Michael Eavis: ‘No band has been as keen to play Glastonbury as Metallica’

Emily Eavis calls the festival headliners "an incredible live force"

Glastonbury festival founder Michael Eavis has said that no band has ever been as keen to play the event as Metallica.

The metal titans are due to perform on the Saturday night (June 28) at the Somerset bash.

“There’s no other band in the whole history of the festival that has been so keen to play, they will do the best set of their lives here,” said Eavis to BBC 5 Live. “We have been going for so long that people don’t expect us to put on a heavy metal band. We had Rage Against The Machine and we have had lots of fairly heavy metal bands in the past but this is not a typical headline.”

Advertisement

Emily Eavis also spoke to NME about the band’s controversial set, which will seem heading up the Saturday night (June 28) of festival. “They are an incredible live force,” she commented. “It’ll be an incredible show here and we’re totally up for it.” She also spoke about the debate concerning their set, saying: “The more opinion the better, in a way. It’s great people are talking about it, it’s going to make for something really interesting. And that’s what people should be doing, talking about it.”

Pulp‘s Jarvis Cocker recently has had his say on Metallica‘s forthcoming headline appearance at Glastonbury, raising concerns that the metal band’s set could be “a bit abrasive”.

Metallica have defended their upcoming Glastonbury performance, with drummer Lars Ulrich saying there’s a point where the criticism directed at them “becomes ridiculous”. Mogwai recently dismissed the group as being “unbelievably bad”. The Scottish band will headline The Park Stage at Glastonbury on the same night Metallica perform on the Pyramid Stage.

PHOTOS: 36 reasons to get excited about Glastonbury

Last week, a petition to ban Metallica from Glastonbury Festival was created following the news that frontman James Hetfield will narrate a television series about bear hunters.

“Glastonbury is like the Holy Grail in England and we’re respectful to that,” Ulrich told Metal Hammer, “but when somebody sits there and talks about petitions or what some other guy says, there’s a point that it just becomes ridiculous. We’re fairly thick-skinned and turn a blind eye to it or whatever, but if Mick Jagger, or Alex Turner, or the very nice guys in Kasabian who I love, it’s cool. But at some point, when there’s some guy in some other band…it’s like ‘Huh? What? Who are you?'”

He continued: “We’re definitely on a roll. We’re warmed up, loosened up and fit for a fight. We’re ready to go”. Metallica will headline Glastonbury on the Saturday night of the festival. Their fellow headline acts are Arcade Fire and Kasabian. Glastonbury takes place between June 25-29.

Advertisement

BLOG: The worst band clashes at Glastonbury 2014

You May Also Like

Advertisement

TRENDING

Advertisement

More Stories