The year is 2019, and a decade after their prime, The Killers have finally been booked as headliners at Glastonbury. But, much more importantly, almost half the line-up is made up of women, because as NME reports, today’s announcement is 42% female.
Finally.
Janet Jackson and Kylie Minogue are the two top names bringing woman power to Worthy Farm, with other sets from Lauryn Hill, Lizzo, Christine and the Queens, Billie Eilish and Anne-Marie (to name only a few) happening over June 26-30.
But, while the active inclusion of more musicians with vaginas is a welcome move, there are still no women actually headlining the festival (it’s worth noting that a female hasn’t been top of the bill since Adele performed her fabulously sweary headline set in 2016). Undoubtedly, this year’s offering is more diverse than the last Glastonbury, which happened in 2017 - but looking at only the headliners, it’s not that much better. This year, the honour has been bestowed on The Killers, The Cure and Stormzy, meaning only one headliner isn’t white. In 2017, the Pyramid stage was headlined by 10 white men with guitars: Ed Sheeran, Foo Fighters and Radiohead.
It’s a problem the festival- and the wider industry - has long been aware of. "It's important that we have women at the top as well as men," organiser Emily Eavis told Noisey in 2015, "but we also need those female artists to be pushed through – by record companies, radio and the media." Last year, PRS launched its worldwide gender equality initiative, meaning the 45 events who’ve signed up to the project have pledged to create a 50:50 split of male/female acts at their festivals by 2022.
In fairness, Glastonbury is doing better than other festivals to reach gender equality. Take for example Isle of Wight’s line-up this year, where the first line-up drop of 29 acts featured one non-white act, and seven women. Reading and Leeds’ effort is laughable, especially considering Festival Republic - the organisation who run the festival - launched a gender equality initiative called ReBalance in 2017, which aims to offer female-led bands valuable studio time. It seems like Glasto - the most wonderful festival in the world - is finally putting their money where their mouth is. But we can’t help thinking Lady Gaga or Beyoncé could have taken one of the headline slots.