U2 cancel Glastonbury slot

Following emergency back surgery, U2′s Bono (and therefore the rest of the band) will not be appearing at Glastonbury this year where they were due to headline the Pyramid Stage on Friday night.  Their planned American tour dates have also been cancelled.

Bono told Michael Eavis during a phone call on Monday, leaving both parties disappointed as for several years, Glastonbury has wanted U2 to play and U2 have wanted to play at Glastonbury.  The Glastonbury website carried a message from Bono saying: “I’m heartbroken. We really wanted to be there to do something really special – we even wrote a song especially for the festival.”

Michael Eavis added: “It was obvious from our telephone conversation that U2 are hugely disappointed. Clearly, they were looking forward to playing the Pyramid Stage as much as we were looking forward to watching them. At this point, we have no comment to make about possible replacements for U2′s Friday night slot. Instead, we would simply like to send Bono our very best wishes for a full and speedy recovery.”

Meanwhile, speculation is rife as to who will headline Friday night in place of U2.  Some pundits expect Dizzee Rascal to be bumped up the billing to take the headline slot, others have touted Coldplay, Kylie Minogue (unlikely as she has commitments in Paris that night) and even (but equally unlikely) giants such as The Rolling Stones or a specially reformed Stone Roses.

As soon as an announcement is made regarding the revised Pyramid Stage line up for Friday, we’ll post it here.

In other Glastonbury news, Annie Mac, Rusko and Roots have been added to the Shangri-La line up.