Iconic 00s rock band Kasabian were revealed to be the secret set on Glastonbury’s Woodsies stage this year. The Woodsies stage escalated and transposed many acts and genres this year including, as described on the Glastonbury website, ‘indie rock and pop, Irish rap, punk and metal to chart music and plenty more to get you dancing’.
The Woodsies stage was previously know as the ‘John Peel’ stage up until 2023 when it was changed to reflect the field in which it is found like many of the other venues that make up Glastonbury. The stage gained its previous name in 2004 after the passing of influential radio DJ ‘John peel’ in that same year. When the change was made Co-organiser Emily Eavis told the Guardian it would take on its current name ‘Woodsies’ ‘as part of a push to name stages after the fields they are located in, such as West Holts and Silver Hayes.’
The iconic stage hosted an exciting array of artists this year with headline sets from Gossip and Jamie xx and James Blake who closed the stage on Sunday night. The stage also sported peformances from Sampha, Arlo Parks, Declan Mckenna, Remi Wolf, Soccer Mommy, The Vaccines
The set was confirmed by the band via an Instagram post on the morning of the performance. This has been the group’s first appearance at the festival since 2014 and according to a review by the Guardian the Woodsies tent was ‘the busiest it has been since the Killers played their own secret set here in 2017. Not just the tent but the whole field is full, with most attendees only able to follow the gig by craning their necks to look at a screen.’
Notorious for being ahead of the curve, the @secretglasto twitter account had the news first, confirming the bands attendance after releasing a series of cryptic tweets teasing the bands attendance.
For the avoidance of doubt and the benefit of the hard of thinking/heavily intoxicated, the Woodsies TBA at 1800 is KASABIAN. Have fun x — Secretglasto (@secretglasto) June 29, 2024
Despite the opinion that, as written by the Guardian, the group are supposedly ‘firmly on the slide in 2024′ after the withdrawal of previous member Tom Meighan due to his conviction for assaulting his partner in 2020 which you can read about in an article by the BBC, it seems that the secret show was a massive hit amongst attendees with fans flocking to the venue. The team behind the @secretglasto account, which is no way affiliated with the festival, released a post letting fans and those hopeful to catch the group know that the access to the stage was closed half an hour before Kasabian were due to perform at 6:00 pm.
Access to Woodsies now CLOSED.
— Secretglasto (@secretglasto) June 29, 2024
Though some festival goers felt disappointed, as many speculated that American rock icons Kings of Leon would be taking the stage at some point this weekend, spirits were still at their zenith with critics and fans alike all agreeing that Kasabian were ‘outstanding’ and it seems the band felt it too with guitarist Segio Pizzorno telling the crowd that “This is one of the greatest days in this band’s history” as they played the festival a whole 20 years after their Glastonbury debut.
