Darkness frontman Justin Hawkins published a Q&A video on his YouTube channel, talking about the band’s tour schedule, their song ‘I Believe in A Thing Called Love,’ the band members’ songwriting habits, and so on. One of the questions was if Darkness would ever join Download or Glastonbury, and Justin explained why the chances of them joining Glastonbury is slim:
“I would be shocked and startled if Glastonbury ever book us again. There’s a little bit of history there which I’m not proud of. I said some stuff I shouldn’t have said back in the days about some individuals connected with the organization of Glastonbury. Regrettable times… In retaliation, I think some stuff that was said about us was slightly regrettable as well. So I wouldn’t hold my breath for a Glastonbury slot.”
However, Hawkins mentioned that there is a higher possibility with Download:
“But Download, we do it sometimes. When did we last do it? I think two years ago or something like that. I don’t know, maybe it’s coming around again. [I] bumped into Andy Copping who does Download and he’s just really lovely bloke. So, you never know.”
Justin talked about the ‘regrettable times’ he had with the Glastonbury Festival promoters in a separate video. He told that in 2003, The Darkness had a last-minute-organized performance at the festival, and the crowd loved it:
“In 2003, The Darkness played at Glastonbury, but it was the year when we were exploding, and I don’t think anyone really saw us coming. So, there wasn’t actually a slot for us but Glastonbury very kindly created a new slot early in the morning. I think we played about 10 am on the main stage. A few people said to me afterwards that the first thing they heard that day while still in their tents was me screaming at them. It was a brilliant moment for us[…]”
He carried on by saying that Glastonbury came up to the group next year, but it was too little too late since The Darkness was already booked, and this made some of the individuals representing the organization frustrated:
“The Darkness ended up being a UK festival headline proposition, and we had already negotiated and agreed with Reading Festival to headline that. Very late in the day, Glastonbury came and asked us to headline their festival. We would never have done it regardless of the money – but perhaps the money that Glastonbury offered was less than we were going to be paid for doing Reading. And also they asked us too late. I think because of the money side of it, Michael Eavis – or someone speaking on behalf of Michael Eavis – might have said in a newspaper that we were mercenary for expected so much cash to do a gig.”
Justin also mentioned that he should have behaved differently, rather than making remarks about the representatives, and he would like to attend Glastonbury Festival again in the future:
“What I should have said in response to that was that we had a arrangement in place already that we were not going to turn our back on unless the money was phenomenal – it’s just business. Instead, I chose to make some really unsavoury remarks and I do regret that. Because of the things that I said back then, I very much doubt whether we will ever get booked to play at Glastonbury again.”
You can watch the whole video below.