Duran Duran wants Glastonbury, but only as headliners

No disco tent, thank you

Duran Duran have made their position clear: they will play Glastonbury, but only at the top of the bill. Speaking to The Times of London, frontman Simon Le Bon put it plainly. "We shouldn't be below anybody on the bill," he said, adding that the band would "hold out because we're a headline act, that's all there is to it."

The condition is not new frustration. According to Billboard, the band was previously offered a spot that Le Bon described as "a disco tent at 3pm," which they declined without much deliberation.

When could it happen

The next realistic window is 2027. Glastonbury is taking a fallow year in 2026, a pause the festival rolls around once every five years to give the Eavis dairy farm site a rest.

A summer with plenty already on the calendar

The band is not short of big stages this year. Duran Duran headline BST Hyde Park on July 5, the same setting where an estimated 70,000 fans gathered for their 2022 concert. They also recently completed a Las Vegas residency, with a run of UK and European dates starting June 19 at Denmark's Heartland Festival.

On the music side, the band dropped "Free to Love" last month, a neo-disco collaboration with producer Nile Rodgers. It is their first new material since Danse Macabre, their 16th album, which opened at No. 4 on the Official UK Chart in 2023.

The accolades are not in question

Duran Duran's CV needs little introduction: two Grammys, two Ivor Novellos, a Brit Awards Lifetime Achievement, a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, and a Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction in 2022. Le Bon himself was named a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) by King Charles in 2024. Glastonbury, for all its mythology, would simply be the next box to tick, on their own terms.