The debate continues as to whether it was the right choice for American rapper Jay-Z to headline the Pyramid Stage at Glastonbury on Saturday June 28th, and if the three headining acts - Jay-Z, The Verve and Kings Of Leon can be to blame for poor tickets sales for the festival this year.

Whether you agree with Noel Gallagher of Oasis that Glastonbury is primarily a rock festival or you agree with the support Jay-Z has received from amongst others close friends Chris Martin of Coldplay and his actress wife Gwyneth Paltrow, who both state Jay-Z is the best rapper in the world and deserves to headline at Glastonbury, the headlining acts have certainly caused a fuss this year.

Ticket prices have continued to increase as well as all the hassle of having to register your interest and details without being able to simply purchase tickets which I know pissed quite a few genuine music and festival lovers off last year, as they scurried around trying to logon to ticket websites at 9AM when they were supposed to be working!

Furthermore, after last year’s complete weather washout, I personally think many people just can’t afford or justify spending so much money, especially without an A-list attraction.  No doubt tickets would have been sold out and there would be no problem if Jay-Z was headlining one night while the likes of Radiohead, Coldplay or Oasis were headlining another.  As it is, The Verve & Kings Of Leon really aren’t offering any support to Jay-Z at all, are they?

The outrageous comments that rap doesn’t belong at rock festivals is not new.  Similar rock against different styles of music opposition was debated when dance music tents began being erected at festivals, and there was similar disquiet in 1976 when The Reading Rock Festival decided to include a Reggae night with the legendary U-Roy, The Mighty Diamonds and The Revolutionaires.

I personally believe Glastonbury would have needed a very big attraction on the scale of U2, Radiohead or Coldplay to sell out tickets for this year’s event in anywhere near the record breaking time.  Maybe this will stop the so-called ‘ethical hippy’ promoters from being greedy little capitalists.