the festival circuit

Generational Icons Paul McCartney, Kendrick Lamar Join Billie Eilish at Glastonbury

Photo: ANGELA WEISS/AFP via Getty Images

Here’s another reason for Billie Eilish to be in love with her future: The pop star is set to headline the U.K.’s Glastonbury Festival in 2022. At just over 20 years and 6 months old by the time of her Friday headliner on June 24, 2022, she’ll become the youngest ever solo artist to headline the festival, along with one of just a few women to have ever been given the slot. Headlining alongside Eilish will be a musician who’s been at it since the ’60s, Paul McCartney, and one of the most important musicians of the 2010s, Kendrick Lamar. Also making her way across the pond will be Diana Ross, who tops the lineup alongside that trio and is set to play Sunday’s legends slot. Eilish headlines Friday, June 24; McCartney on Saturday, June 25; and Lamar on Sunday, June 26. Down the bill, the festival — which begins on June 22 — also features acts like Big Thief, Charli XCX, Doja Cat, Haim, Jessie Ware, Kacey Musgraves, Little Simz, Lorde, Megan Thee Stallion, Mitski, Olivia Rodrigo, Phoebe Bridgers, and St. Vincent. You know, only everyone who released important music over the past few years.

Organizer Emily Eavis tweeted that she “couldn’t be happier” about Eilish’s performance upon the announcement in October 2021. (Happier than ever, perhaps?) “This feels like the perfect way for us to return and I cannot wait!” she wrote, after Eilish herself previously teased the performance on an Instagram Story. Glastonbury is just the latest festival for Eilish to conquer, after she recently headlined New York City’s Governors Ball and Austin City Limits — where she returned on October 9, after speaking out against Texas’s recent six-week abortion ban during her October 2 set. Eilish is performing her second album, Happier Than Ever, which she’ll also promote with a headlining tour in the spring.

The largest festival in the U.K., Glastonbury is set to return for the first time since 2019, after being canceled in 2020 and 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Paul McCartney, Kendrick Lamar, and Taylor Swift were previously set to headline in 2020 for the festival’s planned 50th-anniversary celebration.

This post has been updated.

Paul McCartney and Kendrick Lamar Join Glastonbury Lineup