This marks the first time in nearly 9 years that Blondie last performed at Glastonbury, the first time ever was back in 1999. The band discussed with Foxy Radio their plans on the side of the road, as reported by Metro. They said, “We’re also doing Isle Of Wight Festival and some other festivals… I guess the full list of artists to be playing Glastonbury hasn’t really been announced yet… but we are going to be playing Glastonbury, so maybe you’ve got an exclusive there.” 

Blondie are also due to perform at The London Palladium for the Lytham Festival 2023 including a special guest slot at Crystal Palace Park, alongside Iggy Pop on Saturday 1 July. As well as Blondie’s appearance at Glastonbury 2023, other legendary US bands are also scheduled to perform as well. Guns N’ Roses bassist, Duff McKagan, accidentally revealed on Sirius XM that the band are headed towards the festival this year. He said, “Glastonbury is going to be iconic for us. We’re going to be announcing some shows, you guys, at some point, we’ll be announcing a bunch of stuff.” An interview about McKagan talking about Guns N’ Roses’ collaboration with Iggy Pop was shared in an audio waveform on Reddit, in which McKagan says “maybe some of those Iggy shows we’re going to do.”

pic.twitter.com/6QVcyKh4AZ

— Emily Eavis (@emilyeavis) December 2, 2022

Sir Elton John has confirmed that he will be the final act to perform on the last night of the festival. He expresses his gratitude by saying that he “couldn’t be more excited“ to be playing the set, after 52 years on the road, which will mark the last gig of his farewell tour.  Emily Eavis, the organiser of the world-famous event with her father Michael has promised that it will be “the mother of all send-offs.”

Blondie UK and Ireland Tour Dates:

06/15/2023 –  Isle Of Wight Festival –  Newport, Great Britain (from June 15-18)

06/16 –  Cardiff Castle –  Cardiff, Great Britain

06/16 –  Cardiff Castle –  Cardiff, Great Britain (Official Ticket and Hotel Packages)

06/18 –  Isle Of Wight Festival –  Newport, Great Britain (Sunday Ticket)

06/22 – Scarborough Open Air Theatre –  Scarborough, Great Britain

06/22 –  Scarborough Open Air Theatre –  Scarborough, Great Britain (Official Ticket and Hotel Packages)

06/28 – 07/01 – Lytham Green –  Lancashire, Great Britain (4-day Pass)

06/28 – 07/02 – Lytham Green –  Lancashire, Great Britain (5-day Pass)

Ireland Tour dates:

o6/28/2023 – Malahide Castle And Gardens – Dublin, Ireland  (Alongside Sting)

You can purchase your ticket for both UK and Ireland tours here.

“I’ve never been someone who has guests on albums,” he told The Sun, “You can’t reproduce what they do when you’re playing live but I’m blown away by those people on my record.” Ozzy managed to get the legendary list of names together during Covid, “As usual, America went over the top when the pandemic started. People were buying a thousand f***ing kitchen rolls!” “So they weren’t going on a tour bus and, for about three months, they weren’t even going out at all.”

He went on to say how “gaga” it made him working with artists he admires. On working with Eric Clapton, he says, “He’s f***ing Eric Clapton!” “Nowadays, there are thousands of bands but in the Sixties and early Seventies, there weren’t very many in the business. And Eric Clapton was THE guitar player.”

Someone Ozzy hadn’t worked with before was late drummer Taylor Hawkins. “We were with him the week before he died,” explains Osbourne, “My producer knew him so Taylor came into the studio. He just said, ‘I play for Foo Fighters and Dave Grohl’s my boss’.” “He was a nice, nice man.”

Ozzy says the inspiration for the album’s name, Patient Number 9, is “about being in a lunatic asylum and I should have probably been in a few of those,” he says. The record will be released on 9th September. 

Closing the #CommonwealthGames #Birmingham Forever! pic.twitter.com/CE0qFy3gTC

— Ozzy Osbourne (@OzzyOsbourne) August 9, 2022

In 2020, Osbourne told Good Morning America that he had been living with Parkinson’s disease. Despite his challenging diagnosis, Osbourne has not been slowing down. Along with releasing his new album, he’s going on tour and even surprised fans with a performance to close the Commonwealth Games in his hometown of Birmingham.

Ozzy rose to fame as the frontman of Black Sabbath, he went on to have a successful solo career, releasing 12 studio albums, the first seven of which received multi-platinum certifications in the US. He joins fellow Black Sabbath member, Tony Iommi, on two new tracks ‘No Escape From Now’ and ‘Degradation Rules’.

One epic night deserves another! London, let’s go again pic.twitter.com/8FPHYq0ZOP

— Guns N’ Roses (@gunsnroses) July 2, 2022

Back in 2017, GnR made massive headlines when they did the last thing anyone thought they would… reform with a (mostly) original lineup. Axl Rose on lead vocals, Slash on lead guitar, and Duff McKagan on the Bass. The “classic” lineup still lacks Izzy Stradlin and Steven Adler; which most fans would argue makes the lineup incomplete… but, come on guys, this is probably enough. The big problem with this tour, however, wasn’t who did or didn’t show up, but the severe lacking of UK dates. They did 2 nights at the London Stadium in 2017… and that’s it. Other than a brief appearance at Download festival the next year, many fans were left waiting. So, when the European tour of 2022 was announced, the band had something to prove.

Now, after 2 more years of delays, the shows have arrived (again, only 2 dates in London and a festival appearance, but at least it’s actually happening now). The band’s initial plan to open doors was set for 4:30pm, enough time to allow fans a bit of time to buy beers and merch and then amble over to, support act, Gary Clarke Jr. The doors didn’t actually open until 2 hours later, no longer allowing time for Gary Clarke Jr’s slot, and bringing rumours of Rose’s bout of anxiety causing him to pull out of the performance. The show did eventually go ahead, but many fans immediately noticed problems with the band’s sound. Claiming they could hardly hear Rose’s vocals. That night they only played 22 songs, significantly shorter than the usual 27, and ignored fan favourites: “You Could Be Mine” and “Coma”.

The band’s second night wasn’t much better. Rose told the crowd a number of times that he was “having issues” with his voice after the 7^th song of the show “Estranged”, this was probably a factor of the show’s, very brief, 19-song setlist. Fan classics “Rocket Queen” and “November Rain” were dropped from the setlist for the first time since 2014 and 2016 respectively. Watch footage from “Estranged” below.

Tomorrow, Guns n Roses are set to hit Glasgow Green and many fans are worried about the band showing up. While it’s still full steam ahead today, Scotrail issues have led to an urge to travel to the show early, and prepare for alternate means of escape. I’m not sure that they do it on purpose… but Guns n Roses really know how to make touring as hard as physically possible.