Fatboy Slim has revealed that he’s “never been paid” to play Glastonbury despite having performed at the festival over 100 times.
Norman Cook has consistently performed at Worthy Farm over the years with recent appearances headlining The Park and Other Stage, along with a host of smaller stages at the bash including the Rabbit Hole, and the Lonely Hearts Club within the Silver Hayes dance area last year.
In 2024, he also reunited with his former Housemartins bandmate Paul Heaton on bass on the Pyramid Stage for their classic hit ‘Happy Hour’. He previously played there with the band for his first ever Glastonbury in 1986.
He told The Guardian in 2025: “We made an awful lot of friends, and it changed our view about Glastonbury. The only weird thing was me and Paul [Heaton] have both had fairly successful careers, but neither of us had managed to get back on the Pyramid stage for 38 years. Last year, Paul played the Pyramid stage and he phoned me up and said, ‘Will you come on and do a song with us, just to celebrate?’”
Now, he has said despite playing over 100 times that he’s “never been paid to play there”.
Fatboy Slim. CREDIT: PressHe told The Metro in a new interview: “But at the same time, I’ve never paid to go there. Emily and Michael give me free tickets and allow me to do little quiet gigs in strange places. I’ve played there so many times even when I’m not officially on the bill; some years I’m there in an official capacity and sometimes I’m just there as a sightseer.”
He added: “For me, Glastonbury is the most fun, forward-thinking, beautiful human experience of alternative culture.”
Glastonbury is known for paying its artists relatively low fees due to its commitment to charitable donations.
The festival announced in January 2025 that it had donated £2million to the NHS Somerset charity and £126,000 to support NHS hospitals in Bristol and nursing staff across the country, while £1.27million went to organisations including the British Red Cross, Oxfam and War Child, according to The Independent.
Speaking previously about performing at Glastonbury, Cook told The Guardian: “I’m very, very proud of my relationship with Glastonbury and my history with it and I’m lucky, because as a DJ, you can play multiple sets. Obviously, there’s probably people who’ve been to more Glastonburys, but they’ve only played one show per festival – that’s not going to get you into big high figures.”
He added: “As a festival, Glastonbury never sold out to the man. The Eavis family have kept it independent, which means they’re in charge of the way it feels and the way it looks, and people respect that. There’s nothing corporate that interferes and dictates, you know, and it’s not about making money.
“The music business, especially when money comes in, it distorts your creative ideas and the feel of it and it becomes a money-making machine. But the Eavis family never sold out. They don’t do it for money. They do it because they love watching this going on on their farm every year.”
Emily Eavis recently revealed that all three 2027 headliners had been booked, while shutting down rumours of Madonna topping the bill next summer.
Early bookies’ favourites for the Pyramid Stage next summer included Sam Fender, Ed Sheeran, Taylor Swift, Rihanna and Little Simz. Other rumoured names for topping the bill are Radiohead, Fontaines D.C., Muse and The Rolling Stones and Harry Styles.
Eavis also recently confirmed that Oasis would not be headlining next year’s bash.
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