The Black Keys has vowed to "never play again" at Glastonbury Festival after they received an offer they deemed to be "insulting". The huge US act blasted their wage for their previous gig at Worthy Farm.
The blues-rock duo, famous for hits including Lonely Boy and Gold On The Ceiling , previously played at Glastonbury Festival in 2014. Their Pyramid Stage performance was described as "dazzling", reports Somerset Live.
Fans noticed a hole in their upcoming tour dates around the event's weekend and were speculating that The Black Keys could return. However, those hopes have been dashed by the band in an interview with NME.
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Drummer Patrick Carney said: "We got an offer from Glastonbury that was so insulting, we’re never going to play the festival again. We know it’s a big deal for people in the UK but the weight of what the festival is doesn’t translate to most Americans.
"We have no interest in playing it."
Does Glastonbury pay less than other festivals?
Glastonbury Festival co-organisers and father and daughter duo Michael and Emily Eavis have previously mentioned in interviews the cost of getting big acts to take to the Worthy Farm stages. Michael previously said: "I paid £200,000 for Paul McCartney and for Coldplay, and although it sounds a lot, they could have charged me far more."
In 2017, Emily spoke of how the festival’s performers are typically paid a tiny fraction of what they’d usually get for other performances. "We’re not in the same bracket as everyone else when it comes to paying artists massive fees," she previously told BBC Radio 6.
She explained: "So we're really grateful for the bands that we get because they're basically doing it for the love of it. It's probably less than 10 per cent of what they'd get from playing any of the other major British festivals, [so] Glastonbury relies completely on goodwill."
Bestival organiser Rob Da Bank previously told Somerset Live that in 2020 Glastonbury's budget was a maximum of half a million pounds per headliner. "It's the one show that artists will play for free or for a reduced price," he said.
"They cap their budget and even the headliners don't get paid more than 500 grand, I think, which is cheap for some of the headliners and they've had a lot of them. So, that's proof of its huge, huge influence."
One big bonus for Glastonbury Festival headliners and other big acts is that their full Worthy Farm sets are broadcast live on the BBC, which may help to soften the blow of a lower fee. Glastonbury is also well-known for its charity exploits, donating millions of pounds every year, which might also sway some acts to play.
"In a wet year it's harder because it costs more, but we give as close to £2m as we can," Emily explained in a BBC 6 Music interview. "That's why we're not commercial, in that respect. We're not in the same bracket as everyone else when it comes to paying artists massive fees."
And the lower wages go all the way to the top, with the founder himself only allocating a £60,000 salary.
Headliners for this year's event have now been revealed, with Arctic Monkeys, Guns N’ Roses and Elton John all set to take the prime spot on the Pyramid Stage.
Other acts on the bill include Lizzo and Aitch, as well as Slowthai, Royal Blood, Becky Hill, Blondie and plenty more too.
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