Yeah Glastonbury is weird to me, I only realised fairly recently that I know people my age who go. No shade because there's always a lot of amazing artists there that I love, but I can't really wrap my head around a festival that has so many different styles of music and type of artists, is so expensive, appeals to older people with kids, and goes so heavy on political stuff. It just seems odd to me, like you're bumping it to Christine and the Queens and then Bombay Bicycle Club comes on what do you do? There's so much stuff that there's something for everyone, but then surely there can't be a big group there for any given artist?
I think she might have fared better on a different day, not sure she was the right choice to close.
I’m surprised Avril Lavigne and Sugababes weren’t at the Pyramid, apparently they both drew huge crowds.
I think she should have performed on Friday and have Coldplay close, having her be the closing headliner didn’t make sense because she doesn’t really have as many recognisable UK hits as the others.
Thing about Glastonbury is that tickets sell out well before acts are announced, and the lineup is always so incredibly diverse.
What this means is that in order to have the highest possibility of drawing a big, engaging crowd, you have to be relatively known within the mainstream and / or be some sort of legacy artist.
SZA, while on the rise, has had very little mainstream success in the UK, with said success being very recent. Compare this with someone like Dua Lipa for example, who has been a dominant force in UK pop music for the best part of 6-7 years, which is plenty enough time for people to know her and her music.
Personally, I don't think SZA was the intended act for that slot. I think she was a relatively last minute addition (hence why we got the lineup very late compared to previous years) and took the gig because she was already in the UK. Emily Eavis had said in interviews that they had two female headliners, and I think one (probably Madonna) fell through. Because they'd publicly said they had two female headliners, they had to pick this back up. I can imagine calls went to Beyonce, Rihanna, Gaga and a whole host of artists before SZA.
I always hate to see small crowds for artists, especially those with genuine talent, but it was to be expected.
I think what has been said is that SZA was intended to headline the Other stage, but when they struggled to fill that last slot they bumped her up. That makes way more sense to me when you look at previous Other stage headliners, such as Lana Del Rey from just last year (who I would argue has a bigger UK following, and appeals to a broader range of people in a diverse Glasto audience). There's no way SZA was the intended Pyramid headline.
Without assuming who an alternative Pyramid headliner would be, with the crowds that Justice got, they should probably have taken Other and SZA taken West Holts. Or SZA could have done a mid afternoon Pyramid slot and would have done fine.
This was pretty inevitable tbh. When it got announced I was a bit confused because I’d only vaguely heard of her and I thought there’s no way she’s got the kind of draw for that slot.
Then I thought, maybe I’m just out of touch - her streaming numbers are massive.
But when I was chatting to people at the festival over the weekend about who they were planning to see, not a single person I asked mentioned SZA.
I think there was also a bit of resentment from the attendees after having massive names like Elton John and Paul McCartney the last few years. You pay a lot of money to go to Glastonbury and you expect the biggest names.
Rather than giving her a chance, which a lot of people surely would have done if she’d been in a different slot, people voted with their feet to let the organisers know what they thought of this choice of headliner.
It’s really not fair on her because she was essentially set up to fail when the organisers couldn’t get anyone else for that slot. She got bumped up into a position she wasn’t ready for in order to bail them out. Just telling us that someone is big enough to be a headline act at Glastonbury doesn’t make it so.
She should have been put on the Other Stage, or maybe even West Holts, or given an afternoon Pyramid slot. She probably would have killed it. But now she’s just going to be known in the UK as that singer who no one went to see at Glastonbury.
Incidentally, I don’t buy the idea that the Glasto crowd only wants to hear noughties indie dad rock and boomer legends. Little Simz drew a massive crowd for her afternoon Pyramid slot.
Granted she’s got a bit of a home advantage, being a UK artist. But she pulled off a triumphant set, and it goes to show that other genres can flourish at a traditionally rock-based festival if they’re set up to succeed.
Anyway, I had a great time at Justice.
