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Arctic Monkeys and Guns N’ Roses will join Sir Elton John in headlining this year’s Glastonbury Festival, meaning all the top-billed acts will be male.
The Glastonbury line-up also includes Christine And The Queens, Fatboy Slim, Lana Del Rey, Lewis Capaldi, Lil Nas X, Maneskin, Rudimental, Manic Street Preachers, The War On Drugs and Royal Blood.
Cat Stevens will fill the Legends slot on Sunday afternoon.
Arctic Monkeys, who recently released their seventh album The Car, will close the Pyramid Stage on Friday night. It will be their third time topping the bill.
Guns N’ Roses will headline on Saturday night after the original line-up of Axl Rose, Slash and Duff McKagan reunited in 2015.
Lizzo will play immediately before and has joint headline billing on the line-up poster.
But the acts closing the Pyramid Stage throughout the festival will all be male.
Co-organiser Emily Eavis told The Guardian a previously confirmed female headliner pulled out because she “changed her touring plans”. She said she hoped they would headline within the next five years.
Taylor Swift was confirmed as a headliner for the cancelled 2020 festival and there had been speculation she could have headlined this year.
Ms Eavis added that she remained “entirely focused on balancing our bill. It’s not just about gender, it’s about every aspect of diversity”.
The letter that secured Sir Elton
Sir Elton previously said he “couldn’t be more excited” to be appearing at Glastonbury 2023 in what will be his final ever gig in the UK after more than 50 years on the road.
Ms Eavis told the BBC securing Sir Elton as the festival’s closing act on Sunday night was a “massive, massive coup”.
She said: “In the end, I wrote him a letter and I said, ‘If this never happens, it would be such a failure on all of our parts. I know you’ve done everything else in the world. I know you’ve fulfilled everything you need to fulfil, but please, can you come and play Glastonbury?’
“And he just called up and said yes.”
Tickets for the event have sold out but there will be a re-sale of any cancelled or returned tickets in the spring for those who missed out.
Last year Billie Eilish, Sir Paul McCartney and Kendrick Lamar headlined Glastonbury, with Diana Ross performing in the traditional Sunday Legends slot.
Sir Paul became the festival’s oldest solo headliner when he performed a week after his 80th birthday, while 19-year-old Eilish became the youngest-ever solo headliner.
