Foals promise to deliver ‘thumping’ headline set on Glastonbury’s Other Stage

Foals guitarist Jimmy Smith has promised the band will deliver a “thumping” set with the biggest light show of their careers when they headline The Other Stage at Glastonbury.

The indie three-piece will top the bill on the Somerset festival’s second largest stage on Friday night – some 14 years after their first appearance at the event.

Smith, frontman Yannis Philippakis and drummer Jack Bevan will perform songs from their new album Life Is Yours as well as older hits such as My Number and Spanish Sahara.

Smith told the PA news agency the show will be “probably our biggest moment” as a band.

He said: “Personally speaking, I used to go to Glastonbury all the time. I used to camp opposite the Other Stage.

“That slot, the one we got offered, the one we are doing, is the one I really, really wanted anyway. It feels very serendipitous.

“I would say it’s probably the biggest single show in the band’s history.”

Smith said the band had over the years been “climbing the ladder of Glastonbury logically”.

Referring to headlining the main Pyramid Stage, he added: “There’s really only one place left to go. But we’ll see about that.”

Talking about what the band has planned for their show on Friday night, he said: “I think it will be a pretty solid and thumping set. There might be some surprises.

“We are not very good as a band at doing surprises. We like to get on with what we are doing.

“We are going to have a good light show, that’s for sure. I think it will be our biggest light show yet.”

Jessie Ware is headlining The Park Stage on Saturday night and said the slot “doesn’t get better than that when you’ve made a record that’s for dancing”.

The singer-songwriter and host of the popular podcast Table Manners released What’s Your Pleasure? in 2020, an album inspired by disco that was critically acclaimed and reached number three in the UK charts.

She told PA: “Closing the Park Stage at 11 o’clock at night? Those are bucket list moments and I don’t take it for granted. I will relish every moment and then I will party.”

Speaking about it being Glastonbury’s delayed 50th anniversary edition, Ware added: “I think the suspense has been built up and I think that the release of that – and the celebrations and the fact that Glastonbury is the greatest festival in the world – it’s going to be one to remember.

“I’ve been lucky enough to play Glastonbury a few times before. But I do feel like people are ready for this occasion, so we have got to give them a good show.

“The great thing and also sad thing is that, because of Covid, not many people have been able to see my show.

“I have put a lot of time and love and effort and thought into the show so for me many people will be experiencing this show that I’ve worked so hard on for the first time, unless they came to maybe my Brixton shows or my regional shows.

“I love the show that we’ve created and I want people to see it.”

Glastonbury 2022 is scheduled to take place from June 22 to June 26 and tickets are sold out.

Foals headline The Other Stage on Friday night from 10.30pm while Jessie Ware headlines The Park Stage on Saturday night from 11pm.