“It’s always been there for most of our lifetimes. There has never been a festival like it anywhere else.” – CH.

Saturday, 19:45 BST, The Park. And they’re bringing friends, too….

@KiPricePhoto pic.twitter.com/j7xwE6C8AV

— The Pretenders (@ThePretendersHQ) June 20, 2023

The Pretenders announced the news via social media accounts and comes amid an exciting time for the band-having just released new single “I Think About You Daily.” The new music features a collaboration with Johnny Greenwood of Radiohead and is the second song that the band have debuted from an upcoming LP that will be released in September. The new album will be the group’s 12^th studio full length. 

The group will be hoping to capture the same spirit and attitude that previous smash hits achieved such as, “Back on the Chain Gang” and “I’ll Stand By You” with the new material and fans will undoubtedly be eager to hear the new songs played live. Sharing the news and referring to Glastonbury, Chrissie Hynde, frontwoman of The Pretenders said, “it’s always been there for most of our lifetimes. There has never been a festival like it anywhere else.”

Despite the band gaining massive popularity in the late 70s and early 80s, The Pretenders have remained on the scene, albeit with a changed lineup and last released an album in 2020. The Pretenders notably performed with Dave Grohl and The Foo Fighters at the benefit concert for Taylor Hawkins in September of last year.

It has become somewhat of a tradition now, for Glastonbury to announce last minute or surprise acts each year. In previous years, Lady Gaga and The Libertines have been announced and the secret additions have always been guaranteed to ramp up the excitement for festival goers.

See you tomorrow…#Glastonbury2023 by Alister Sieghart pic.twitter.com/0zWHqyyWND — Glastonbury Festival (@glastonbury) June 20, 2023

The Pretenders are both an English and American band with Hynde herself, originating from Ohio in the US. After moving to London in 1973, she worked in Malcolm McClaren and Vivienne Westwood’s infamous shop where the Sex Pistols got their start. She then joined Pete Farndon, James Honeyman-Scott and Gerry Mcilduff to form the original version of The Pretenders.

After the untimely deaths of Farndon and Honeyman-Scott, the band decided to carry on with somewhat of a revolving door of musicians coming in and out of the band, although The Pretenders went on to release some of their biggest hits in the 80s including “Hymn to Her” and “Back on the Chain Gang.”

Besides The Pretenders’ surprise set at Glastonbury, the band have also been supporting Guns N’ Roses on their European tour, which will include an appearance at British Summer Time in Hyde Park. You can find tickets here.

The Pretenders dates in UK:

30/06/2023 – BST – Hyde Park, London
17/09 – BBC Radio 2 in the Park – Victoria Park, Leicester

Hynde herself was inducted into the Hall of Fame back in 2005 as part of The Pretenders, but has since taken to social media to decry its relevance. She stated, “I don’t even wanna be associated with it. It’s just more establishment backslapping.”

She continued, “Other than Neil Young’s participation in the induction process, the whole thing was, and is, total bollocks. It’s absolutely nothing to do with rock ‘n’ roll and anyone who thinks it is is a fool.”

Despite being inducted back in 2005, Hynde seems to have always viewed the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in a negative light.

In her Facebook post, she stated, “I got in a band so I didn’t have to be part of all that. I was living a happy life in Rio when I got the call I was being inducted. My heart sank because I knew I’d have to go back for it as it would be too much of a kick in the teeth to my parents if I didn’t. I’d upset them enough by then, so it was one of those things that would bail me out from years of disappointing them. ( like moving out of the USA and being arrested at PETA protests and my general personality ).”

This discussion was sparked after Courtney Love called for more female acts to be inducted. Love shared her outrage at the lack of diversity on social media, telling the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame to “GO TO HELL IN A HANDBAG BRO!”

@rockhall GO TO HELL IN A HANDBAG BRO!

I wrote this for the @guardian https://t.co/sjpCeYcqyY

— Courtney Love Cobain (@Courtney) March 17, 2023

Love, the lead singer of grunge band Hole, subsequently wrote an article for The Guardian in which she highlighted that “barely 8% of its inductees are female. The canon-making doesn’t just reek of sexist gatekeeping, but also purposeful ignorance and hostility.”

She continued, “the nominations for this year’s class, announced last month, offered the annual reminder of just how extraordinary a woman must be to make it into the ol’ boy’s club.”

