Madonna has seemingly hinted that she will be headlining Glastonbury Festival when it returns next year.
The queen of pop is preparing to release her hugely anticipated new album, Confessions II, which she discussed in a filmed BBC interview with chat-show host Graham Norton.
The wide-ranging conversation spanned everything from her early days on New York’s club scene to her first visit to London in 1983, and her grief over the death of her brother, Christopher, in 2024.
Towards the very end of the interview, Norton asked whether Madonna was planning to tour the new album. Her last run was her career-spanning Celebration Tour, which took place between October 2023 to May 2024.
Madonna confirmed that she’d be doing promo tours, then, next summer, “something bigger…” Norton’s eyes went wide as he seemed to realise what she meant: “Oh! Oh, OK… That sounds really exciting and good and I think I know what you’re talking about. Is it in this country?”
“It could be,” Madonna teased. “Why do you have to know everything? I’ve told you a lot of interesting things, that’s what you get, and the rest you have to wait for.”
She continued: “I heard this phrase a long time ago that the definition of being an adult is the ability to delay gratification.”
“Wow, I am not an adult,” Norton said, to laughter from Madonna.
Glastonbury organiser Emily Eavis has made no secret of the fact that she has always wanted Madonna to play Glastonbury. But rumours began swirling ahead of the 2024 event that the “Holiday” star could finally headline, after Eavis heaped praise on her after seeing her perform at the O2 Arena in London.
“I walked away and I was like, ‘I’ve got to post about this,’” she said. “I’ve posted about going to lots of gigs before, but I didn’t expect it to be quite such big news.”
However, The Independent reported at the time that talks with Madonna’s team broke down after Glastonbury organisers said they wouldn’t be able to pay costs for the huge set-up involved in Madonna’s Celebration tour, which she wanted to bring to Worthy Farm.
The situation was not dissimilar to the latest news of a planned biopic falling through, which Madonna blamed on studio Universal not giving her a big enough budget: “I’ve had a huge life,” she said, “so I needed a big budget.”
The Independent has contacted Madonna’s representative and Glastonbury Festival for comment.
Glastonbury typically announces part of its lineup in spring ahead of the festival taking place in late June. Madonna’s teasing happens to have taken place on the weekend Glastonbury would have been held, were it not for the fallow year.
Last year’s festival was headlined by The 1975, Neil Young and Olivia Rodrigo, with Rod Stewart in the traditional Sunday Legend slot.
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