Irish country-pop music icon CMAT and Dublin-formed rockers The Murder Capital have been announced for Glastonbury Festival today.

The coveted UK festival will take place from Wednesday, June 21st until Sunday, June 25 - starring Elton John, Arctic Monkeys and Guns N' Roses as headliners - plus Lana Del Rey, Lizzo, Carly Rae Jepsen, Lil Nas X, Loyle Carner, Central Cee and Thundercat.

Posting to Instagram today, organisers announced the Woodsies stage, "Glastonbury's vibrant and verdant new area in the NW Corner. For visceral live music, convivial campfires and enchanting treetop escapes."

 

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"In 2023, the summer solstice falls on the opening Wednesday of Glastonbury Festival and the sun will set at its highest azimuth in the North West right over this brand new area, which makes a new home in the spaces previously occupied by the John Peel Stage and The Woods," the Glastonbury Festival post added. "Welcome to WOODSIES, which takes its name from the Worthy Farm fields it occupies (following in the fabled field-name footsteps of Silver Hayes, West Holts and The Park)."

"A stone’s throw from Silver Hayes and San Remo, just north of the river and next to the Pyramid field, the Woodsies area combines Woodsies Main Stage with bars, cafes, décor, campfire, installations, and The Woods’ aerial walkways in the trees, making this a new, verdant alternative to hang out throughout the day and after the main stages close."

CMAT recently returned with the infectious first single from her soon-to-be announced second album, 'Whatever's Inconvenient', out now via AWAL. The string-laden new single landed with a Greece-filmed music video, directed by Greg Purcell of Collective Films and complete with a donkey on the beach.

“Whatever’s Inconvenient is a bit of a mission statement for me (and for my second album)," CMAT explains of the new single, which premiered on BBC Radio 1 last night with Clara Amfo. "It’s a big question mark over why I am so unendingly bad at entering and maintaining romantic relationships. I don’t really answer the question here, because I can’t and probably never will, but it’s always helpful to acknowledge your own uselessness (I find).”

Elsewhere, The Murder Capital recently performed at Coachella Festival in the US following the release of their chart-topping second album Gigi's Recovery.

The John Congleton produced second album was released on January 20th via Human Season Records. The Dublin outfit managed to dethrone Taylor Swift's Midnights, as well as stepping ahead of Dermot Kennedy's former No.1 Sonder and SZA's SOS, marking the first time The Murder Capital have reached the top spot.

The new Glastonbury Festival 2023 site map has also been revealed as gates are set to open in less than six weeks. The new map shows a number of changes to the festival site as amendments are made to the layout. Preparations are well underway at the 900-acre festival site as an army of staff starts the giant transformation from a dairy farm into one of the world's biggest festivals. The Pilton fields are now a bustling hive of activity as construction begins, but some big layout amendments have also now been confirmed.

The John Peel stage is now called Woodsies Festival organiser Emily Eavis previously revealed the change was part of a push to name stages after the fields they are located in, such as West Holts and Silver Hayes. She also confirmed the move was not related to a recent petition calling for the change due to DJ John Peel having married a 15-year-old girl when he was 25. The marriage was legal at the time in Texas, where they wed.