Entertainment

Arctic Monkeys and Guns N’ Roses complete Glastonbury headliners line-up

Yusuf/Cat Stevens will perform during the tea time legends slot on Sunday afternoon.
Yusuf/Cat Stevens will perform during the tea time legends slot on Sunday afternoon. Yusuf/Cat Stevens will perform during the tea time legends slot on Sunday afternoon.

Arctic Monkeys and Guns N’ Roses have been announced as Glastonbury’s final two headliners, joining Sir Elton John at the top of the bill, the festival has said.

On Friday more than 50 other acts were added to the 2023 line-up, with hundreds more expected to be added in the coming months.

Yusuf/Cat Stevens will perform during the tea time legends slot on Sunday afternoon, despite Roxy Music being heavily rumoured, the BBC reported.

The veteran folk-rocker, best known for a string of albums in the 1970s, follows in the footsteps of artists such as Dolly Parton, Kylie Minogue and Diana Ross.

The initial wave of acts includes Christine And The Queens, Lana Del Rey, Lewis Capaldi and Lil Nas X.

Also slated to perform are Loyle Carner, Rudimental, Slowthai, Thundercat, Fatboy Slim and Young Fathers.

Arctic Monkeys, who recently released their seventh album The Car, will close the Pyramid Stage on Friday night – their third time topping the bill.

Saturday night will see US rockers Guns N’ Roses headline, 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.

However, the acts closing the Pyramid Stage throughout the festival will be all-male.

Co-organiser Emily Eavis told the BBC she aimed for gender balance and this year they had a female headline but “she unfortunately had to pull out”.

She added: “It changes all the time. But next year it’s looking like we’ve got two female headliners, so fingers crossed.”

Taylor Swift was confirmed as a headliner for the cancelled 2020 festival and there had been speculation she could have headlined this year.

Nigerian Afrobeats star Wizkid will headline the Other Stage, the festival’s second largest, on Friday night, while Del Rey will feature on Saturday.

Christine And The Queens will top the bill on the Woodsies Stage, previously called The John Peel Stage.

Eurovision winners Maneskin will make their debut at the festival, as will Brits Rising Star winners Flo.

Completing the line-up are rappers Aitch, Central Cee and Stefflon Don, electronic music acts Leftfield and Fred Again, and classic rock outfits including Blondie and Manic Street Preachers.

Sir Elton’s headline slot on Sunday night is expected to draw large crowds, as it marks his final UK show of his farewell tour.

Axl Rose to stop throwing his microphone
Axl Rose to stop throwing his microphone Guns N’ Roses frontman Axl Rose (Ian West/PA)

His ongoing 300-plus date worldwide tour will usher in his retirement from touring after 52 years on the road.

Eavis also told the BBC she wrote Sir Elton a letter asking him to perform.

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 every everything you need to fulfil, but please, can you come and play Glastonbury?

“And he just called up and said yes.”

Eavis added that securing him as the festival’s closing act on the Sunday night was a “massive, massive coup”.

Tickets for the event are sold out but there will be a re-sale of any cancelled or returned tickets in Spring 2023 for those who missed out.

The 2023 event will run from June 21 to 25 at Worthy Farm in Somerset.