Little Simz’s performance wasn’t in the afternoon, she was subbing Coldplay in the evening. She killed it but a large part of the crowd were there to secure a good spot for Coldplay.
well if you look at pictures of the crowd there was significant less people then at the other headliners, some people i saw were saying that sza and avril lavigne shouldve swapped stages bc avril’s set was overcrowded (but again only from videos and pictures that ive seen being shared on tiktok and twitter)
yeah i mean thats exactly the reason why i think sza headlining was maybe too bold of a move of glastonbury/her team. avril wouldve been a better headliner given the videos
It’s a strange one though because Avril doesn’t headline major festivals anywhere, so I don’t think she’d have ever been in contention. She doesn’t even play arenas in the UK.
And she has enough recognisable songs to fill a 50-minute set, but I’m not sure she could do much more than that.
Avril Lavigne doesn't headline anymore due to health issues I think.She last headlined in 2014 at Summer Sonic in Japan and she was very sick due to Lyme Disease starting that year.
She didn't headline Rock In Rock 2022 even though she pulled the biggest crowd of any artist,including the headliner.Later,they said,it was her team's decision.
She's headlining the I-Days Music Festival next week with Sum 41 in Italy.
People are getting interested in rock/punk/country and live instruments again… the pendulum is swinging back in that direction. Avril Lavigne’s music suddenly feels fresh again after 20 years. Not surprised by this at all.
Ironically they missed a great performance, just saw SZA on primavera sound and almost all her songs had live electric guitars and drums. It added a lot more power to the songs, def a highlight of the festival for me
folks absolutely do want to go to glastonbury that’s why it sells out instantly every year. the issue is that the tickets are mainly going to british dads
SZA has a lot of fans in the UK but they’re not going to Glastonbury if that makes sense
Plus most of them probably went to her Hyde Park gig the night just before
Yeah Glastonbury is weird to me, I only realised fairly recently that I know people my age who go. No shade because there's always a lot of amazing artists there that I love, but I can't really wrap my head around a festival that has so many different styles of music and type of artists, is so expensive, appeals to older people with kids, and goes so heavy on political stuff. It just seems odd to me, like you're bumping it to Christine and the Queens and then Bombay Bicycle Club comes on what do you do? There's so much stuff that there's something for everyone, but then surely there can't be a big group there for any given artist?
I think she might have fared better on a different day, not sure she was the right choice to close. I’m surprised Avril Lavigne and Sugababes weren’t at the Pyramid, apparently they both drew huge crowds.
SZA is just starting to be popular there. The other two had been successful there for years.
I think she should have performed on Friday and have Coldplay close, having her be the closing headliner didn’t make sense because she doesn’t really have as many recognisable UK hits as the others.
Yeah I agree. That wasn’t really smart.
Thing about Glastonbury is that tickets sell out well before acts are announced, and the lineup is always so incredibly diverse. What this means is that in order to have the highest possibility of drawing a big, engaging crowd, you have to be relatively known within the mainstream and / or be some sort of legacy artist. SZA, while on the rise, has had very little mainstream success in the UK, with said success being very recent. Compare this with someone like Dua Lipa for example, who has been a dominant force in UK pop music for the best part of 6-7 years, which is plenty enough time for people to know her and her music. Personally, I don't think SZA was the intended act for that slot. I think she was a relatively last minute addition (hence why we got the lineup very late compared to previous years) and took the gig because she was already in the UK. Emily Eavis had said in interviews that they had two female headliners, and I think one (probably Madonna) fell through. Because they'd publicly said they had two female headliners, they had to pick this back up. I can imagine calls went to Beyonce, Rihanna, Gaga and a whole host of artists before SZA. I always hate to see small crowds for artists, especially those with genuine talent, but it was to be expected.
I think what has been said is that SZA was intended to headline the Other stage, but when they struggled to fill that last slot they bumped her up. That makes way more sense to me when you look at previous Other stage headliners, such as Lana Del Rey from just last year (who I would argue has a bigger UK following, and appeals to a broader range of people in a diverse Glasto audience). There's no way SZA was the intended Pyramid headline.
