Royal Blood’s Ben Thatcher wears Arctic Monkeys shirt at Glastonbury to return 2013 gesture from Matt Helders

Damon Albarn has shared that he believes Arctic Monkeys are “the last great guitar band,” adding that guitar music has gone “sterile”.While appearing on the Broken Record podcast, the Blur frontman discussed the state of guitar music. Though he said he remained optimistic about the future of the genre, Albarn believed it went through a rough patch before its reinvention.“I feel like there’s a bit more excitement about guitar music again, that can’t be a bad thing because it got so sterile.

Royal Blood have shared their latest single ‘Pull Me Through’ from their forthcoming album ‘Back To The Water Below’.‘Pull Me Through’ is the second single from the band’s upcoming fourth album following the lead track ‘Mountains At Midnight’. Of the new single, frontman Mike Kerr said: “‘Pull Me Through’ is ultimately about giving up on persevering alone and finding strength in asking for help.”He continued: “It’s a song that is driven by the lyrics and melody, as opposed to the riffs doing the heavy lifting. Despite being piano-led, it feels very much like a missing limb to our artillery and a track we’ve been eager to perform live.”The accompanying video was directed by filmmaker and photographer Polocho via Say Goodnight Films.

Fontaines DC frontman Grian Chatten has praised Arctic Monkeys, saying that they have “maintained their credibility” despite achieving huge global success.The Irish singer-songwriter recently spoke to NME about his debut solo album ‘Chaos For The Fly’, which was released on June 30. It followed Fontaines’ acclaimed third record, 2022’s ‘Skinty Fia’.Next month the band will hit the road to support Arctic Monkeys on their huge North American stadium tour.“I don’t know what to expect – we haven’t done a support tour since the first album,” Chatten told NME.

Sex Pistols guitarist Glen Matlock caught up with NME backstage at Glastonbury 2023 to tell us about returning to the festival to play with Blondie and his successful solo career.After being announced last year to appear on Blondie’s new album – the follow-up to 2017’s ‘Pollinator‘ – the punk veteran has also been playing with the art-pop icons for recent world tour commitments, performing to a huge Pyramid Stage on the closing day of Glastonbury on Sunday (June 24).Before he took to the stage, NME asked the bass legend if he could recall the first time he met the band.“I can’t remember exactly because I was probably really drunk and out of it, but I think I met them first when I did a for-one-night-only gig with Sid Vicious at the Electric Ballroom in ‘78 or ‘79,” he replied. “Blondie turned up as a band, and I think that’s when I met Clem [Burke] and Debbie [Harry] for the first time.“What I thought was quite sweet about them was that when bands go on tour and have a night off, everyone tends to filter off somewhere – but they always seemed to be out and about as a band.

Lewis Capaldi is taking a much needed break.

Ellise Shafer Lewis Capaldi is “taking a break” from touring to focus on his mental and physical health. The 26-year-old singer took to social media on Tuesday to make the announcement, saying that he came to the realization after his Glastonbury set on Saturday, during which Capaldi lost his voice and fans helped him finish his hit “Someone You Loved.” Earlier this month, Capaldi canceled all his shows prior to Glastonbury in order to “be at my best and ready” for the festival. “The fact that this probably won’t come as a surprise doesn’t make it any easier to write, but I’m very sorry to let you know I’m going to be taking a break from touring for the foreseeable future,” Capaldi wrote in a statement. “I used to be able to enjoy every second of shows like this and I’d hoped three weeks away would sort me out. But the truth is I’m still learning to adjust to the impact of my Tourette’s and on Saturday it became obvious that I need to spend much more time getting my mental and physical health in order, so I can keep doing everything I love for a long time to come.”

Elton John, Rina Sawayama, Rick Astley and more have spiked after their performances at Glastonbury this weekend.According to a new Spotify round-up of this year’s Glastonbury tracks and artists that was shared with NME, streams of John’s songs increased 294 per cent in the UK in the hour after his career-spanning headline set on the Pyramid Stage yesterday (June 25).Gun N’ Roses‘ opening track of their headline set on the Pyramid stage on Saturday (June 24), ‘It’s So Easy’, saw a 300 per cent increase in streams in the UK on Sunday.Meanwhile, Friday (June 23) headliners Arctic Monkeys, were identified as the artists with the most tracks on user-generated Glastonbury playlists.Rick Astley’s debut Glastonbury performance was also followed by a 294 per cent spike in steams of his song ‘Dance’ in the UK.

Whether you were in the thick of it and soaking up the vibes at Worthy Farm, or you were snuggled up on your sofa watching Glastonbury from the comfort of your own home, chances are, you tuned in for the first major headline show of the festival. Last night, Alex Turner, Jamie Cook, Nick O'Malley, and Matt Helders - aka Arctic Monkeys - took to the iconic Pyramid stage for their third headline set, after first securing a main stage slot in 2007 and then again in 2013. For hardcore AM fans, it was a huge moment, with literally thousands of people gearing up for an hour and a half of their biggest hits.

