Glastonbury organiser Emily Eavis says female headliner was booked for 2023

Glastonbury co-organiser Emily Eavis has said a female headliner was originally booked for this year’s event before cancelling as she says the festival is ‘trying harder than most’ to address its gender balance.

Emily, 43, who organises the annual event with her husband, Nick Dewey, spoke openly to Cosmopolitan UK about the event, which has come under fire due to all of the headliners for this year’s show being men.

This year’s Worthy Farm event will see Arctic Monkeys, Guns N’ Roses, and Sir Elton John fill this year’s top slots.

As more names were added to the bill, it was found that the full 2023 line-up has nearly double the amount of male acts than female.

Eavis said she had tried to book a female headliner for this year but that the act had to pull out due to calendar clashes.

‘I think everyone knows that we’re trying harder than most, certainly extremely hard to address (the gender balance of acts), and I’ve been very vocal about it,’ she told the magazine.

‘Progress isn’t linear. I’m trying my best and, believe me, it’s a real, passionate subject of mine,’ she continued. ‘I’ve been trying to raise the flag around gender and festivals for a long time. But we can only do so much.’

Glastonbury’s all-male headline set came under fire when it was announced in March, shortly after the Brit Awards put forward an all-male shortlist for best artist in February.

There was also controversy when American singer-songwriter Lana Del Rey reportedly hinted she might pull out of this year’s event when a poster listed her name under those of less well-recognised acts.

More recent posters list the Summertime Sadness hitmaker’s name on the second tier, under this year’s headliners alongside Lizzo, who is set to play on the Pyramid Stage before Guns N’ Roses and shares joint billing with the three acts.

Eavis said that in the past she has faced a backlash for booking ‘too many’ female artists.

‘I’ve had criticisms of booking too many female headlines, criticisms for booking old people, young people, rap music,’ she said.

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‘I mean, we’ve had it all. To be honest, I just want to tune into the festival and tune out the noise.’

In her interview, she also emphasised her commitment to making sure that women feel safe attending Glastonbury.

‘We need to provide those (safe) spaces, especially for women,’ she said. ‘It might not be something that happened over the weekend – it might be something that happened before, but you can go and talk to a professional about it.’

She also said that next year’s line-up will feature two female headliners, one of who has already been confirmed.

The festival had faced criticism for raising the price of tickets, as general admission now costs £335, plus a £5 booking fee.

However, tickets for the festival still sold out at lightning speed even before the line-up was announced.

Read the full Emily Eavis interview on the Cosmopolitan UK website.

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