Stevie Wonder is in talks to close Glastonbury.
The “Superstition” hitmaker — who previously headlined the festival in 2010 — is in negotiations to top the bill on the final night of the annual event, which runs from, after negotiations with Madonna broke down over money.
“It will be a massive coup if we get him. Many reckoned his set [in 2010] was up there with the best seen here,” a source told the Mail on Sunday newspaper.
It has previously been claimed Madonna, Coldplay and Dua Lipa would be headlining this year’s festival, but talks with the “Material Girl” hitmaker broke down after organizers Michael and Emily Eavis refused to pay the huge fee to bring her “Celebration” live show to Worthy Farm in Somerset.
“To be honest, it’s been a real blow not being able to nail down a deal with Madonna,” a source previously told the Mail on Sunday.
“Emily was so keen to have her play the legend slot. After she saw Madonna’s tour in London in October she raved about her on Instagram — something she rarely does without Glastonbury in mind. But everyone knows that after last year — and the criticism over the gender balance — we’ve got to have big-name females heading the lineup. Dua Lipa is a real catch. Now, we need another. There is still some hope it can be resurrected, but it’s pretty unlikely. There are money issues at the root of this; it’s a real shame,” a source added.
Coldplay has previously headlined the festival in 2002, 2005, 2011 and 2016, while it will be Lipa’s first appearance as a headline act.
Emily Eavis previously hinted Madonna could be set to top the bill.
“I thought it was kind of taking shape, and then last week I just got a call … this is what happens if you wait a little longer because quite often we’ll be booked up from July. But this year we’re holding out for a little bit longer. And then last week I got a call from [a representative of] a really big American artist saying, ‘This person’s around next year’, and I was like, ‘Oh my God, this is incredible. Thank God we held the slot,'” Eavis shared with Annie Mac and Nick Grimshaw on their podcast “Sidetracked with Annie and Nick.”
The timing of the call coincided with Eavis seeing Madonna at The O2 in London, but she insisted people shouldn’t read too much into her posting online about the gig.
“It was incredible. I just was blown away by it, to be honest. I walked away and I was like, ‘I’ve got to post about this.’ I’ve posted about going to lots of gigs before, but I didn’t expect it to be quite such big news,” she said.
“Everybody knows that I’ve always wanted Madonna to play Glastonbury. It’s not a big news story,” she added.
