We’ve been scrambling to keep you up-to-date as Glastonbury’s slowly leaked megaconfirmation after megaconfirmation in the past few months. But today’s full lineup announcement is something to behold, the headlining package of Neil Young, the Boss and a reunited Blur now propped up by a roster so behemoth and iron-clad, it’s equal parts intimidating and enticing. Also playing: Bloc Party, Lady Gaga, Jarvis Cocker, Regina Spektor, Maximo Park, Bon Iver, Fleet Foxes, Lily Allen, Tom Jones, Pete Doherty, Q-Tip, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, The Streets, Ray Davies and and and and…

There will be mud.

The hype surrounding Blur’s reunion shows has been rising since it was first announced, and now they are looking to add U.S. and European tours to their plans, which was originally only slated for U.K. dates. 

They already surprised us with the announcement of warm-up shows in London, but according to Billboard, the VP of Live Nation U.K., Steve Homer, said that Blur is looking into the possibility of booking  shows in other areas outside of the U.K. “They have been rehearsing for some time now, for several months,” Homer told Billboard. “…They are talking about some American shows still in the same time frame. There are possibilities of some European ones as well.” 

Blur has already scheduled a string of U.K. dates, and have seen an enormous response to their reunion, having two sold-out 50,000-capacity shows at Hyde Park in London in July, and headlining slots at the Glastonbury and T in the Park festivals. There is no word as to whether or not the band would be playing smaller, more intimate shows in the states, or sticking to the arena-rock settings they have signed onto with their U.K. tour. 

Alongside the announcement of possible U.S. and European dates, Blur is also set to release a double CD compilation, Midlife: A Beginners Guide to Blur, on June 15, according to NME. The new CD will have 25 tracks and is apparently aimed for those who missed the Blur’s first go-around (aka – people with no taste).

In yet another case of “Why the hell not in America?”, the U.K. government has started up a new initiative that would give the music industry 26 million pounds to help create new jobs during the recession.

James Purnell, the U.K.’s culture secretary, has said that 50 million pounds have been allotted to the creative industry to try and help create new jobs. The U.K. is giving half of the money to the music industry, in hopes that they will use their popular festival circuit to create over 200 new jobs. The U.K. (like America) has seen their festival scene explode in recent years, gaining immense popularity and producing revenues from festivals like Reading and Leeds, and Glastonbury.

The government is taking the money for the new initiative from the Department of Work and Pensions, and according to Gigwise, they will be continuing to create more jobs in different sectors of the music industry in the future. [via The Daily Swarm]

Apparently Mike Skinner isn’t the only Brit worried about swine flu. Glastonbury festival organizers announced this week that the festival could be canceled should the swine flu reach pandemic level.

A spokesman for Glastonbury told The Sun that “emergency talks are being held to discuss the best way to manage the situation should the outbreak worsen” prior to the sold-out event in June. More than 135,000 people are expected to attend the festival.

Organizers also confirmed that they are responding to ticket holders who had contacted them about swine flu concerns.

“So many people gathered in one place is a risk and if the government wanted to pull public events, like in Mexico, we’d be one of the first to go,” the spokesman told the Sun. “It would be crazy not to put a plan in place. Right now, though, it’s full steam ahead. We are monitoring all developments. At this stage the festival is going ahead and we are continuing to work flat out to make it a success.”

The festival is scheduled to take place in Pilton, Somerset, between June 24-29.

The highly anticipated 30th anniversary reunion tour of ska pioneers The Specials kicked off last night at the Newcastle Academy in England, and have been dropping the hint-hint, nudge-nudge that they’ll be taking the stage at this year’s Glastonbury Festival.

They opened the show with “Do The Dog”, from their 1979 debut Specials, and filled the set with classics like “A Message To You Rudy”, “Hey Little Rich Girl” and “Rat Race.”

The six original Specials members — very notably and controversially missing was founder and songwriter Jerry Dammers — have upcoming gigs in Sheffield, Birmingham, Glasgow, Manchester and their home turf of Coventry before playing five nights at London’s Brixton Academy. They’re confirmed for T In The Park and the V Festival, but that may not be all. The band has suggested we should be on the lookout for them at Glasto, too.