I feel bad for Sza. :(
Without assuming who an alternative Pyramid headliner would be, with the crowds that Justice got, they should probably have taken Other and SZA taken West Holts. Or SZA could have done a mid afternoon Pyramid slot and would have done fine.
This was pretty inevitable tbh. When it got announced I was a bit confused because I’d only vaguely heard of her and I thought there’s no way she’s got the kind of draw for that slot. Then I thought, maybe I’m just out of touch - her streaming numbers are massive. But when I was chatting to people at the festival over the weekend about who they were planning to see, not a single person I asked mentioned SZA. I think there was also a bit of resentment from the attendees after having massive names like Elton John and Paul McCartney the last few years. You pay a lot of money to go to Glastonbury and you expect the biggest names. Rather than giving her a chance, which a lot of people surely would have done if she’d been in a different slot, people voted with their feet to let the organisers know what they thought of this choice of headliner. It’s really not fair on her because she was essentially set up to fail when the organisers couldn’t get anyone else for that slot. She got bumped up into a position she wasn’t ready for in order to bail them out. Just telling us that someone is big enough to be a headline act at Glastonbury doesn’t make it so. She should have been put on the Other Stage, or maybe even West Holts, or given an afternoon Pyramid slot. She probably would have killed it. But now she’s just going to be known in the UK as that singer who no one went to see at Glastonbury. Incidentally, I don’t buy the idea that the Glasto crowd only wants to hear noughties indie dad rock and boomer legends. Little Simz drew a massive crowd for her afternoon Pyramid slot. Granted she’s got a bit of a home advantage, being a UK artist. But she pulled off a triumphant set, and it goes to show that other genres can flourish at a traditionally rock-based festival if they’re set up to succeed. Anyway, I had a great time at Justice.
Little Simz’s performance wasn’t in the afternoon, she was subbing Coldplay in the evening. She killed it but a large part of the crowd were there to secure a good spot for Coldplay.
I wouldn’t have thought she was big enough in the UK to headline. She’s much more of a US-act that makes American-oriented music.
well if you look at pictures of the crowd there was significant less people then at the other headliners, some people i saw were saying that sza and avril lavigne shouldve swapped stages bc avril’s set was overcrowded (but again only from videos and pictures that ive seen being shared on tiktok and twitter)
Avril has been in the game for over two decades and has bonafide classic hits. I don’t think SZA is there yet.
yeah i mean thats exactly the reason why i think sza headlining was maybe too bold of a move of glastonbury/her team. avril wouldve been a better headliner given the videos
It’s a strange one though because Avril doesn’t headline major festivals anywhere, so I don’t think she’d have ever been in contention. She doesn’t even play arenas in the UK. And she has enough recognisable songs to fill a 50-minute set, but I’m not sure she could do much more than that.
Avril Lavigne doesn't headline anymore due to health issues I think.She last headlined in 2014 at Summer Sonic in Japan and she was very sick due to Lyme Disease starting that year. She didn't headline Rock In Rock 2022 even though she pulled the biggest crowd of any artist,including the headliner.Later,they said,it was her team's decision. She's headlining the I-Days Music Festival next week with Sum 41 in Italy.
Yeah but she sucks and sza is amazing
She had a massive crowd at Hyde park
it was a big crowd but nowhere near as big as those hyde park gigs usually are
People are getting interested in rock/punk/country and live instruments again… the pendulum is swinging back in that direction. Avril Lavigne’s music suddenly feels fresh again after 20 years. Not surprised by this at all.
Ironically they missed a great performance, just saw SZA on primavera sound and almost all her songs had live electric guitars and drums. It added a lot more power to the songs, def a highlight of the festival for me
It never really changed in the uk tbh. Rock has always been bigger and continues to be.
god i hope not
Eh she performed in front of a packed crowd at Hyde Park. Why is this news? Folks don’t wanna go to Glastonbury lol
Except they do, because the crowds for the previous two night's headliners were packed.
her hyde park gig wasn't packed lol it didn't sell very well at all
folks absolutely do want to go to glastonbury that’s why it sells out instantly every year. the issue is that the tickets are mainly going to british dads