By In a sliver of optimism that bucks the trend of news this week, Glastonbury Festival confirmed their final headliner at their 50th instalment would be Kendrick Lamar. The rapper joins Paul McCartney and Taylor Swift as the three artists taking the premier spots on the Pyramid stage this June.
The hope that the festival will go ahead comes as the likes of Coachella Festival and the 2020 Euros tournament announce their postponements due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Glastonbury Festival co-organiser Emily Eavis commented: "As things stand we are still working hard to deliver our 50th anniversary festival in June and we are very proud of the bill that we have put together over the last year or so."
She added: "No one has a crystal ball to see exactly where we will all be 15 weeks from now, but we are keeping our fingers firmly crossed that it will be here at Worthy Farm for the greatest show on Earth!"
The festival also announced a host of other acts in their 50/50 gender split line-up, including the news that Robyn, Candi Staton, Dua Lipa and AJ Tracey would be gracing Worthy Farm this summer. But surely the most electric news comes in the announcement that Kung Fu Kenny would be taking the Friday night Pyramid Stage slot, with Lana Del Ray before him laying the foundations for a brilliant Glastonbury moment.
Even if you're not overly familiar with Lamar's back catalogue, his influence in music is everywhere, from the West Coast hip-hop now being made by Anderson Paak. to the trap of Gucci Mane. He is – and we'll brook no argument here – the greatest rapper making music today, inflecting his lyrics with Shakespearian poetry and weight and branching out further with each new release.
In 2017, with his fourth album DAMN, Lamar became the first non-jazz or classical artist to win the Pulitzer Prize for music. It cemented how narrow-minded the Grammys were that same year for giving Bruno Mars the top accolade of Best Album over Lamar, but it also was a reminder that truly excellent art is challenging rather than a safe crowd-pleaser. Who wouldn't take a Pulitzer over a Grammy?
Last year's Glastonbury headliners – The Killers, The Cure and Stormzy – gave the festival a powerful trio of genres in pop/rock star, legacy act and hip-hop/rap artist, showing their commitment to celebrating a broad section of music at the top of the billing.
Yet undoubtedly the most talked about performance came from Stormzy's Friday night ruckus, where he performed in a Union Jack stab-proof vest, courtesy of Banksy, and tackled racism in the UK and Theresa May's response to the Grenfell Tower fire. It felt powerful, whether you were watching the highlights on Twitter or losing your friends dancing in the crowd in front of him.
Packing line-ups with nostalgic acts such as The Pixies or Fleetwood Mac might appeal to the blossoming group of older festival goers with money to spend on glamping, but giving names like Stormzy and Kendrick headline slots is a powerful way to prove you don't have to wait your turn to have your influence and achievement recognised. Legacy doesn't have to be 50 years in the making, and headline slots shouldn't be reserved just for those who have waited their turn to be there.
With a history of collaborating with exciting artists, there's also the people who Lamar might bring on stage with him to consider. Across his albums he's worked with names established artists such as Rihanna and Jay-Z, as well as newer names like Thundercat and SZA.
Of course, all of this is presuming that come the end of June, Glastonbury 50 will be going ahead, since there is every chance it will be cancelled just like everything else. Unlike in the US, where festival season starts earlier due to their balmier spring, the UK's festival scene kicks off late, so has a fraught few weeks worrying about whether to pull the plug or not. As events insurance underwriter Michael Rawlings optimistically told the Guardian, "Push forward three months in the UK, we’re not even hitting the festival season anyway. It’s just a case of holding your nerve."
The announcement of Kendrick Lamar shares that same optimism: the hope that come June 26, a mass of people will be waiting for the rapper to appear (rise through the stage? Drop from the sky?) to send jolts of his frenetic energy through the crowd. Maybe by then we'll be relieved to have no anxiety about standing in a sweaty tangle of stranger's limbs.
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