BBC “explainer” newsreader Ros Atkins to DJ at Glastonbury 2024

Ros Atkins, the BBC newsreader known for his ‘explainer’ videos, has revealed he is “astonished” to be DJing at this year’s Glastonbury Festival. 

Glastonbury returns to Worthy Farm in Somerset from June 26 to 30, with Dua Lipa, Coldplay, and SZA set to headline. The final tickets for this year’s bash went on sale in the re-sale on April 21 and sold out in 20 minutes. 

Among countless hundreds of major names from the worlds of music, comedy and performance art, Atkins stands out as one of the more unlikely additions to the line-up. 

The journalist, 50, whose explainer videos on complex political matters including Partygate, Donald Trump and COVID-19 regularly go viral on social media, will be playing a DJ set on the Stonebridge stage at the festival, which is situated in the Park area. 

It’s frankly incomprehensible that I’m tweeting this – but here’s the line-up for Stonebridge at @glastonbury and, to my great excitement and astonishment, I’m on it. What started with a one-off drum and bass set for BBC6Music two years ago has ended up here. Very grateful for… pic.twitter.com/JZWe6DplTm

— Ros Atkins (@BBCRosAtkins) May 15, 2024

Posting the news on his X account, Atkins wrote: “It’s frankly incomprehensible that I’m tweeting this – but here’s the line-up for Stonebridge at @glastonbury and, to my great excitement and astonishment, I’m on it.” 

“What started with a one-off drum and bass set for BBC6Music two years ago has ended up here. Very grateful for the invitation. Work on the set has already begun…” 

Atkins has spoken before about being a fan of hardcore and drum’n’bass music in the ‘90s, saying he regularly went to raves in Cornwall at the time. He later had a DJ career in Brixton, inspired by the likes of LTJ Bukem and DJ Hype. 

Glastonbury 2024 will see the introduction of a new stage in the Shangri-La area, called Arrivals, which will be dedicated to South Asian talent, while Shania Twain will take on the coveted legends slot this year. K-pop will also have its first presence at the festival with a performance from Pledis boyband SEVENTEEN on the Pyramid Stage. 

Individual stages have been announcing their lineups over the last few weeks, including the Park, West Holts, Woodsies, Silver Hayes, Strummerville, Leftfield and Theatre and Circus. See the complete lineup for the festival so far here. 

Check out the 2024 line-up poster for Glastonbury’s “outernational rhythm hub”, the ever-amazing @WestHoltsGlasto pic.twitter.com/2QjYM1gmOs

— Glastonbury Festival (@glastonbury) April 26, 2024

The winner of this year’s Emerging Talent Competition has also been announced as JayaHadADream. The Nottingham-based Jamaican-Irish artist came top of the eight finalists in the April contest finale, and will now take her place on one of the main stages.