Dire Straits For Glastonbury 2007

Teasing festival fans by declaring that there will be 'a lot of surprises' at next year's Glastonbury, Michael Eavis has given a glimpse of what could be in store by revealing he's in talks with Dire Straits...

Speaking on XFM's breakfast show this morning, Eavis refused to be drawn on who might be playing at next year's festival - that was until presenter Shaun Keavney joked that Dire Straits should be asked to headline.

Eavis cooly replied: "Oh, we're talking to them. They might be there ... not on the Pyramid Stage but they might be involved in something else. We're talking to a lot of bands at the moment."The 70-year-old Glasto founder, who's recent booking coups have included Paul McCartney, David Bowie, and Radiohead, revealed he already has his headliners in mind but reckoned they could raise an eyebrow or two.

He said: "There are going to be a lot of surprises next year. It's going to be brilliant."

Having made no secret of his previous attempts to woo the likes of U2, Prince and The Rolling Stones to Worthy Farm, Eavis also hinted at a possible change of tack in booking policy. He said: "We're moving away from the tradtional headliners."

When asked about The Stones, one of his favourite bands, the farm-owner replied: "We couldn't afford them. They ask for about a million and we can only really justify a few hundred grand for our top acts. I don't blame them really, they can do what they like."

Similar noises were made last year when Michael's daughter Emily hinted that the headliners for 2005 would be 'smaller' than in 2004, when Oasis, Paul McCartney, and Muse topped the bill.

Eventually however, heavyweights The White Stripes, Coldplay and Kylie were booked to headline the festival, before Basement Jaxx replaced Kylie following her cancer diagnosis.

So far, both members of the Eavis family have remained tight-lipped over who might be headlining, apart from when Michael boasted that Eric Clapton had agreed to fill one of the slots in the lead up to last year's festival. However, he has since revealed that he'd like Arctic Monkeys, Bloc Party and Kaiser Chiefs to play at the festival.

Source: virtualfestivals.com