London Grammar on their Glastonbury clash with SZA and The National

London Grammar is set to headline the Sunday night at Glastonbury, delivering their atmospheric electro-pop tunes on the Park Stage, a favorite spot at the festival.

The collection of songs is being unveiled several months ahead of their upcoming fourth album, The Greatest Love, which is scheduled to be released in September. Fans are eagerly anticipating the opportunity to listen to their fresh new tracks for the first time since 2021.

Created in the college dorms of Nottingham University by vocalist Hannah Reid and guitarist Dan Rothman, the band has achieved sales of over three million records, with their first album If You Wait going double platinum.

They have performed at the main stage at Glastonbury in the past, headlining the smaller Woodsies tent in 2014, but this will be their debut outdoor performance.

However, Reid, who became a mother for the first time six months ago, has been smart to stay away from Worthy Farm up to now.

"I've been isolated in my hotel room," she explains. "The pollen has been causing irritation in my throat."

From her secluded space, the vocalist shared with us what we can anticipate from the performance by London Grammar, the reasons why she needs to ignore emotional fans, and how it feels to be programmed to perform at the same time as two of her preferred bands.

Are you planning on arriving early to explore the surroundings before your performance this weekend?

I would definitely consider running away if I had to stay on site all weekend.

The energy would be overwhelming. It would keep you up, so you need to take care of yourself if you have a performance... unless you're daring.

Is this your first time performing on an outdoor stage? How are you feeling?

Which do you prefer: the formal response or the real story?

The interview response is, "I'm feeling energized. I'm really thrilled. This marks a fresh start for London Grammar." However, the truth is that I am extremely frightened. Right now, it's more like 10 percent excitement and 90 percent fear.

This upcoming show is really meaningful to our band. It's not just another performance at a festival. We consider it to be a significant milestone in our music journey. We have put in a lot of practice and I have been focusing on improving my vocals to make sure we deliver our very best.

Your music is so beautiful, even when it's sad. Have you ever noticed people kissing while you're performing on stage?

No, not really. But I do see a lot of crying in the first row.

How does that impact how well you do? Do you feel their emotions?

I believe I understand. I used to feel that way too, it would make me anxious. The songs are deeply personal to me, and when the audience connects with them emotionally, I have been known to shed tears on stage. It added to the performance and made it more powerful, but it's not something I can do every night.

Now, if I see someone who is obviously dealing with a breakup, I will need to avert my gaze.

Tell us about the inspiration behind your latest song, House. What experiences influenced you while creating it?

There are certain things I can't disclose to you, but there is a line in a song that says, "I cannot be unseen." This means that it's important to always be true to yourself, even if there are potential repercussions for doing so.

I believe that unless you are intentionally causing harm or being rude, you should not feel pressured to conform to others' expectations of who you should be. It's important to stay true to yourself and not change just to fit in with others' perceptions of you.

You have talked before about the unfair treatment you've seen and felt in the music business - but when you see the equal representation of genders at this year's Glastonbury, do you believe that progress is being made, even if it is happening slowly?

I agree. Perhaps I should have a conversation with emerging artists who are currently gaining recognition - as I believe that when you are a woman in your thirties, you reach a point where you have overcome obstacles. It's more like not letting things bother you anymore, if you catch my drift.

I definitely sense a significant change happening, and it's truly remarkable in my opinion. The Glastonbury music festival lineup is outstanding, and Taylor Swift currently has the top-grossing tour. It seems like women artists are receiving more recognition and appreciation.

Your latest album is set to be released just three years after Californian Soil. Did you know this is the shortest amount of time between London Grammar albums?

I agree! Someone else mentioned that recently and it's amusing - we've been quite busy but somehow found our groove. It's been a very productive period for us.

Do any of these songs come from the album Californian Soil, or are they all completely new?

There are no leftovers from Californian Soil, but there are a few songs that have been floating around for a long time that we could never quite perfect.

One of the songs we have is You And I, and we also have another called Into Gold. There are times when either of us is browsing through our computer and stumbles upon an old demo, and we think, ‘Wow, this is actually really good.’

With those two songs, they are actually quite antiquated - simply revamped and remade. It seems like we were unable to provide them with what they required back then.

The time to leave the Park Stage is pretty early – will you hurry to catch the final performances of SZA or The National?

I really love The National and SZA, they are my absolute favorite performers. However, since I have a child now, I may need to leave early to take care of them.

Yeah, it's amusing to me how those two events overlap. I'll be concentrating on our performance, but I might catch a glimpse of SZA and The National playing in the background.

You have the option to pause your performance and join in singing.

Definitely. England is my top choice national anthem, so I could easily sing along with it in perfect harmony.