Glastonbury Festival 2023 is officially underway, with speculation rife as to who might turn up for the mythical “secret sets” that take place over the course of the weekend.
The 2023 schedule already includes huge names like Arctic Monkeys, Lizzo and Blondie, but there are still a few spaces left for some surprise performances. Glastonbury recently added Rick Astley and Queens of the Stone Age to the bill, among several other new names.
Past secret sets have seen the likes of Lady Gaga, Franz Ferdinand and George Ezra perform.
Aside from word of mouth, news about who the TBA performers might be after often shared via the Twitter account @Secretglasto, which claims to notify followers of suspected performances a few hours before they start.
The account, which has more than 52,000 followers at the time of writing, has previously been correct on past Glastonbury surprises such as The Killers (2017), The Libertines (2015) and Glass Animals (2017).
Who are the most rumoured acts for 2023?
Sheffield britpop band Pulp is among the frontrunners of acts who might perform secret sets at this year’s Glastonbury.
The speculation comes after Glastonbury shared their line up times, and included a random band called The ChurnUps on the Pyramid Stage ahead of the Arctic Monkeys.
As a result, many festivalgoers seem to think The ChurnUps is in reference to Pulp, whose reunion tour, which began earlier this month, has a free slot on 23 June. They also think this might be the Sheffield band because if you churn something up, it becomes pulp.
Should a Pulp secret set come to fruition, it seems likely that Jarvis Cocker could duet with fellow Sheffield-born musician Alex Turner when Arctic Monkeys headline later that evening. Perhaps even Richard Hawley, who is supporting Pulp on certain dates and has worked with Turner in the past, will make an appearance?
Pulp drummer Nick Banks addressed the rumours, writing: “Though it’s very tempting to tease you lot again. I know nothing of the ‘ChurnUps’ band. Ok?”
Who were the secret acts last year?
The @Secretglasto account successfully predicted most of the secret acts in 2022.
George Ezra, Jack White and Bastille were among the main undisclosed acts at last year’s event. Ezra was predicted after a photo emerged on Instagram of a sign marked “Gold Rush Kid, John Peel Stage – 2pm”.
The singer’s latest album was titled Gold Rush Kid, leading Twitter account @TheGlastoThing to guess him correctly for the anticipated slot.
How to get in the know
Once the festival starts, rumours as to who is playing the secret sets become even more prominent, with word of mouth from festival workers circulating gossip.
All of the unannounced set times across Glastonbury 2023
Pyramid, Friday – The Churnups – 6.15pm – 7.30pm
The Libertines have previously played secret sets
