Legendary singer reveals police advised her not to headline Glastonbury

Suzanne Vega opens up about the death threats she received before headlining Glastonbury (Picture: Lorne Thomson/Redferns)

Suzanne Vega has shared that police ‘advised’ her not to play her historic headline show at Glastonbury in 1989.

Vega’s performance at the Worthy Farm festival marked the first time a woman had ever headlined Glastonbury.

In a new interview with The i, she shared that not everyone was happy about the step forward for female musicians, revealing she had received death threats ahead of the performance.

She said: ‘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 the bass player she performed with had received violent threats, some even on the day of the gig.

The singer continued, remembering that she agreed to wear a bulletproof vest during the show.

‘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.’

‘It felt like every song was 20 minutes long,’ she continued. ‘It was not comfortable. We were all nervous.’

Despite the difficulties, she said, ‘I’m proud of being the first woman to headline,’ she said. ‘There’s nothing diminished about that.’

An American singer-songwriter and author, Vega is widely regarded as one of the leading figures of the folk revival movement that emerged in the 1980s.

Vega wore a bullet-proof vest during the performance (Picture: Christian Rose/Roger Viollet via Getty Images) She was the first female headliner of the festival (Picture: Publicity Picture) She said there’s nothing ‘diminished’ about the experience despite the death threats (Picture: Publicity Picture)

She gained international acclaim with her 1987 album Solitude Standing, which featured the hit singles Luka and the a cappella Tom’s Diner, later famously remixed by the British duo DNA, becoming a global dance hit and earning her the nickname ‘the mother of the MP3’ due to the track’s role in early digital audio experiments.

Since Vega’s trailblazing performance at Glastonbury, there have been plenty of female headliners, with this year’s upcoming festival kicking off on June 25.

The event has dropped all its headliners with Neil Young, The 1975 and Olivia Rodrigo taking the top Pyramid Stage spots and Rod Stewart in the Sunday legend slot.

Elsewhere, Doechii, Charli XCX, Biffy Clyro, Alanis Morissette, Raye, The Prodigy and Noah Kahan are all billed on various stages, with legendary bands also cpeppered in the line-up like The Libertines, The Maccabees and The Scissor Sisters.

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