Glastonbury 2011 Preview
It is that time of the year yet again, when festivals all around the world start advertising their line-ups and, stellar as they all seem to be this year, we get dizzy with choice.
But none of them seem to be able to top this year’s Glastonbury line-up, still the mother of all festivals, accommodating almost 200,000 people within its high security fences.
This year, the legendary Pyramid Stage will finally see U2 performing on Friday evening. After 2010’s last minute pull-out, when Bono had a back injury and personally called Mr. Eavis to apologise and say they unfortunately could not play their so eagerly waited gig, fans had to content themselves with Gorillaz, who put on a brave face and did do a good job, but did not manage to shine as U2 would have (even The Edge, U2’s famous guitarist came on stage to help them out). The band, who is yet to finalise their acclaimed 2-year world tour 360, which became the highest-grossing tour and highest attended tour of all times, will take a short break from the North America leg of their tour to play Glastonbury this year.
Saturday night will see Coldplay, one the biggest and most popular bands in recent years, they are the only band who still manage to sell records in a world now dominated by MySpace and Spotify, not to mention piracy. Their last album, Viva La Vida, was globally the best selling album of 2008/ 2009. Unfortunately for their fans, rumours are that their fifth album, which was supposed to be released in May this year has now been pushed back to sometime in Autumn, not giving their Glastonbury fans the chance to listen to them live. There will be though plenty of opportunities to cry over hit songs like Fix You or even Yellow. We know we will!
On Sunday, Beyonce headlines the Pyramid Stage bringing yet again controversy and criticism by those who think Glastonbury should not give space to huge chart pop stars. Many people would disagree, saying Beyonce’s now husband, Jay-Z’s performance back in 2008 was brilliant and that he managed to win the audience in the end, following huge criticism.
We can only wait and see Beyonce will be able to follow Jay-Z’s steps this year. But with 2 Grammy Awards in her bag this year plus a reported 75 million album copies sold around the world, we think Glastonbury’s revellers this year are in for a treat.