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Who Should Be The Next Person To Do The Glastonbury Legend Slot?

by 101 Comments

And the answer is obviously Carole King.

But if there is anyone better? Feel free to post.

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Comments

  1. Diana Ross was due to play this year & I am assuming that she would get the nod for next year.

    Assuming she does, I think Carole King would be a great choice for 2022.

    Perhaps Kate Bush for 2023?

  8. Doesn’t the Legend slot artist have to have an air of camp, or even naffness about them? There’s an arch, ‘guilty pleasures’ aspect to the earlier choices. Indeed, after the first such performance I remember it was called ‘the Rolf Harris slot’ for a few years, until those words took on a less wholesome meaning.

    • Might I suggest Neil Sedaka. Naff showbiz image but some cracking tunes (Standing on the Inside or Our Last Song Together anybody?) He could do a set with Carol King as they both come from the same Brill Building background. Sorted.

      • I saw a very entertaining show a few years back by Graham Gouldman and some chums, where they did a first set of acoustic versions of songs he’d written back in the ’60s for The Hollies, Herman’s Hermits, The Yardbirds etc. Then they did an electric band second set of 10cc’s greatest hits.
        I would have thought that a good show like the old ’60s package tours could be put together. Carole King as the main focus artist/compere with Sedaka and featuring anyone else that’s still around and capable. Maybe some current artists covering major songs from that era and style where the original artists aren’t around any more.

  9. Peter Frampton.

    Show the youngsters a thing or two about proper, fun, powerful pop songs brilliantly played. I’ve been blasting the ‘Frampton Comes Alive 2’ album this week, and what a belter that is.

    • Cliff (and hopefully the Shads) would be great, if he ‘curated’ a Glasto-appropriate setlist, i.e. the good stuff (and he does have some good stuff) and less of the cheese.

  27. Genesis?
    They’ve just reformed. They’re (supposed to be) playing live this autumn. They’re fairly old. They’ve sold millions of records. Why not?

    • I saw him at the Barbican earlier this year, my only big venue gig pre lockdown. He’d need a band. With just him and a few effects pedals his undeniable charisma didn’t reach the balcony so I can’t see it extending way, way into a huge field.

        • Looking at a seating plan I was one of the two higher levels. I love the man, and had wanted to see him for decades, but was disappointed. The Light actually fell asleep at one point, and the could be nasty if it affected large sections of a standing crowd.

  36. The Skatalites. They’ve already played Glastonbury once, but that was in 2003.
    None of the original members are still alive but I think the band are still in existence and playing.

  38. I fear we are losing the run of ourselves here. There are many stages and slots at Glastonbury and someone like Julian Cope will have a space of their own depending on their fortunes at each stage in their career.
    But the tea time legends slot has established specific parameters. You need a pile of songs that the tea time crowd can sing along to. It’s great if you already loom large in their hearts, but it is possible, through a run of “oh, I forgot he/she/they did that one” crowd pleasers to win the day.
    Consequently the ideal act is either a slightly off radar* proper act with a catalogue of “Oh, I like this one. And this one too” tunes – Billy Joel is an excellent suggestion, or
    a true entertainer – possibly with a campy element – who will bring a show which will carry the crowd (because this is not an arms folded frowny-faced audience, they want to enjoy themselves) such as Kylie delivered last year. Best of all is both rolled into one, a songwriter with a catalogue to die for who perhaps comes with a whiff of less-than-cool but, by the end has brought the party and reminded everyone that they are one of the greats , as Barry Gibb did a couple of years back.
    (*There May be a problem, as suggested above with respect to Madonna, persuading acts that they fit into this slot – in the way no-one is ever ready for that lifetime achievement nod just yet – although the way the tea time act is now routinely fourth on the poster after the headliners, and a few clips of the crowds for past acts, might turn some heads..)

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