Emily Eavis reveals dream Glastonbury headliner and when the next fallow year will be
Glastonbury co-organiser Emily Eavis has responded to questions about when the next fallow year will take place, while also revealing which artist she would love to headline the storied music festival.
The fallow year happens generally once every five years to allow the Somerset fields at Worthy Farm to recover, after around 200,000 music fans descend on the site each year.
With this year’s festival on the horizon, Eavis is already looking ahead to 2025 and beyond.
Speaking to DJ’s Nick Grimshaw and Annie Macmanus on their BBC Podcast, Sidetracked, Eavis said: “I have a vague idea of who might be headlining next year, and then we might do a fallow year after that.
“We are due a fallow year,” she continued. “The fallow year is important because it gives the land a rest, it gives the cows a chance to be out for longer and reclaim their land.
“It just gives everybody a little time to just switch off. And the public as well. Then you go away for a bit and it feels lovely when you come back.”
Eavis was then asked about her dream headliner, prompting her to name British pop legend Kate Bush.
The “Running Up That Hill”, and “Babooshka” singer has not performed live since 2014, and is notoriously shy about public appearances.
“I hope it will happen one day. I mean, Elton (John) was a pipe dream and it happened, so you never know,” Eavis said.
After criticism over last year’s all-white, all-male headliners, this year’s Pyramid Stage line-up has a 50:50 split between male and female acts.
For the first time in the festival’s history there will be two women topping the bill, with the addition of country-pop royalty, Shania Twain, taking the Sunday Legends slot.
British pop singer Dua Lipa will join US R&B star SZA in top billing on the Pyramid Stage for the very first time on Friday and Sunday, respectively, while Glastonbury veterans Coldplay will make a record-breaking fifth appearance as headliners.
In the same interview, Eavis also disclosed that her father, Glastonbury founder Sir Michael Eavis, planned to cancel the festival in the Nineties after retiring, despite having already brought in renowned artists such as Oasis, Bob Dylan and The Cure.
“Everyone thought it was some sort of stunt to sell tickets but it wasn’t,” she said of her father’s plan to shut down the event. “They (Her parents) were genuinely like, ‘Well, we probably won’t do another.’”
Eavis said Glastonbury only became a recurring fixture after the death of Sir Michael’s wife, Jean, in 1999. She added: “My dad was like, ‘Oh, I think I might need the festival now’”.
“Never did I think I’d still be here a few decades on.”
Glastonbury 2024 takes place from Wednesday 26 to Sunday 30 June.
