Beyoncé to play at Glastonbury

Beyoncé is to headline this year's Glastonbury Festival, it has been announced.

It might be more commonly associated with muddy wellies than fierce stilettos, but Glastonbury will be getting a touch of glamour this year, when Beyoncé takes to the main stage - more commonly referred to as the Pyramid Stage - to headline the last night.

Maybe the flamboyant singer can get some tips from her husband, the hip-hop maestro Jay-Z, who headlined the event in 2008. His booking didn't please everyone - Oasis's Noel Gallagher said: "I'm not having hip-hop at Glastonbury. It's wrong." But Jay-Z went down a storm, so he should have some good advice about winning over the crowd.

Let's just hope Beyoncé doesn't meet a fate similar to that of U2, who were scheduled to play the Pyramid stage last year, but had to pull out at the last minute after the singer Bono injured his back and had to have emergency surgery. Damon Albarn's critically acclaimed virtual band, Gorillaz, would go on to fill the void.

Four years earlier, Kylie Minogue had been forced to cancel her headlining performance after being diagnosed with breast cancer. She eventually made a triumphant appearance on the Pyramid Stage in 2010, as a guest of the Scissor Sisters.

The stage itself has a checkered history; a somewhat rickety first version was built out of scaffolding and plastic sheeting in 1971, followed in 1981 by a permanent structure that was also used as a cowshed. This burnt down in 1996, and the current version was built in 2000.

Previous headliners include David Bowie, Paul McCartney, The Who and Bruce Springsteen. So no pressure, Beyoncé, no pressure at all.