Michael Eavis has hailed David Bowie’s performance of ‘Heroes’ in 2000 as the "best Glastonbury moment of all time".
And the festival organiser tried to get the ‘Space Oddity’ hitmaker – who died on Sunday (10.01.16) after a secret 18-month cancer battle – to play the festival in Somerset, south-west England for a third time after his 1971 and 2000 gigs, but was told there was no chance because he’d vowed not to perform on stage anymore
Remembering Bowie’s final Glastonbury performance almost 16 years ago, Michael recalled: "He finished up with an encore of ‘Heroes’, which is the best song in the world as far as I’m concerned.
"That was a fantastic moment – I think maybe that was my best Glastonbury moment of all time. That was so brilliant. But he never came back again.
"We tried every year to persuade him to return to the festival but a couple of years ago we were told he would never tour again. Maybe they knew about his illness then."
Michael, 80, also remembered Bowie’s "magical" first performance at the festival in 1971 when he played for free.
He said: "I remember in 1971 when this lovely looking hippy boy with long flowing hair walked into the farm with an acoustic guitar on his back.
"He just spoke to the stage manager and said: ‘Can I play a few songs?’
"None of us had a clue who Bowie was but he played for about an hour on the pyramid stage at 4am just as the sun was coming up. It was magical.
"There were hippies everywhere and he looked the part. He just played some songs and got on with it.
Meanwhile, Michael’s daughter and organiser Emily Eavis took to Twitter to pay tribute, sharing a picture of Bowie on his way to the pyramid stage.
She wrote: "This is a great moment, David Bowie on his way from the farmhouse to the Pyramid for his set at daybreak in 1971 (sic)."
A snippet of the interview with Michael Eavis talking about David Bowie can be found on audioboom.com via the following link http://bit.ly/1PnD5VX.
Michael Eavis hails Bowie’s performance as ‘best Glastonbury moment of all time’
