Glastonbury Festival: Who’s the favourite to perform a secret set this year - and who is my guess?

• The gates to Worthy Farm are set to open on Wednesday for the 2024 edition of Glastonbury
• This year’s headliners include SZA, Coldplay, Dua Lipa and Shania Twain performing a “Legends” set
• However, speculation continues regarding the 6pm “TBA” slot on Saturday evening on the Woodises Stage.
• Who are the current bookmakers’ favourites to be performing that secret set this year and who does writer Benjamin Jackson have his money on?

The annual tradition of “secret sets” continues to be discussed ahead of the start of the Glastonbury Festival 2024 this week.

Known for having artists as big as Foo Fighters make an “impromptu” appearance at the festival, speculation has been raft following the announcement that a previous odds-on favourite to perform that set saw betting around them suspended. 

Kasabian was considered “the” favourites to perform that secret set on the Woodsies Stage, owing to the band having a light tour itinerary with their next big shows set to take place on July 5 and July 6 2024. However, such was the number of bets made that several bookmakers suspended betting around them. 

This leaves, according to OLBG, a few more names in contention to be performing on that stage at that time, including a former Glastonbury headliner and several bands that are currently touring the United Kingdom and Europe, with a noticeable gap across the tenure of this year’s festival. 

Who are the favourites to perform a secret set at Glastonbury Festival 2024?

Pulp (6/4)

Jarvis Cocker from Pulp. The 1995 headliners are still considered by bookmakers the favourite to perform the secret set on the Woodsies Stage at Glastonbury 2024 (Credit: Getty Images) | Getty Images

Considered the early favourites before Kasabian’s inclusion, Pulp last performed at the Glastonbury Festival in 2011, and it would be almost 30 years since their hallowed performance on the Pyramid Stage in 1995 when Jarvis Cocker and company took over from what was initially to be The Stone Roses headlining. 

The group have performed at the festival a total of five times, with Jarvis Cocker set to be performing on Friday, leading to speculation that the band might get together to celebrate not only the upcoming milestone but the memory of their late bass player, Steve Mackey. 

Kings Of Leon (2/1)

Kings of Leon are currently touring the United Kingdom, and have a nice Glastonbury Saturday sized gap on the itinerary (Credit: Getty Images)

Currently touring their latest album across Europe, Kings of Leon’s inclusion in the list comes thanks to a rather large hole in their tour schedule. 

The “Molly’s Chambers” group kicked off their UK tour with a performance at Leeds’ First Direct Arena on July 20 2024, but as of this afternoon, their next UK date sees Caleb Followill and family at BST Hyde Park (tickets) for their headlining performance on June 30 2024.

Could a sneaky set on the Woodsies Stage be in store, with the band having last performed at Worthy Farm in 2008? That would depend on if the BST Hyde Park organisers would be happy for the band to perform at a large event a week before theirs - though technically speaking, it being a secret set shouldn’t take away from any ticket sales that BST Hyde Park may be concerned about. 

The Killers (4/1)

The Killers are currently touring the UK as part of their “Rebel Diamonds” tour - could they lead a secret sing-a-long to “Mr Brightside” this year? (Picture: Chris Phelps) | www.chrisphelps.com

The current, reigning kings of the UK singles chart, with “Mr Brightside” having overtaken Oasis’ “Wonderwall” to become the most successful single never to hit the top spot, Brandon Flowers and The Killers could make a detour from their “Rebel Diamonds” UK tour to once again lead revellers to a raucous sing-a-long to “Mr Brightside.”

The group have three events ahead of Saturday though, with performances at the OVO Hydro in Glasgow taking place on June 25, 26 and 27 (tickets through Ticketmaster.) However, their Saturday looks pretty free, and their next show after Glasgow is set to be London’s The O2 in July. 

They’re going to be more south towards the end of June, so could The Killers perhaps “nip” to Worthy Farm and perform on the Woodsies Stage, echoing their performances in 2004, 2005, 2007 and 2019?

Green Day (5/1)

Despite having played a number of European festivals, Green Day has apparently never played at Glastonbury Festival. Looking at their tour dates, they might not this year either. (Credit: Getty Images) | Getty Images for iHeartRadio

So long as they don’t play “Basket Case,” but that’s clearly on me…

Should Green Day perform a secret set at Glastonbury Festival this year, it would put an end to one of Billie Joe Armstrong and company’s biggest white whales: performing at Worth Farm. 

Despite their popularity in the United Kingdom, a look over the festival line-ups previously has shown that the group have yet to perform at Glastonbury Festival, and with the group having performed at the Isle of Wight Festival last weekend (June 23 2024), contractually that was meant to be their only UK festival appearance. 

It’s a long shot though; currently, the band are scheduled to be performing in Glasgow on June 25, in Dublin on June 27 and then in London on June 29 2024 (tickets to all events); that London date falls exactly at the same time as the Woodsies Stage set. 

Stranger things have happened, but nothing involving leaping from one venue to another at record speed - yet.

Tame Impala (5/1)

Tame Impala performs at the 2017 Panorama Music Festival on Randall's Island in New York on July 29, 2017. / AFP PHOTO / ANGELA WEISS (Photo credit should read ANGELA WEISS/AFP via Getty Images) | AFP via Getty Images

Australian multi-instrumentalist Kevin Parker, aka Tame Impala, has performed at Glastonbury Festival three times (2013, 2015, 2019), having performed significant sets at the festival but never a headliner on the Pyramid Stage.

There are no tour dates on the Tame Impala website, with the last dates showing his European shows in 2023; but owing to the popularity of Tame Impala and the sometimes left-of-centre approach to releasing and touring music, there must be some smoke on social media that’s led to the musician earning 5/1 odds through betting websites, right?

The XX (7/1)

Truth be told, I wonder about these bettings odds myself; The XX are considered 7/1 favourites to be performing on the Woodises Stage on Saturday, but at the same time, Jamie XX is also performing on the stage - and one of the big names this year for the stage.

Jamie XX is performing on Friday night, leading this sleuth to believe if we were going to have an XX reunion, perhaps at that stage would be more timely.

So who do you think is going to be the secret act at Glastonbury Festival 2024?

Did Clashfinder have given us a hint already?

Amy Taylor of Amyl and the Sniffers performs on the Sonora stage during the 2022 Coachella Valley Music And Arts Festival on April 22, 2022 in Indio, California. Could they be the secret act at Glastonbury Festival 2024 this year? | Getty Images for Coachella

On their timetable, hovering over the “TBA” announcement on Saturday states “Australian punk band,” and owing to the release of two singles and their name now part of everyday music conversation, I’d place money on Amyl and The Sniffers to now occupy that slot.

Their tour dates state that they are touring North America in July, with no apparent dates beforehand - and given just how big they’ve become ahead of their next album, a surprise show at Glastonbury Festival could only help them cement themselves as the next big punk act. Their style would also line up with some of the other acts performing on the stage on Saturday, including IDLES. Do you agree with Benjamin’s theory about Amyl and The Sniffers, or are you holding out hope Pulp or Green Day might perform this weekend at Glastonbury? Let us know by leaving a comment down below or dropping an email to [email protected].