U2 to make their Glastonbury debut in 2010

U2 will play Glastonbury this summer, for what will be their first festival appearance for over 25 years. The band are expected to headline the Pyramid stage on Friday June 25.

Michael Eavis, the man who founded Somerset's Glastonbury festival, said of the Irish band's debut on his farm: "the 26-year-old rumour has finally come true. At last, the biggest band in the world are going to play the best festival in the world! Nothing could be better for our 40th anniversary party."

To play at Glastonbury, Bono and co. will have to interrupt a North American tour. They are scheduled to perform in the Canadian city of Edmonton on June 23, and then fly back for a concert in Minneapolis on the night after their Glastonbury gig.

Eavis, who has handed over much of the organisation of the three-day festival to his daughter Emily, said that "there are even more surprises in the pipeline", and rumours are circulating that the likes of Muse, Led Zeppelin, Coldplay and even the Rolling Stones could be tempted to join the line-up. Tickets for the festival, which went on sale in October, sold out in under a day. In total, 177,500 people will attend the event at 900-acre Worthy Farm.