming the event for including rappers and pop singers
Noel Gallagher will perform at the Glastonbury Festival when it opens in June, 18 years after his last live appearance at the event with Oasis.
The musician, 54, is expected to play the Pyramid Stage under his High Flying Birds solo moniker on Saturday, June 25 as the annual summer spectacle returns following a two-year delay caused by the coronavirus pandemic.
He will share the bill with American band Haim for what is expected to be a memorable return to Somerset’s Worthy Farm, with his last appearance coming in 2004 with Brit Pop architects Oasis.
The set will also follow Gallagher’s high-profile condemnation of the decision to integrate mainstream artists such as Adele, Robbie Williams, Kylie Minogue and Jay-Z with Glastonbury’s traditionally leftfield roster of performers.
On the bill: Noel Gallagher will perform at the Glastonbury Festival when it returns in June, 18 years after his last live appearance at the event with Oasis
A source told The Sun: ‘Noel has never played a music gig at Glastonbury outside of Oasis who performed twice there. This will be a monumental moment for him and it will be an incredible moment for the festival.
‘He is currently pencilled on the list for the line-up for the Pyramid Stage on the Saturday of Glastonbury and will perform just before the headliner.
‘Haim, who are best pals with Taylor Swift, are also scheduled to be on just before him. They played a live streamed set from Worthy Farm last year and were a huge hit.’
Old times: Gallagher last performed at the event with his former band Oasis in 2004 (pictured)
Gallagher performed at Glastonbury three times – the first coming in June 1994, when the then little known Oasis performed a short eight track set on the NME Stage.
They would return as the Pyramid Stage headline act for Glastonbury’s 25th anniversary the following year, as Brit Pop took the UK by storm and the band’s second album, (What’s The Story) Morning Glory?, became the fastest selling LP of the decade.
The band made a third appearance in 2004 when show organiser Michael Eavis invited them to officially close that year’s event from the Pyramid Stage.
Iconic: Oasis headlined Glastonbury’s 25th anniversary in 1995, as Brit Pop took the UK by storm (pictured that year on the Pyramid Stage)
Reflecting on the annual festival in a recent 50th anniversary book, Gallagher wrote: ‘There are literally hundreds of festivals in the world and I should know because I’ve played most if not all of them.
‘The funny thing is though, there’s really only ONE festival in the world – in the truest sense of the word anyway.
‘Glastonbury is more important than Christmas. Glastonbury is more fun than New Year. Glastonbury can be brutal. Glastonbury can be magical.
Speaking out: Gallagher has been openly critical of its decision to feature mainstream artists on the playbill after decades of focusing on less commercial guitar driven artists (pictured attending Glastonbury with wife Sara McDonald in 2003)
‘Glastonbury is whatever you want it to be. Glastonbury will change your life… and if it doesn’t then I suggest you get a f**king life!’
However the musician has been openly critical of its decision to feature mainstream artists on the playbill after decades of focusing on less commercial guitar driven artists.
‘If it ain’t broke don’t fix it,’ he told The Sun in 2008. If you start to break it then people aren’t going to go. I’m sorry, but Jay-Z? No chance.
‘Glastonbury has a tradition of guitar music and even when they throw the odd curve ball in on a Sunday night you go “Kylie Minogue?” I don’t know about it. But I’m not having hip-hop at Glastonbury. It’s wrong.’