Metallica To Headline Glastonbury

Metallica is to join acts such as Arcade Fire, Dolly Parton, De La Soul and Lily Allen at the Glastonbury Festival in the U.K. this summer.

Festival organizers revealed on Thursday night that the heavy metal band would be headlining the summer music festival, held over five days in Somerset, England. The band is scheduled to take the main stage in front of 135,000 festivalgoers on the Saturday night.

Festival founder Michael Eavis told the BBC that while the choice might seem surprising to some, he thinks Metallica is an ideal headliner. “They wanted to play for a long, long time and they’re one of the most amazing rock bands in the world, everywhere I go people say ‘When are Metallica going to play?’ I said, ‘They will be here one day’ and this is their time now,” he said. “People think that we’re prone to have Radiohead and Coldplay and Oasis but when we had Jay Z a few years ago, people said he wasn’t a Glastonbury act but we have all kinds of music.”

Meanwhile, Metallica drummer Lars Ulrich told BBC Radio 1 that the band was thrilled to be headlining, adding, “We’ve been waiting for this phone call for years.” He also said that though their set-list wasn’t finalized, they were aware that their usual audience differs from the average Glasto-goer. “It’ll be your friendly neighborhood Metallica,” he said. “If nothing else, we’ll enjoy it.”

The annual festival, one of the largest outdoor music festivals in the world, kicks off on June 25.

[BBC]