How much SZA will be paid for headlining Glastonbury because of unusual festival rule
The final day of Glastonbury 2024 is upon us, with the last headliner of the festival, SZA, set to close the Pyramid Stage this evening.
The American star, 34, will be the final act to take to the stage following incredible headline sets from Coldplay and Dua Lipa.
Glastonbury co-organiser Emily Eavis previously said she is 'super excited to have SZA on this year's line-up.
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"It's an amazing thing to have SZA here, because she's never played Glastonbury before," she told Grazia.
"It's always a different set of challenges, when you're bringing someone who hasn't been before - but it's also super exciting when they're really on board, and they've got loads of brilliant ideas, and figuring out how it's going to fit onto the Pyramid Stage."
A Glastonbury headliner slot is one of the biggest gigs of an artist's career, but it doesn't actually earn them as much as you'd think.
Despite Glastonbury being one of the most iconic festivals in the world, headliners get paid less than 10 percent of what they would earn at other festivals.
This is because Glastonbury chooses to donate £2 million to charity every year that the festival is held.
Speaking to BBC Radio 6 in 2017, co-organiser Emily Eavis said: "We're not in a situation where we're able to just give people enormous amounts of money.
"So we're really grateful for the bands that we get, because they're basically doing it for the love of it."
It's previously been claimed by Bestival organiser Rob da Bank that Glastonbury's budget is less than £500,000 per headliner.
Coldplay, who headlined Glastonbury for the fifth time this year, were once paid £200,000 to perform on the Pyramid Stage, co-founder Michael Eavis previously revealed.
However, it's likely artists don't mind the pay cut at Glastonbury, as a headline slot on the Pyramid Stage is something every singer dreams of.
Friday night's (28 June) headliner Dua Lipa revealed she'd been 'manifesting' a spot on the iconic stage for years and had even found herself wondering what her songs would sound like at the festival when was writing records.
Dua, 28, featured at Glastonbury in 2017, performing at the John Peel Tent, and with her celebrity status having risen enormously in the years that followed, it seemed right she returned this year as a headliner.
The pop star pulled out all of the stops for her Friday night show, even bringing out a very special guest - Tame Impala's Kevin Parker.
Dua and Kevin performed a rendition of hit Tame Impala track 'The Less I Know the Better'.
Kevin's appearance may have appeared a little unusual to the casual viewer - but the collaboration comes off the back of the Tame Impala singer working on her new album Radical Optimism.
Kevin is credited as a writer for the song 'End of an Era' and as a producer for the album. Dua also recorded parts of the album at his home studio as well.
LADbible has contacted representatives for SZA and Glastonbury for comment.
The most iconic Glastonbury moments
2000: The year that nearly killed Glasto
While Glasto has always had people attempting to gatecrash, 24 years ago gatecrashers descended the infamous festival in record numbers.
It was so bad it resulted in the festival being cancelled the following year as ticketless punters swarmed the site, with fears at the time the chaos could kill off the festival altogether.
Luckily, as we know, Glasto is still going strong. Speaking to the Guardian in 2020, the festival's co-creator Michael Eavis explained: "The fence wasn’t good enough, the security was crap. So I was hauled over the coals by the police, who said: "You’ve got to get someone to organise your show. You’re a nice bloke and all that, but you couldn’t arrange something in a brewery, you know the saying?
"I said: ‘Fair enough. At least I can be guaranteed to get 150,000 people at the drop of a hat – I did get the knack of that!’”
The set that turned Coldplay into megastars
The set helped turn Coldplay into megastars. (BBC)
Back in 2002, the ‘Fix You’ hitmakers won fans over as they played tunes from their upcoming second album.
Apparently, the band’s agent didn’t feel they were ready for it at the time, but Eavis insisted they headlined.
And I’m sure they’re glad they listened seeing as they’ve now got nine studio albums under their belt and millions in the bank, with their A Head Full Of Dreams Tour having grossed more than half a billion dollars in its two-year run. Impressive.
Jay-Z playing Oasis on the Pyramid Stage
He hit back in the best way. (BBC)
It was the feud no one saw coming, but in 2008 rapper Jay-Z responded to Noel Gallagher slagging off having ‘hip hop at Glastonbury’ in the most hilarious way.
The star opened up his infamous headlining set on the pyramid stage playing his own version of ‘Wonderwall’, which went down a treat with fans and spawned one of the most iconic moments in Glasto history.
The muddiest year ever
It was pure carnage. (BBC)
Britain isn’t exactly known for its glorious sunshine and I think that’s especially the case when it comes to festivals, which often see punters squelching through mud in their wellies, pint in hand.
Glasto in particular has become synonymous with being pretty muddy, but 2016 really took the biscuit. Even the festival’s boss said ’in all 46 years, it hasn’t been as bad as this’ as things became an absolute logistical nightmare after weeks of rainfall beforehand.
The scenes were chaotic, to say the least. Festival-goers were filmed diving into the mud and struggling to wade through gloop in such a way that made going for a pint like climbing Mount Everest. Generally, everyone was just really trying not to fall on their ars*s.
It wasn’t a pretty sight, but of course Brits still managed to embrace the music and the photos and videos have since gone down in the Glasto history books.
The Killers' secret set
The band performed again in 2019. (BBC)
The iconic band decided to take a more chilled approach to festival life by taking over the secret act slot on the John Peel stage in 2017.
However, as is usually the case with 'secret' gigs, word spread quickly as fans flooded to the stage in their droves to catch the band in action.
It was a far cry from their previous Glasto performance, which saw their headline show become marred with serious technical issues which majorly affected the sound.
Kylie's long-awaited headline set
Kylie's set broke records. (BBC)
In 2019 Kylie Minogue set the pyramid stage alight for her headline set, but she was actually meant to grace the stage much sooner.
14 years earlier, the pop princess was forced to cancel her slot after being diagnosed with breast cancer, making her appearance on the stage even more special for both her and fans.
Her set ended up being crowned the most-watched in Glastonbury’s history, raking in 3.9million watching at its peak, beating the likes of Ed Sheeran, Adele and even Beyoncé.
Alex from Glasto
That same year, rapper Dave created probably one of the most meme-able Glasto moments when he brought a bloke called Alex on stage to perform ‘Thiago Silva’ with him, which he absolutely nailed.
Safe to say the moment went viral, with the then 15-year-old becoming known as 'Alex from Glasto'.
It's no surprise really given his unreal rapping skills and the fact that he was donning a bucket hat, FILA bag and Paris Saint-Germain shirt. Brilliant.
Topics: Festivals, Glastonbury, Music, UK News, SZA
Danni King