Headlining Glastonbury is on every artist’s bucket list, with it being one of the most iconic festivals in the world.
The annual get together at Worthy Farm is the biggest event in the UK music calendar, with hundreds of artists performing across the weekend.
One band who know Glastonbury all too well is Coldplay and they will making history on Saturday night (29 June) by headlining the Pyramid Stage for a fifth time.
You may think it’s the hefty pay cheque that keeps enticing Chris Martin and co. back to the festival but, according to reports, that does not appear to be the case.
Coldplay are headlining the Pyramid Stage on Saturday (29 June). (Matt Jelonek/WireImage)
How much does a Glastonbury headliner make?
Glastonbury Festival pays headliners on average less than 10 percent of what they could make at other festivals, co-organiser Emily Eavis previously revealed.
This is because the festival chooses to donate around £2 million to charity every year that it runs.
“We’re not in a situation where we’re able to just give people enormous amounts of money,” Eavis told BBC Radio 6 in 2017.
She added: “It’s probably less than 10 percent of what they’d get from playing any of the other major British festivals, [so] Glastonbury relies completely on goodwill.”
Different artists are paid different prices, and while the fee may be less than other festivals, it’s still an eye-watering sum.
Glastonbury cannot offer the big bucks like other festivals can. (Matt Cardy/Getty Images)
According to music consultant Lyle Bignon, Glastonbury headliners can expect anything from £35,000 to £300,000 depending on their profile.
“The likes of Elton John and Guns N’ Roses who have decades of global fame behind them, can likely command higher prices running into the £250,000+ range,” he told Metro in 2023.
This figure is somewhat backed up by Bestival organiser Rob da Bank, who previously claimed Glastonbury’s budget is less than £500,000 per headliner.
The exact fees paid to this year’s headliners – Coldplay, Dua Lipa and SZA – have not been disclosed, but it was previously revealed that Coldplay were paid £200,000 for one of their headline sets.
Co-founder Michael Eavis once said: “I paid £200,000 for Paul McCartney and for Coldplay, and although it sounds a lot, they could have charged me far more.”
After this weekend, Coldplay will have headlined Glastonbury five times. (Mauricio Santana/Getty Images)
Coldplay are due to make history at this year’s Glastonbury, as they become the only band in history to headline the Pyramid Stage five times – having previously performed in 2002, 2005, 2011 and 2016.
They will overtake The Cure, who have headlined Glastonbury four times in the past.
LADbible has contacted representatives for Coldplay and Glastonbury for comment.
The most iconic Glastonbury moments
2000: The year that nearly killed Glasto
It was all okay in the end. (Jim Dyson/Getty Images)
While Glasto has always had people attempting to gatecrash, 24 years ago gatecrashers descended the infamous festival in record numbers.
It was so bad it resulted in the festival being cancelled the following year as ticketless punters swarmed the site, with fears at the time the chaos could kill off the festival altogether.
Luckily, as we know, Glasto is still going strong. Speaking to the Guardian in 2020, the festival’s co-creator Michael Eavis explained: “The fence wasn’t good enough, the security was crap. So I was hauled over the coals by the police, who said: “You’ve got to get someone to organise your show. You’re a nice bloke and all that, but you couldn’t arrange something in a brewery, you know the saying?
“I said: ‘Fair enough. At least I can be guaranteed to get 150,000 people at the drop of a hat – I did get the knack of that!’”
The set that turned Coldplay into megastars
The set helped turn Coldplay into megastars. (BBC)
The set helped turn Coldplay into megastars. (BBC)
Back in 2002, the ‘Fix You’ hitmakers won fans over as they played tunes from their upcoming second album.
Apparently, the band’s agent didn’t feel they were ready for it at the time, but Eavis insisted they headlined.
And I’m sure they’re glad they listened seeing as they’ve now got nine studio albums under their belt and millions in the bank, with their A Head Full Of Dreams Tour having grossed more than half a billion dollars in its two-year run. Impressive.
Jay-Z playing Oasis on the Pyramid Stage
He hit back in the best way. (BBC)
He hit back in the best way. (BBC)
It was the feud no one saw coming, but in 2008 rapper Jay-Z responded to Noel Gallagher slagging off having ‘hip hop at Glastonbury’ in the most hilarious way.
The star opened up his infamous headlining set on the pyramid stage playing his own version of ‘Wonderwall’, which went down a treat with fans and spawned one of the most iconic moments in Glasto history.
The muddiest year ever
It was pure carnage. (BBC)
It was pure carnage. (BBC)
Britain isn’t exactly known for its glorious sunshine and I think that’s especially the case when it comes to festivals, which often see punters squelching through mud in their wellies, pint in hand.
Glasto in particular has become synonymous with being pretty muddy, but 2016 really took the biscuit. Even the festival’s boss said ’in all 46 years, it hasn’t been as bad as this’ as things became an absolute logistical nightmare after weeks of rainfall beforehand.
The scenes were chaotic, to say the least. Festival-goers were filmed diving into the mud and struggling to wade through gloop in such a way that made going for a pint like climbing Mount Everest. Generally, everyone was just really trying not to fall on their ars*s.
It wasn’t a pretty sight, but of course Brits still managed to embrace the music and the photos and videos have since gone down in the Glasto history books.
The Killers’ secret set
The band performed again in 2019. (BBC)
The band performed again in 2019. (BBC)
The iconic band decided to take a more chilled approach to festival life by taking over the secret act slot on the John Peel stage in 2017.
However, as is usually the case with ‘secret’ gigs, word spread quickly as fans flooded to the stage in their droves to catch the band in action.
It was a far cry from their previous Glasto performance, which saw their headline show become marred with serious technical issues which majorly affected the sound.
Kylie’s long-awaited headline set
Kylie’s set broke records. (BBC)
Kylie’s set broke records. (BBC)
In 2019 Kylie Minogue set the pyramid stage alight for her headline set, but she was actually meant to grace the stage much sooner.
14 years earlier, the pop princess was forced to cancel her slot after being diagnosed with breast cancer, making her appearance on the stage even more special for both her and fans.
Her set ended up being crowned the most-watched in Glastonbury’s history, raking in 3.9million watching at its peak, beating the likes of Ed Sheeran, Adele and even Beyoncé.
Alex from Glasto
A meme was born. (BBC)
That same year, rapper Dave created probably one of the most meme-able Glasto moments when he brought a bloke called Alex on stage to perform ‘Thiago Silva’ with him, which he absolutely nailed.
Safe to say the moment went viral, with the then 15-year-old becoming known as ‘Alex from Glasto’.
It’s no surprise really given his unreal rapping skills and the fact that he was donning a bucket hat, FILA bag and Paris Saint-Germain shirt. Brilliant.