Despite having to deal with the backlash for setting up the 'Stronger' rapper as a headliner, the festival organizer credits his set for helping her land Adele booking for 2016.

• Oct 31, 2019

AceShowbiz - Glastonbury boss Emily Eavis received death threats after booking Kanye West for the 2015 festival.

In a new book celebrating the upcoming 50th anniversary of the British summertime event, the festival organiser reveals she was astonished by the backlash after landing Kanye.

"As soon as we announced that he was playing, a petition sprang up - started by someone who had never been to Glastonbury - saying Kanye shouldn't play because he wasn't right for us," she writes.

"The media jumped right on it. That kind of negative story will always get clicks and attention, but the coverage becomes self-fulfilling, too... We had to reassure the people around the artist that it would all work, that these stories don't reflect the attitude of people coming to the festival - or in the U.K., for that matter. It's just a load of hot air."

"The criticism we got that year was pretty extreme. And a lot of it was quite personal, as people knew I booked the acts. I was an obvious target. As the child of the founder of something, you're always going to be criticised, because you're perceived as doing things differently to how it was done before.

"I actually had death threats in 2015, which seemed a little harsh - especially given that we had booked what we considered to be one of the most exciting and innovative artists of his generation. But it worked out for Kanye in the end."

And booking Kanye helped Emily persuade Adele to headline Glastonbury in 2016.

"I'd been trying to persuade her, but I think she was unsure," Eavis adds. "She didn't really need to do it. She was already playing stadiums, and with her it almost seems like the less she does, the bigger she gets. But I think that deep down she wanted to, as she'd been coming to Glastonbury since she was a little kid."

"I walked her on to the platform next to the stage just before Kanye came on, and we looked out at this huge crowd chanting his name. I said, 'Are you ready for it? Come on. Next year?' And she looked at me with a twinkle in her eye and said, 'I'm gonna do it'. It was such a brilliant moment."