Suzanne Vega reveals that the police “advised” her not to play Glastonbury headline show
Looking back at her iconic headline set at Glastonbury Festival in 1989, musician Suzanne Vega has revealed that the police “advised” her not to play.
With her Pyramid Stage performance, she became the first ever female headliner at the Somerset festival. In a new interview with The i, Vega has now confessed that she received death threats before the historic performance.
She recounted: “Scotland Yard sat me down and said, ‘We advise you not to do the show’. I was like, ‘Are you kidding me?’”. Both Vega and her touring bassist had received death threats, including one on the morning of the show.
After insistently refusing to back down from the performance, the police took matters into their own hands. Vega told the story: “A man from Scotland Yard took his and said, ‘You’ll have to wear this’. He was twice my size, so I had to gaffer tape myself into this giant bulletproof vest, and then put a denim jacket over it.”
Her enjoyment of the show was impacted terribly because of the stress. “It felt like every song was 20 minutes long,” she continued. “It was not comfortable. We were all nervous.”
Vega has since released her first album in over a decade, Flying With Angels. She will also tour the UK in October and November, including a night at London’s Royal Albert Hall on November 3rd.
This year, Neil Young, The 1975, and Olivia Rodrigo are set to headline the Pyramid Stage. Meanwhile, Charli XCX, Loyle Carner, and The Prodigy will headline The Other Stage.
Alanis Morissette, Biffy Clyro, Deftones, Noah Kahan, Busta Rhymes, John Fogerty, Raye, The Maccabees, Ezra Collective, The Libertines, Wet Leg and Father John Misty are among other major names performing at Glastonbury. Final tickets for the weekend sold out in under 20 minutes.
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