The Specials set list, courtesy of NME:
“Do The Dog”
“(Dawning Of A) New Era”
“Gangsters”
“It’s Up To You”
“Rat Race”
“Monkey Man”
“Blank Expression”
“Too Hot”
“Doesn’t Make It Alright”
“Concrete Jungle”
“Friday Night Saturday Morning”
“Stereotype”
“Man At C&A”
“A Message To You Rudy”
“Do Nothing”
“Hey Little Rich Girl”
“Nite Klub”
“You’re Wondering Now”
“Ghost Town”
“Too Much Too Young”
“Skinhead Moonstomp”
“Enjoy Yourself”

We just caught Graham Coxon playing at the Levi’s®/FADER Fort — where we got to speak with the former-now-current-again Blur guitarist. Now we’re excited to announce he has released the new artwork for his upcoming album, The Spinning Top, which is due out in mid-May. 

Coxon just revealed the cover art, which is a drawing of a distorted, spinning woman (above), exclusively to NME. The cover was drawn by Coxon himself, but this isn’t the first time the singer/songwriter has designed an album cover. Coxon has made all of the artwork for his solo albums, as well designing the sleeve for Blur’s 1999 record, 13. 

The Spinning Top will be released on May 11, and was produced by Stephen Street, who is known for his prior work with Blur. Coxon and the rest of the guys from Blur will be reuniting later this spring for a stint of summer shows as well, including a headlining gig at the Glastonbury festival in late June.

The rumors about Neil Young playing Glastonbury were finally confirmed earlier this week. Now it’s been announced that Young’s former band mates Dave Crosby, Stephen Stills and Graham Nash will be playing as well, leading us to speculate if a CSNY reunion might take place on stage at this year’s Glasto.

The band’s web site lists a show date of Saturday, June 27, but Glastonbury has not officially announced Young’s performance date as of yet. As NME pointed out, Young is listed as one of the headliners of the event and since Bruce Springsteen is already headlining on Saturday, it makes a reunion unlikely (at least for promotional purposes). The festival’s third headliner will be Blur, making for a very strange combination of old and older.

It’ll be interesting to see if songs like “Ohio” will resonate with the largely British crowd. We also wonder if they’ll pull out some old CSNY hits like “Teach Your Children.” We find it’s sure to get the party started. All four members last got together back in 2006 to play the Freedom of Speech tour in the U.S.

When Glastonbury organizer Michael Eavis announced that Neil Young would be playing the fest this year, he said, “Neil Young to play this year is a dream come true for me personally. He is one of my all-time favourites and we have always wanted him to play.”

This year’s festival takes place in Pilton, Somerset, June 24-28.

It looks like Bruce Springsteen is making his way through the festival circuit this spring and summer. It was rumored just last week that Mr. America himself might possibly be headlining Bonnaroo Festival, but now Bruce will be making his way over to the U.K. for the Glastonbury Festival, where he will be the Saturday night headliner as well.

While we’re a little curious as to how “Born In the U.S.A.” will pan out over on the other side of the pond, the sold out music festival — which will take place on June 26-28 — and the its organizers are very excited to have Springsteen grace their stage. “I’m so pleased that Bruce Springsteen has agreed to come to Worthy Farm for the first time,” said festival chief Michael Eavis. “He’s one of the all-time rock legends and I’m confident that this will be one of our best shows ever.”

Just last week, Emily Eavis, who helps run the festival, dismissed rumors that The Rolling Stones and U2 would be headlining the festival, but said “I’m knocked out that we’ve managed to get Bruce to play. It’s the icing on the cake of this year’s bill, which I’m sure will take everyone’s breath away when we announce the full details.”

So far, only a hand full of acts along with Bruce have been confirmed for the festival, including Bon Iver, Lilly Allen, and Franz Ferdinand. Among other artists rumored to play are Neil Young,Blur, Coldplay, and Oasis.