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Duran Duran say they’ll skip Glastonbury unless they get a headline slot
Simon Le Bon says Duran Duran will only play Glastonbury if they’re given a headline slot at Worthy Farm.
Duran Duran have made their position on Glastonbury plain: they are not interested in showing up unless it comes with headline billing. The band, whose run stretches across more than 100 million records sold, a Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction, and Grammy and Brit Awards, have still never taken the stage at Worthy Farm.
That long absence now feels less like a scheduling quirk than a matter of principle. In a new interview with The Sunday Times, Simon Le Bon said the offer on the table did not match the band’s view of where they belong in the lineup.
“Well, we want to – but not in a disco tent at 3pm, which is what we were offered,” he said. “We want the right slot… We shouldn’t be below anybody on the bill. So, we’ll hold out because we’re a headline act – that’s all there is to it.”
It is not the first time Le Bon has framed the issue that way. Back in 2023, speaking to NME, he was equally clear that the band would be open to Glastonbury only under the right conditions. “I’d love to [do it] – we just need to get the right slot, that’s all,” he said.
He added then: “We have had the chance to do it before, but it wasn’t playing the main stage and I think we’d like to be doing that for sure. I’m sure we’re in negotiations [with Glastonbury], and if not, we will be.”
Duran Duran’s most recent UK live dates came in October 2025, when they headlined major indoor arenas in Nottingham and Manchester, playing Motorpoint Arena and Co-op Live. Before that, they topped the closing night of Latitude 2024 and performed at the opening ceremony of the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham in 2022.
Glastonbury will be in a fallow year in 2026, before returning from June 23 to 27, 2027. Tickets go on sale in November this year, with registration required before they are released.
No lineup has been announced yet, though Sam Fender, Ed Sheeran, Harry Styles and Taylor Swift are among the bookies’ favourites to headline. There is also talk that The Rolling Stones could return to Worthy Farm, after Keith Richards recently suggested the band may be heading back on the road in 2027.
The Glastonbury talk arrives as Duran Duran continue to mark another active phase. They released new single ‘Free To Love’ in April, reuniting with Chic’s Nile Rodgers, who has worked with them since the chart-topping ‘The Reflex’ in 1984. They are also due to play BST Hyde Park on July 5, with Scissor Sisters on the bill.
