Glastonbury 2023: Arctic Monkeys’ headline set will go ahead

23 June, 2023

Alex Turner of Arctic Monkeys performs live, Credit: AP Photo/Eduardo Verdugo

Glastonbury organiser Emily Eavis has confirmed that Arctic Monkeys‘ headline set at the festival tonight (June 23) will go ahead as planned.

The band cancelled their Dublin show scheduled for June 20 due to frontman Alex Turner dealing with an acute case of laryngitis, with fans then worrying that the singer would not recover for Friday night’s show.

After Eavis said she was “confident” but that the festival had a back-up plan, it has now been confirmed by Emily herself that the Sheffield band will play Glastonbury tonight as planned.

Speaking to Zoe Ball from the site on BBC Radio 2 this morning, she was asked about the worries over Turner’s health.

“Now Arctic Monkeys, we’ve all been concerned about Alex, he’s had laryngitis,” Ball said. “And listeners have been messaging in asking will it happen? If it doesn’t happen, what’s the contingency plan? Someone has spotted a giant mirror ball on its way here.”

“That’s a very good spot,” Eavis responded, before being asked about the status of the performance. “He’s definitely – they’re on,” she said.

Eavis added: “It was a little bit close there for a minute and we were thinking about whether we should have a serious back-up plan in place but no, thankfully they’re on so that is great.”

Fans were encouraged when a huge mirrorball with ‘MONKEYS’ written on it was being seen wheeled past the Pyramid Stage, and fans heard an instrumental version of ‘AM’ track ‘Snap Out Of It’ being soundchecked this morning at around 10am.

This year’s edition of Glastonbury features headline performances from Guns N’ Roses and Elton John alongside Lizzo, Lana Del Rey, Måneskin, Fred Again.., Cat Stevens, Manic Street Preachers, Wizkid, Lil Nas X, Chvrches, d The War On Drugs and many more.

Tonight also sees a Pyramid Stage performance from The Churnups at 6.15pm, playing before Royal Blood.

The most common theories are that it will be Foo Fighters, or returning Britpop veterans Pulp. The rumour mill then seemed to spin in favour of Foos after Dave Grohl teased fans with a message that mentioned “churning up” emotions.

Meanwhile, Rick Astley has responded about the Foos rumours in a new interview with NME.

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