<div><p>Irish rockers U2 will headline Glastonbury Festival next year, making their first appearance at the event as it celebrates its 40th anniversary, organisers said Monday.</p><p>The band will take a break from a US tour to play Glastonbury on the weekend of June 26-28, said Michael Eavis, who founded the festival on his farm in 1970.</p><p>"At last the biggest band in the world is going to do the best festival in the world. Nothing could be better for our 40-year party, and there are even more surprises in the pipeline," said the 74-year-old.</p><p>Tickets for the festival sold out within 24 hours last month, with some 177,500 people will be at the event.</p><p>Glastonbury has become famous almost as much for its weather as the music in recent years: in 2005 and 2007 the site was turned into a mudbath by torrential rain, although a new drainage system has improved things for festival-goers.</p><p>Last year's event climaxed with sets by Bruce Springsteen and Neil Young, as well as recently-reformed Britpop kings Blur, although the whole festival was clouded by the death of Michael Jackson just as it opened.</p><img src="http://admatch-syndication.mochila.com/images/ad.gif?aid=64072916&bid=informcom" /></div><div id="copyright"><div>

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