Love also drew attention to the fact that “it doesn’t look good for black artists either.” “If the Rock Hall is not willing to look at the ways it is replicating the violence of structural racism and sexism that artists face in the music industry, if it cannot properly honour what visionary women artists have created, innovated, revolutionised and contributed to popular music – well, then let it go to hell in a handbag.”

Love responded to Chrissie Hynde’s Facebook post on Twitter, writing “principals b4 personalities!”

ARTISTS! Beef off the table. Principals b4 personalities! @chrissiehynde (blew my world into a rainbow in 79 #GOAT ) TBC. I would not accept, don’t need! @rockhall. BRO it isn’t 4 me I speak. THAT BOARD NEEDS A HOSE DOWN so women & poc can FEED THEIR KIDS. Not just Bon Jovi pic.twitter.com/LVJpPUa1g6 — Courtney Love Cobain (@Courtney) March 17, 2023

Love has continued her tyrade on social media, claiming she was previously “silenced by boos” when she has previously tried to speak her mind.

BRO! @billboard

Me @rockhall HOLDING MY TONGUE.

When I went to speak? I was silenced by boos… So, yeah. pic.twitter.com/2mHdeuNSF7

— Courtney Love Cobain (@Courtney) March 17, 2023

Hynde and Love have both been met with varying receptions from fans after sharing their controversial standpoints.

The Pretenders are rumoured to be releasing a new album this year titled Relentless with the release date yet to be confirmed.

See The Pretenders at Midnight Sun Weekender Festival. Tickets available here.

So here’s that Radio 2 Live at Home line-up in full!

Featuring
Classic Hyde Park sets
New sets from @SherylCrow, @nilerodgers @CHICorg @RebeccaFMusic, @CraigDavid, @erasureinfo, @RealSirTomJones, @thekillers, @johnlegend, @mcflymusic, @GregoryPorter, @ThePretendersHQ pic.twitter.com/TnRTlvMQhT

— BBC Radio 2 (@BBCRadio2) September 1, 2020

The festival will take place over the weekend of September 12/13. All the sets will be available on BBC Sounds and BBC iPlayer. Throughout the weekend there will also be highlights shows and compilation footage, and furthermore, special BBC Red Button content. After this, the footage will be available for another month.

On Saturday, the live hosts include Fearne Cotton and Rylan Clark-Neal. Sunday’s sets will be presented by Trevor Nelson, Sara Cox and Zoe Ball. A detailed line-up is available in the tweet below.

The UK acts will film their performances at Radio 2’s Live At Home stage which is somewhere in the British countryside. American performers will stream their sets from remote locations; rumour has it that The Killers’ set takes place on the roof of a Las Vegas hotel, and Nile Rodgers and co. will be live in Central Park, New York.  British synth pop duo Erasure will perform live from either side of the Atlantic!

In addition to new sets, the other ‘headliners’ will be compiled of some of the best previous performances from earlier years. These will be available on iPlayer in the lead up to the event. They include Elton John, The Pet Shop Boys, Take That and Kylie Minogue. BBC Radio 2 have shared a teaser clip from Elton John’s “spellbinding” 2016 set – watch it below!

“And you can tell everybody this is your song…” You can now re-live @eltonofficial‘s spellbinding Hyde Park set as part of Radio 2 Live at Home. Watch on @BBCiPlayer. Listen on @BBCSounds. pic.twitter.com/e8KMGbfsKB — BBC Radio 2 (@BBCRadio2) September 1, 2020

Speaking about Radio 2 Live at Home, Craig David says: “Whilst we can’t party in person, we can have a house party for Radio 2 Live at Home.” Chrissie Hynde of the Pretenders adds that, “After months in lockdown, come rain or shine, we are so happy to be able to perform in the glorious British outdoors for Radio 2 Live at Home!”

The Head of Music for Radio 2, Jeff Smith, had this to say about the newly digital festival: “Radio 2 Live At Home will celebrate some of our favourite artists performing in the great outdoors, as well as offering the opportunity to relive some classic sets from our Festival in a Day from years gone by. Who wouldn’t want to relive Jeff Lynne’s amazement at 55,000 people singing along as ELO performed their first full set in 27 years, or Kylie’s impromptu reunion with Jason Donovan on stage for a unique performance of Especially for You.”