Glastonbury boss Emily Eavis has ruled out Fleetwood Mac and Led Zeppelin as potential headliners for the iconic festival’s 50th anniversary next year.
Posting on Twitter, BBC Gloucestershire’s Steve Knibbs said Eavis confirmed that both bands won’t be headlining the Pyramid Stage during a talk at the Cheltenham Literary Festival.
“Tonight @CheltLitFest, @EmilyEavis confirms Fleetwood Mac and Led Zeppelin are not playing Glastonbury 50, but there will be a few surprises,” wrote Knibbs.
It comes after Fleetwood Mac, who have long been linked with the festival, heightened speculation when Mick Fleetwood told fans at their Wembley show that they still “had a big field to play”, before reiterating their desire to play Glastonbury in a subsequent interview.
However, founder Michael Eavis later addressed the band’s comments, admitting: “I can’t afford them at the moment! They’ll have to bring their price down because we can’t afford it. But they said the other day that they really want to do it and if they don’t do it before they die they’ll go to hell.”
Tonight @CheltLitFest @emilyeavis confirms #FleetwoodMac and #LedZeppelin are not playing #Glastonbury50 but there will be a few surprises.
— Steve Knibbs (@Knibbsey) October 13, 2019
While Led Zeppelin haven’t played together since reuniting for 2007’s Ahmet Ertegun concert at The O2 Arena, they are currently receiving bookies odds of 4/1.
Other names linked to the festival include Elton John, Foals and Paul McCartney – who recently claimed that Glastonbury was looking like a “distinct possibility”.
Appearing on Zoe Ball’s BBC Radio 2 Breakfast Show last month , McCartney did little to quell the speculation when asked if a Pyramid Stage appearance was in order.
“I mean people are saying that it would be good if I did it, so I’m starting to think about whether I can or whether it would be a good thing. My kids are saying ‘Dad we’ve got to talk about Glastonbury’ and I think I know what they mean,” he said.
“So they go every year, like a lot of people these days, and it is a great festival and we played there quite a long time ago so, maybe it is time to go back, I don’t know, I’d have to put a few things in place and try and do that but it’s starting to become some sort of remote possibility. I mean it’s definitely not fixed yet but people are starting to talk about it.”
Last week, the first official Glastonbury line-up announcement arrived in the form of Diana Ross – who will play the coveted Legends Slot.