The Darkness Vs Glastonbury - Round 2!

United Kingdom | | 30 March 2004

Darkness singer Justin Hawkins has launched a vicious tabloid attack against the Glastonbury Festival, following Michael Eavis' alleged comments that the band wanted an extortionate sum to perform this year...

A report in the Daily Mirror had, a couple of weeks back, quoted Eavis suggesting that the glam rockers had outgrown their boots in the last year, having demanded no less than a cool million to perform at Glasto 2004. This level of inflation was more than the festival was prepared to accept, since the band had famously played bottom of the bill a mere year before, for a humble £75!

Hawkins' weapon of choice for the counter-attack was today's The Sun newspaper, in which he ranted: "Eavis is a c**k. We don't deal with f**king arseholes. We were speaking to all the big events before Christmas and Glastonbury was on the list. But Eavis said he thought we wouldn't be around for the festival in June. It's his loss. Our decision not to play Glastonbury is nothing to do with cash.

"Of course we asked for a lot - we're the best band around. Michael Eavis is just annoyed that he missed the boat. He came back to us after he realised his mistake. But it was too late. We'd already agreed to do the Carling Festival for a lot less money. So he's lost out. Glastonbury is all about sitting in a field and buying funny hats.

"When I go to a festival it's because I want to see bands and like the line-up. I never went to Glastonbury until we played there. Don't bother with Glastonbury unless you want to stand in a field and be healed. Reading is about the rock."

Convenient then, that this year The Darkness will headline the Carling Weekend: Reading and Leeds festivals in August, and will not appear at Glastonbury.

Also already confirmed for Reading and Leeds this year are 50 Cent, The Offspring, Ash, Morrissey, The Libertines, Franz Ferdinand, The Hives, Lostprophets and The Streets. The festivals take place over the usual bank holiday weekend of August 27-29 at Richfield Avenue, Reading and Bramham Park, Wetherby, West Yorkshire.

Tickets are priced £105 for a three-day weekend pass and £45 for a day ticket, not including camping, and are available now from the Virtual Festivals Ticket Shop.