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The Glastonbury 'Legends' slot has been announced

Will it be as good as Lionel Richie?

The Glastonbury 'Legends' slot has been announced
01 February 2016

It's slowly become the main event of the whole of Glastonbury - overshadowing even the three evening headline slots - and the artist filling this year's 'legend' slot on Sunday afternoon has been revealed.

The anointed ones are Electric Light Orchestra - now known as Jeff Lynne's ELO after he reformed the band in 2012. They have a lot to live up to after slots in recent years from Dolly Parton and Lionel Richie saw some of the biggest crowds ever witnessed at the festival.

Booker Emily Eavis announced the news this morning in a tweet:

So what can we expect?

For the uninitiated, they formed in 1970 with a desire to combine elements of modern rock and pop with classical music - and they were phenomenally successful at it, racking up 20 top 20 UK singles between 1972 and 1986, as well as 20 top 40 Billboard hits in the US, selling over 50 million records in the process - if you know nothing else, you'll definitely know Mr Blue Sky.

After disbanding in 1986, they briefly reformed for an album, Zoom, in 2001. However, a 2013 reunion for a Children in Need concert was far more successful, with 'Jeff Lynne's ELO' forming to play Hyde Park to 50,000 people in 2014, with Jeff Lynne and fellow lynchpin Richard Tandy backed by Take That and Gary Barlow's live band. They then played the Grammy Awards last year, before releasing a new album, Alone in the Universe in November.

So will they be better than Lionel? It's a tough ask - we'll see in June.

Spotify

(Image: Rex)