Glastonbury must deliver world-class line-up to compete with this UK festival

It’s been the longest Glastonbury ticketholders have waited in 17 years for a single line up announcement. But the Worthy Farm festival is going to have to bring some seriously sought-after goods if it hopes to compete with BST Hyde Park 2024.

The London-based festival announced today that Fleetwood Mac legend Stevie Nicks will be headlining as part of its growing – and increasingly enviable – line-up. 

BST Hyde Park festival promises more line-up announcements in due course but it’s already set to be an absolute corker this year with more icons than we can count on one hand.

While Glastonbury will take place on the last weekend of June, BST Hyde Park sees multiple weekends of legends taking to the stage for the non-camping event in central London.

The Dreams hitmaker will perform on the same weekend as Kylie Minogue and South Korean megastars Stray Kids.

The first of three BST weekends will kick off on the same weekend as Glastonbury, with Nashville rockstars The Kings Of Leon confirmed to be headlining on Sunday 30 June.

Andrea Bocelli headlines the second weekend, alongside Rock DJ legend Robbie Williams and Shania Twain.

Meanwhile, Glastonbury ticket-holders are waiting for the longest time since 2007 for a single official line up confirmation from the festival. Everyone even believed Liam Gallagher when he declared he was headlining on X – before he then denied it and fans were left deflated. Thanks Liam. 

At this stage, festival revellers would take anything for a little bit of Glastonbury crystal ball wisdom.

Of course, every headliner at BST Hyde Park could also be heading at Glastonbury this year – even the Kings of Leon, as they could technically perform at Worthy Farm on the Friday or Saturday night, before flitting over to London for their BST slot.

Stevie Nicks has long been tipped for Glastonbury 2024, and Fleetwood Mac fans with a ticket will no doubt be fuming if that doesn’t come to fruition and she’s opted for BST exclusively instead.

Last year BST Hyde Park did it again, and bagged absolute icon Bruce Springsteen. He briefly appeared at Worthy Farm was in 2022 alongside Sir Paul McCartney, but his last headline slot there was in 2009.

The Born in the USA star is rumoured as one of the 2024 Glastonbury hopefuls, but many people saw him last year at the London festival, so it feels a little second fiddle.

Meanwhile, Sir Elton John blew the Pyramid Stage away last year during his emotional last performance after his Goodbye Yellow Brick Road tour came to a close, marking his final live shows. 

Of course, Glastonbury, with its history-steeped reputation is always going to be able to bag at least one absolute legend whose performance will linger in memories for years to come. 

The Foo Fighter’s secret set, under the made-up name The Churnups, also had this sprinkle of Glastonbury magic last year. 

But when Sir Elton took to the Pyramid Stage it came a year after he headlined BST in 2022. Yet again, the Hyde Park festival pipped them to it.

While Guns N’ Roses, who headlined Glastonbury’s Saturday night last year, are certified legends, they also took a spot in last year’s BST line-up, meaning Axl Rose and Slash were by no means Glastonbury exclusives.

The Arctic Monkey’s Alex Turner was accused of ‘butchering’ their Friday night Glastonbury set last year. He was struck with a bout of laryngitis earlier in the week, so that’s not really anyone’s fault.

But fans also seethed at the slow pace of their performance, and the lack of their earlier music in the set. It was their third time headlining at Glastonbury after performing in 2007 and 2013. Generally, the overwhelming response wasn’t of awe, but slight disappointment.

Meanwhile over at Hyde Park, a 74-year-old Billy Joel lit up the park with the energy of a 20-year-old whippersnapper and Pink trapesed over the crowd in one of her iconic, daring sets where she mixed her bangers with levitating aerobics.

This year BST are already bringing a range of Glastonbury headline-worthy acts, without the months-long wait for information and at much less of a cost for fans.

Uniquely to other festivals, Glastonbury ticketholders paid their deposit back in November under the assumption the line-up will be unbeatable, without knowing any specifics.

The full ticket price has increased in recent years and is now £360 a pop, while BST attendees can grab a day’s general pass from £100 – without a massive Glastonbury-stress scramble for tickets too. They’re still available, folks. 

It’s notoriously difficult to get Glastonbury tickets, and this year proved even more so with a few hopefuls apparently getting loads of tickets using an online ‘hack’, making their journey into the elusive ticketing page much more doable. Many others were left, as they are year after year, empty handed.

In short: Glastonbury is a whole thing. Meanwhile, BST are just trotting along into 2024 bagging music legends and not making a fuss. 

When they do eventually announce the line-up, Glastonbury better have some mind-blowing names, because this 11-year-old festival just delivered a spectacular array of headliners, with more still to come…

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