Glastonbury’s all-male headliners prove the #MeToo movement didn’t even scratch the surface in the music world

I was considering going to Glastonbury this year. It would be my 12th, I think. And listen, Glastonbury is never about who’s headlining but when I saw the headliners I felt flattened and decided I could probably skip it. 

On paper I can understand the decisions. Arctic Monkeys have a new album out and they’ve become as popular and expected at a Glastonbury headline slot as Coldplay. Not to mention, they’re one of the best live acts in the world – and British. But Elton John can amply take care of all of that – and more – with his headline slot that promises to be his last ever UK show. (We’ll see). I won’t fight about Elton John’s place at Glastonbury, but I can’t say the same for Guns N Roses, who are re-traumatising the world with a show they’ve named “We’re F’N’ Back! Tour”. The original Hollywood bad boys may have had a time and place in 1988 but it’s 2023 now and it feels unnecessary to me.

Truly I was crushed that there was no female representation in the top tier. And it so happens one of the festival’s confirmed acts is also crushed. She’s pissed, actually. Lana Del Rey is considering skipping it too. She’s on the bill, but following the headliner announcements she responded to the official Glastonbury account’s Instagram post: “Thanks for announcing that I was headlining the other stage. Thumbs up.” On her own page she suggested that she may no longer show up to the festival. “We’ll see,” she wrote. I’m with her. Hasn’t Lana Del Rey earned a headliner slot? Or rapper Lizzo, who is for some inexplicable reason opening for Guns N Roses. She’s headlining Governors Ball in New York this summer, and if you’ve ever been to a Lizzo set at a festival you’ll know that the entire weekend is then defined as “pre-Lizzo” and “post-Lizzo”. She would slaughter it.

For years, a loud debate about female representation in music, not only on festival bills but crucially in headline slots, has roared. However there appears to be no consistency in the commitment to equal opportunity. Often it feels like there’s been one step forward then several backwards. What’s worse is that overseas things aren’t so bleak. Coachella have chosen K-Pop band BLACKPINK among its three headliners. In Europe, Sziget festival have booked Billie Eilish and Florence And The Machine, and Open’er have picked Lizzo. 

It’s not like women aren’t playing music in 2023. But since 2010, only four women have headlined Glastonbury: Beyonce, Florence (by default – as a replacement for Foo Fighters who had to pull out), Adele and Eilish. Emily Eavis, the festival’s organiser, has promised that two female headliners have been booked for 2024. Wow, lucky us – two actual breathing women?! Even if it’s Madonna with a cameo of Britney Spears, and a 3-hour greatest hits run from Rihanna inclusive of a live Fenty onstage beauty tutorial, it doesn’t discount the principle that not having a female headliner parrots the tired prejudice that there aren’t women who qualify for the slot. Absolute nonsense.

Eavis claims it’s a “problem in the pipeline” and has called for radio and record companies to help. She’s not wrong about that. Honestly, I don’t blame Eavis and can’t imagine the politics at play for her. Glastonbury already does an excellent job of building a pipeline by touting amazing female acts years before other festivals do similar. Ten years ago in 2013, for instance, I was there with HAIM who played four sets during their first ever visit, and emerged afterwards as Glastonbury legends. Isn’t the point to develop these artists over time and eventually have them headline? Isn’t the point to be the catalyst that affects change? Isn’t that why we love Glastonbury? And doesn’t Glastonbury in turn always benefit from being such a rebel? Glastonbury’s reputation is often bigger than the sum of its acts. If it can’t afford the risk, who can?