Arctic Monkeys performed a career-spanning headline set at Glastonbury Festival today (June 23) as Alex Turner made it to the stage just days after illness threatened to cancel their headline slot.Earlier this week, the band announced the cancellation of their Dublin show that was scheduled for Tuesday after Turner, who had been suffering from an acute case of laryngitis, was instructed to rest, leaving their return to Worthy Farm up in the air.Emily Eavis then shared that she was confident Arctic Monkeys would play Glastonbury, but that they “have a couple of back-up plans”.Today, though, the news everyone was hoping for was confirmed: Arctic Monkeys’ headline set would go ahead.Turner and his well-rested pipes were on strong form throughout the set – for which he donned his trademark suit and shades – which saw the Sheffield indie rockers kick off with ‘Sculptures of Anything Goes’.Other tracks given a Worthy Farm outing included ‘Cornerstone’, ‘Why’d You Only Call Me When You’re High?’, ‘Arabella’, ‘Mardy Bum’, ‘There’d Better Be A Mirrorball’, ‘505’ and many more.“The Monkeys are back on the farm!” Turner proclaimed to the huge crowd.Today marked the band’s third time headlining Glastonbury, with their previous performances taking place back in 2007 and 2013.‘Body Paint’ from newest album ‘The Car‘ saw Turner and co. deliver a wildly electric faux set closer with an extended outro, before the band returned for an encore of ‘I Wanna Be Yours’, ‘I Bet You Look Good on the Dancefloor’ and ‘R U Mine?’.Fans reacted enthusiastically to the band’s energetic performance, while others were more divided on Turner’s distinctive style of showmanship.

Benefits have spoken to NME about making their Glastonbury Festival debut tonight (Friday June 23).The Teesside noise punks will be performing under the invitation of Billy Bragg on his legendary Left Field stage this evening, shortly after the mysterious set from The Churnups – widely believed to be Foo Fighters, or least something featuring Dave Grohl, after he was spotted on site earlier today.Still, Benefits frontman Kingsley Hall isn’t worried about pulling a big crowd shortly after. “We’re not up against them,” replied Hall. “As soon as they finish, we start. There’s no crossover.

Music fans heading to the Glastonbury Festival are in for a treat with the promise of "dry, sunny weather" as the renowned Pyramid Stage comes alive on Friday. Despite a recent setback due to lead vocalist Alex Turner's acute laryngitis leading to the cancellation of their earlier gig, Arctic Monkeys are still billed as Friday's headliners.

Glastonbury organiser Emily Eavis has confirmed that Arctic Monkeys‘ headline set at the festival tonight (June 23) will go ahead as planned.The band cancelled their Dublin show scheduled for June 20 due to frontman Alex Turner dealing with an acute case of laryngitis, with fans then worrying that the singer would not recover for Friday night’s show.After Eavis said she was “confident” but that the festival had a back-up plan, it has now been confirmed by Emily herself that the Sheffield band will play Glastonbury tonight as planned.Speaking to Zoe Ball from the site on BBC Radio 2 this morning, she was asked about the worries over Turner’s health.“Now Arctic Monkeys, we’ve all been concerned about Alex, he’s had laryngitis,” Ball said. “And listeners have been messaging in asking will it happen? If it doesn’t happen, what’s the contingency plan? Someone has spotted a giant mirror ball on its way here.”“That’s a very good spot,” Eavis responded, before being asked about the status of the performance.

Your favourite part of the week has arrived - your trusty gig guide is here with more fantastic music and ticket sales news.

The forecasts are in - and for once it looks to be a dry Glastonbury, with 'sunny weather' the main prediction by forecasters as the first music acts take to the Pyramid Stage on Friday. Friday is set see a “good deal of dry, sunny weather” with temperatures likely to peak around 25C after highs of 25.2C were recorded on Thursday in nearby Yeovilton, the Met Office has said.

Emily Eavis has said she’s confident the Arctic Monkeys will play Glastonbury, but that they “have a couple of back-up plans” just in case.The band cancelled their Dublin show slated for June 20 due to frontman Alex Turner dealing with an acute case of laryngitis. The announcement came just days ahead of their scheduled headline performance at this year’s Glastonbury on Friday (June 23).Eavis, the festival’s co-organiser alongside her father, told reporters at the gates of the festival’s opening day (June 21) that she believes the band will still headline on Friday despite Turner’s illness.“I think we are going to be all right.

Prince William's special day. On Wednesday, King Charles' firstborn son celebrated his 41st birthday. In honor of the occasion, the Instagram account for Britain's new monarch featured a rare photo of the father and son at a rehearsal for Charles' coronation in May.

Glastonbury, have spoken to NME about the honour of playing this year’s festival – and fighting diversity in the face of a rare condition.This year’s festival will see performances from giants including Arctic Monkeys, Guns N’ Roses and Elton John, but also the Glasto debut from the youngest-ever artists to perform at the Worthy Farm event. Meet Askew, the 16-year-old indie rockers with an inspirational message.Remember where you were at age 16? Well for Askew — formed of Eli, Freddie, Alfie, Jay and Will – the answer is wildly different to most, as they take this week off from their GCSE revision to perform at Glastonbury 2023.Having formed roughly seven years ago, the band of five close friends explained to NME how meaningful their music is to them, with songwriting is a self-proclaimed sense of “therapy”, and an escape from the devastating circumstances surrounding their frontman, Eli Crossley.Diagnosed with a rare condition called Duchenne muscular dystrophy when he was just three-years-old, Eli’s parents were told their son would be in a wheelchair at 12, and most likely not see the age of 25.

NME arrived at Glastonbury 2023 nice and early – but not as early as the fans at the front of the queue to be first into the festival as gates opened. Watch our video interview with the early arrivals above.Thousands of fans were present for festival organiser Emily Eavis opening the gates at Worthy Farm this morning (Wednesday June 21) before they made their way on site to set up camp at the iconic Pilton festival.

Arctic Monkeys are officially back on the road in support of their 2022 album The Car.

Glastonbury festival site, officially kicking off this year’s festival.The gates officially opened at 8am this morning (June 21), permitting entry to ticketholders who have been arriving at the festival site since 4pm yesterday (June 20). Emily Eavis was in attendance to welcome festivalgoers and there was a queue snaking around the site with people at the front telling NME they’d been there since yesterday afternoon.As the gates opened Eavis declared: “Welcome to Glastonbury,” before she did a countdown to huge cheers.