Paul McCartney announced as first headliner for Glastonbury 2020

Paul McCartney has been confirmed as the first headliner to be announced for Glastonbury 2020, and will be playing on the Saturday night.

The news arrived on Monday afternoon, hours after McCartney gave a cryptic interview to a French radio station. Emily Eavis said that securing McCartney to perform on the Pyramid Stage was “an absolute dream come true. There really was no-one that we wanted more for the 50th anniversary”.

McCartney has been rumoured to be among the three headliners for next year's historic festival for some time. Michael Eavis said in April that he hoped McCartney would return to Worthy Farm “for the 50th” and McCartney addressed the matter on Radio 2 in September: “People are saying that it will be good if I did it, so I’m starting to think about whether I can or whether it would be a good thing … It’s starting to become some remote kind of possibility.”

Before the news broke, the former Beatle teased the news on his Twitter account with a photograph montage of composer Philip Glass, actor Emma Stone and rock’n’roller Chuck Berry: Glass-Stone-Berry, or Glastonbury.

He then followed up by posting that he was “excited to be part of your anniversary celebrations. See ya next summer!”

It will be McCartney's second time headlining after his 2004 bill-topping set, in which he played Beatles hits and Wings songs alongside his solo material.

When McCartney returns next summer, he will have just turned 78, making him the oldest Pyramid Stage headliner ever by five years; Charlie Watts was 73 when he played with the Rolling Stones in 2013.

The slot is also only the second to be confirmed by organisers: Diana Ross was announced to be taking the "Golden Oldie" slot on Sunday afternoon.