Diana Ross has been confirmed to play Glastonbury in 2022, more than two years since she was first announced to play the festival’s Sunday afternoon “legends” slot.
Ross said she was “excited and grateful” to perform there amid the UK tour of her first new album in 15 years, Thank You. She was first announced in October 2019, saying then: “To all my fans across the world, this is my tribute to you. Every concert feels like a private party, I can see your eyes and feel your hearts. I’m coming to Glastonbury, with love.”
Festival organiser Emily Eavis said she was “thrilled to be able to let you know that the magnificent Diana Ross is coming to play at Glastonbury next summer”.
Ross will be 78 years old when she takes the Pyramid stage, whose crowds often top 100,000 people, making her one of the oldest to perform there – though that record still belongs to Burt Bacharach, who was 87 when he played in 2015.
With 2020 and 2021’s events cancelled due to the Covid-19 pandemic, it is the longest time without a Glastonbury festival since a fallow spell in the late 1970s.
Last year’s edition, the festival’s 50th anniversary, was due to be headlined by Paul McCartney, Taylor Swift and Kendrick Lamar, but it was cancelled in March as the pandemic worsened. Preparations continued for 2021’s event, but it too was cancelled in January.
The festival site was instead used for camping during the summer, and for a one-off livestreamed concert Live at Worthy Farm, featuring sets from Coldplay, Damon Albarn and more.
Billie Eilish has been announced as the first headline act for 2022, playing the Friday night in a concert Eavis described as “the perfect way to return”. The festival opens its gates on Wednesday 22 June.
Ross is scheduled to play arena concerts across the UK that month in Manchester, Leeds, Glasgow, Liverpool, Birmingham, London and Durham.
