If dad rock reigned at last summer's pop festivals, 2010 looks set to be the year of the reunion. While Neil Young, 63, and Bruce Springsteen, 60, held court at Glastonbury last year, this year's festival season promises many bands who seemed unlikely to ever tour again.
In the vanguard are the Libertines, tortured love child of the infamously troubled Pete Doherty and his often exasperated co-frontman Carl Barat. A plethora of US rock bands, including Pearl Jam and Blink 182, are either reforming or returning from a break, for summer gigs. The latest incarnation of Guns N' Roses are also playing headline slots.
Detroit rapper Eminem, who has not played in the UK since 2003, will headline Scotland's T in the Park on a Saturday night in July, while, soul legend Stevie Wonder will close the 40th Glastonbury, playing his first ever UK festival.
Some critics argue that the number of reformed groups set to perform this summer could have a negative effect on the UK music industry. Artists such as Florence and the Machine, who had a hugely successful 2009, will feature on many stages this summer but will not headline at the biggest festivals, although Florence Welch and her band will top the bill on the first day of family-friendly Latitude.
"Reunions definitely seem to be a theme running through this summer's gigs and festivals," said James Foley, editor of music industry newsletter Record of the Day. "There seems to be an over-reliance by promoters on large US acts, particularly acts that have been on hiatus or that are reforming. Potentially that could be damaging for UK bands who are not getting the chance to see if they can step up to the mark."
For Neil Greenway, founder of efestivals.co.uk, it is the festivalgoers who will ultimately lose out. "There is a real dearth of new, exciting music out there this year," he said. "For the last five-eight years we've seen lots of the same bands on repeat, and there is a danger of overexposure for reformed bands. If it carries on like this I think people will just get fed up of going to see the same bands."
There is also a very American and male slant to this year's lineups, with only Kasabian and Muse flying the Union flag at the top of the festival bills, said Paul Stokes, associate editor of the NME. "These things are cyclical – British bands will come back. But it's true that a lot of bands from the first half of this century, contemporaries of Arctic Monkeys, didn't become the headliners they promised to be. I think the British bands that we have coming through now, like Foals and Mumford and Sons, could change that."
That many of the reformed acts do not have a album to promote is a sign of the times, he added. "It just demonstrates how lucrative live performances are now, in comparison to recorded music. It would have been very rare in the past to headline a festival in a different territory if you didn't have an album to sell."
The accusation that British bands are not getting a run for their money is denied by the svengali of festival promotion, Melvin Benn, who as managing director of Festival Republic is running Reading and Leeds, Latitude, Glastonbury and – for the first time this year – the Big Chill.
"I don't think that accusation can be levied at promoters," he said. "When the bands are there to step up, we want it, believe me." Benn pointed out that Arcade Fire, though Canadian rather than British, were topping the bill at Reading and Leeds, and Tennessee's finest, Paramore, who are relative newcomers to the UK scene, would also enjoy a slot high up on the bill.
"If the only bands getting to headline were [established or reformed acts] then, yes, that would be a concern but up-and-coming acts are being elevated at the same time," he added.
What will provide the story of the season, or this summer's "Blur moment" – they reformed to rapturous adulation at Glastonbury last year – remains to be seen. The Libertines' fleeting reunion – there are no plans yet for a more permanent rapprochement – may provide rich pickings.
Other highlights may include a sensitively programmed lineup at Latitude and the 40th anniversary Glastonbury.
"You really can't go wrong with headliners like U2, Muse and Stevie Wonder," said Foley. "I can't imagine any other festival in the world being able to command that type of lineup." Who might provide the stand-out moment of 2010? "My money is on Stevie Wonder at his 60th birthday at Hyde Park."
