Are Guns N' Roses headlining Glastonbury 2023?

By
( )
published

Rumours continue to build that Guns N' Roses and Arctic Monkeys are the two final headliners for this year's Glastonbury Festival

Slash and Axl Rose on stage
(Image credit: Getty)

With Glastonbury Festival 2023 now less than six months away, rumours are beginning to build over who the final two headliners are for this year's event, following the news that Elton John will be making his Glasto debut to headline the Sunday night for his final ever UK show.

One of the most persistent rumours circulating around this year's festival is that rock 'n' roll legends Guns N' Roses, featuring guitarist Slash and bassist Duff McKagan back in the band since 2016, will be one of the other headliners. In an exclusive interview, festival co-organiser Emily Eavis told Metal Hammer back in November 2021: "I think Guns N’ Roses need to play here at some point, don’t they?", sparking speculation that the LA legends may be in talks to headline 2022's edition of Glasto.

While those rumours never ultimately materialised into anything, a year later, The Sun claimed that they had insider info that Guns N' Roses were actually in discussions to headline Glastonbury 2023. Less than a month later, the band confirmed their biggest ever UK headline show, announcing that they'd be playing London's BST festival in Hyde Park on Friday, June 30 - less than a week after this year's Glastonbury takes place.

With the band now officially in the country around that time, rumours have intensified over Axl et al's potential Glasto appearance, and now festival rumours site eFestivals - who are usually pretty accurate when it comes to predicting the Glastonbury lineup - have added Guns N' Roses as a 'TBC' headliner on their 2023 round-up. Also in that category are Arctic Monkeys, who remain odds-on favourites to be one of the other headliners following another Sun report last year that claimed they had officially signed on to play. The Sheffield indie-rockers last headlined the festival in 2013.

We likely won't find out the other Glastonbury headliners - or, indeed, much of the lineup - until early springtime, but if Guns N' Roses do headline, it'll mark their first ever appearance at Worthy Farm and a historic booking for the festival. Slash played Glastonbury with his solo band back in 2010, playing five Guns N' Roses covers as part of his set (sung by Myles Kennedy). As for whether Slash will grace the Pyramid stage this year, however? We guess we'll just have to watch this space.

Merlin Alderslade
Merlin Alderslade
Executive Editor, Louder

Merlin moved into his role as Executive Editor of Louder in early 2022, following over ten years working at Metal Hammer. While there, he served as Online Editor and Deputy Editor, before being promoted to Editor in 2016. Before joining Metal Hammer, Merlin worked as Associate Editor at Terrorizer Magazine and has previously written for the likes of Classic Rock, Rock Sound, eFestivals and others. Across his career he has interviewed legends including Ozzy Osbourne, Lemmy, Metallica, Iron Maiden (including getting a trip on Ed Force One courtesy of Bruce Dickinson), Guns N' Roses, KISS, Slipknot, System Of A Down and Meat Loaf. He has also presented and produced the Metal Hammer Podcast, presented the Metal Hammer Radio Show and is probably responsible for 90% of all nu metal-related content making it onto the site.