The Foo Fighters will headline the granddaddy of Britain’s outdoor summer music events, Glastonbury Festival.
Frontman Dave Grohl shared the news at Wednesday night’s NME Awards in London during his taped acceptance speech for the Foos’ win in the best international band category.
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The Foos will headline the Friday night program (June 26) on Glastonbury’s main Pyramid Stage. It’ll be the U.S. rock group’s first performance at the famous fest since 1998, when they were promoting their second album The Color & The Shape. They’re now on album No. 8, Sonic Highways.
“We feel incredibly lucky to have confirmed the Foo Fighters for the Pyramid Stage at Glastonbury this year,” said Glastonbury co-organizer Emily Eavis. “Very few bands have the power to unite and energize a crowd like Foo Fighters do. We can’t wait for them to rock Worthy Farm on Friday night.”
The Foos were unable to attend the NME Awards in person, but their excuse is a solid one. The band played in Christchurch, New Zealand on Wednesday night for the first date of their Australasian Sonic Highways Tour. As if Grohl wasn’t busy enough, he recently accepted the honor as ambassador for April’s Record Store Day.
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The Foos are just the second act revealed for this year’s Glastonbury lineup after Lionel Richie, who will perform the Sunday “teatime slot” on the Pyramid Stage. This year’s festival runs June 24-28, with the concert programming rolling out on the final three days.
Glastonbury is the brainchild of Michael Eavis, a dairy farmer who hosts the annual fest on the site of his Worthy Farm in Somerset, south west England. The first Glastonbury concert took place back in 1970 with Marc Bolan on the bill. Eavis splashed out free milk for the 1,500 ticket-holders (entry was £1). Now, the event is one of the largest greenfield festivals in the world, attended by more than 177,000 each year and raising millions of pounds for charities.
The biggest names in music — including David Bowie, Radiohead, R.E.M., Coldplay, Paul McCartney, Stevie Wonder, Bruce Springsteen, U2, Beyonce, Jay Z and The Rolling Stones — have played the Pyramid Stage.
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The festival will skip 2017. Eavis typically takes a “fallow year” twice a decade to allow his farm to regenerate. Glastonbury was named best festival at the NME Awards.
