Motown legend and James Bond star tipped to headline Glastonbury Festival 2024

03 October 2023 , 20:48

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Gladys has scheduled dates at the Royal Albert Hall in London in June (Image: Matt Cardy/Getty Images)

Sir Elton John might have set a new trend. Motown legend and Bond theme singer Gladys Knight could perform at Glastonbury festival for the first and last time ever next year, as she leaves a suspicious gap in her farewell tour of the UK.

She would be following in the footsteps of Sir Elton who made his Pyramid Stage debut in the summer on the final UK date of his epic Goodbye Yellow Brick Road farewell.

Next year, Licence To Kill singer Gladys, 78, has scheduled dates at the Royal Albert Hall in London on Thursday June 27 and in Swansea two days later, with a gap that could see her perform en route on the Friday, before heading off on her UK farewell tour around the country.

Gladys could follow in the footsteps of Sir Elton (Getty Images)

Seven-time Grammy winner Gladys, who has been performing since starting out with The Pips in the 1950s, has never performed at the festival. Other pop giants yet to grace Worthy Farm include Madonna, Rihanna and Cher and Taylor Swift, who was due to be the headliner in 2020.

Taylor seemed to tease a Sunday night slot at next year’s festival before announcing another gig on the same day, ruling her out. Festival bosses have been trying to sign up Fleetwood Mac for years, but Coldplay – who have headlined four times – are odds-on to perform in 2024.

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Ed Sheeran

Ed Sheeran ’s music has been streamed so many times the Brit Awards have had to create a new gong just for him. The 32-year-old singer has been handed a Gold BRIT Billion Award by the BPI for reaching a hefty 10 billion streams in the UK.

“I want to say a big thank you to my fans,” says Ed. “None of this is possible without you guys.” Well, 10 billion would be a push without at least a few devotees.

Taylor Swift

Beware of the new Taylor Swift drinking game… it may cause flight delays. US sports broadcaster Jeff Darlington made himself an anti-hero at the airport by coming up with a fun game during Sunday’s Kansas Chiefs NFL game: down a shot every time the cameras panned to Taylor in the stands.

He offered to buy the airport bar an entire round of shots at every fifth shot of Taylor. Unfortunately, the cameras – which should have been filming her boyfriend, NFL American football star Travis Kelce, on the pitch – couldn’t shake off the habit of focusing on Taylor.

“A guy puked when he boarded the plane,” admitted Jeff, sheepishly. Not a recipe for a Swift take-off.

Ashleigh Rainbird