The Japan Times - Glastonbury rocks gender norms with 2024 line up

Famed as much for its mud as its music, the wildly popular event has become a fixture in British life since 1970 and is one of the musical highlights of the year.

Tickets for this year's festival, due to take place at Worthy Farm in southwest England on June 26-30, were snapped up within an hour of going on sale last November.

A standard ticket for the event was priced at £355 ($442).

British-Albanian pop sensation Dua Lipa, who played at the event once before in 2017, will make her headline debut on the main Pyramid stage on the night of Friday June 28.

"I have dreamt of this moment all my life," she wrote on her Instagram page.

"Something that lived only in my wildest dreams and highest manifestations!!!

"I am so excited to see you all in my favourite place on earth and make it a night to remember!!"

Grammy and Brit winner SZA, who's real name Solana Imani Rowe, will headline the show on the Sunday night of the festival.

It will be the first time that the R&B singer, who is known for the songs "Snooze" and "Ghost In The Machine", will perform at the festival.

Coldplay will make their first Pyramid stage appearance since 2016 on the Saturday night, becoming the first act to headline Glastonbury five times.

Canadian singer-songwriter Shania Twain, known for hits including "Man! I Feel Like A Woman!", "You're Still The One" and "That Don't Impress Me Much", will perform in the Sunday afternoon legends slot.

"There's like a stamp that comes with this slot and I feel like I'm there, I've arrived at this slot," the five-time Grammy award-winner who has sold more than 100 million records, told the BBC.

US rock band LCD Soundsystem, British rapper Little Simz, Nigeria's Burna Boy, 1980s star Cyndi Lauper and British soul singer Olivia Dean, will also perform on the Pyramid stage.

Dairy farmer Michael Eavis first organised the festival in 1970, the day after Jimi Hendrix died, and fans who came paid £1 each for entry and received free milk from the farm.

The festival was held intermittently in the 1970s but it wasn't until the 1990s that it began to acquire its current cult status.

Last year's headliner was Elton John, playing his last concert in the UK. In 2022, Paul McCartney brought the festival back with a bang after Covid interruptions in 2020 and 2021.

K.Okada--JT