Emily Eavis has hinted rumours Madonna will be headlining Glastonbury next year may be true.
The festival co-organiser revealed a major American female artist has been booked for the coveted legends slot at the 2024 festival.
Asked on a podcast about who she had set her sights on to headline, Eavis did not reveal identities but said that representatives for a “really big American artist” had recently reached out, adding: “thank god we held the slot”.
It comes after it was reported Madonna, 65, was in advanced talks to headline the event, which would mark the pop icon’s debut at Glastonbury.
Eavis, 44, told the BBC podcast Sidetracked that the line-up for the five-day event in June is “still a little up in the air” but that her goal was to have two female headliners.
It follows criticism after this year’s festival was only headlined by male acts, including Sir Elton John, Guns N’ Roses and Arctic Monkeys.
Speaking to podcast hosts Annie Macmanus and Nick Grimshaw on Thursday, she said: “I’ve been talking to people about headline slots for next year for about two years and those are still very much up in the air so it takes a long time.”
Eavis said she thought things were “taking shape” until she received a phone call last week that changed things.
“This is what happens if you wait a little longer because quite often we’ll be booked up from July but this year we’re holding out for a little bit longer”, she explained.
“And then last week, I got a call from a really big American artist saying ‘This person’s around next year’ and I was like, ‘Oh my god, this is incredible. Thank god we held the slot’.”