Glastonbury 2023: Latest news, weather forecast, BBC schedule and lineup including Elton John and Arctic Monkeys

…and the possible workarounds

On Saturday (24 June) night, all eyes will be focused on the Pyramid Stage for Guns N’ Roses’s headline performance.

The Los Angeles-based rock band formed in 1985 and are best known for their 1988 hit, “Sweet Child o’ Mine”.

I wasn’t conceived at Glastonbury, but for the first decade of my life I may as well have been. I was, in many respects, a Glastonbury baby. Born and raised in nearby Bristol, I first visited in 1994, aged two with potty in hand, and attended for the five years that followed. I have not been back since. But even if Glastonbury has changed hugely in the decades in between, it still exists as a joyous, creative paradise of jugglers, acrobats and enormous fire-breathing spiders for those lucky enough to experience it as a child. Enough to grant it an almost mythical hold over many of the children who have passed through over the years, like a soothing imprinton the soul.

Back then, against the withering judgements of outraged co-workers, my parents saw it as an adventure and an education, for themselves and for me. My dad sometimes worked there as a steward, picking up litter and ushering in guests in exchange for a free ticket. But the tickets themselves were also relatively affordable – around £50 each, picked up from a local ticket shop, with under-12s getting in for free. Too broke to afford any sort of overseas holiday, Glastonbury was our version of an annual family sojourn, and a bargain considering what was on offer.

The Pretenders have just been announced as one of Glastonbury’s secret acts.

The English-American band has revealed they will be performing on Saturday, 19:45 BST, at The Park Stage. The band also teased some special guests though their identities have not been disclosed.

“It’s always been there for most of our lifetimes. There has never been a festival like it anywhere else,” lead singer Chrissie Hynde said.

A 40-minute blast of pure, undiluted zeitgeist. A gigantic crowd stretching away over hill and vale. A generation’s prejudices and expectations overturned like a flick of dust off the shoulder. A setlist chiselled into quicksilver by Zeus and carried to the stage by a choir of winged roadies. Or maybe just the Dalai Lama, blowing out the candles on a birthday cake.

These are just a few of the reasons why a gig playing out on the hallowed grounds of Worthy Farm might go down in Glastonbury folklore – one of those iconic moments that don’t just make the weekend, but mark out the evolution of pop culture. Glastonbury is where musical history is made and cultural colossi are crowned on a near-annual basis.

Ahead of the glorious return of the world’s greatest festival, headlined this year by Arctic Monkeys, Guns N’ Roses and Elton John, here’s a look back at the best ever Glastonbury performances.

Glastonbury Festival has said that it stands “against all forms of discrimination” after cancelling a screening of a film about former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn.

Titled Oh, Jeremy Corbyn: The Big Lie and produced by Platform Films, the film was due to be shown at the arts festival’s Pilton Palais cinema on Sunday (25 June).