Between Elton John, Beyoncé, Adele and the late David Bowie, Glastonbury has had a string of truly legendary headliners close the show on the Pyramid Stage in the last 50 years.
However, organiser Emily Eavis has revealed that there’s one artist she still dreams of seeing headline the festival.
During a new interview with the BBC Sounds podcast Sidetracked, Emily named Kate Bush as her “dream headliner”.
While Kate is an unlikely booking (given she hasn’t performed live in a decade, since her 22-date residency at London’s Hammersmith Apollo came to an end in October 2014), Emily said she’s remaining optimistic the chart-topping star might one day come to Glasto.
“I’ve put it out there that I’d love to have her,” she said. “I hope it will happen one day. I mean, Elton was a pipe dream and it happened, so you never know.”
It’s worth pointing out that Kate’s career has enjoyed something of a renaissance in recent history, after Running Up That Hill’s prominent placing in season four of Stranger Things led to the track reaching number one in the UK singles chart.
Elsewhere in her Sidetracked interview, Emily claimed she and her father Michael Eavis are likely to give the iconic music festival a year off in 2026.
“The fallow year is important because it gives the land a rest, and it gives the cows a chance to stay out for longer and reclaim their land,” she explained.
“And I think it’s quite good not to be seen to be cashing in.”
Glastonbury gets underway for 2024 later this month, with Coldplay co-headlining alongside Dua Lipa and SZA, marking the first time two female acts have had top billing.
Because of the pandemic, Glastonbury took two years off between 2020 and 2021.
In 2020, Taylor Swift was supposed to have headlined alongside Paul McCartney and Kendrick Lamar.
While the former Beatles star and Grammy-winning rapper both ended up headlining in 2022, Taylor has not yet made her Glastonbury debut.
Speculation was initially rife that 2024 could be her year, until her ongoing Eras tour wound up clashing with the event.