Gorillaz to take U2's place at Glastonbury

GORILLAZ are to take U2's place as Glastonbury headliners after the Irish superstars were forced to withdraw as singer Bono recuperates following an operation on his spine.

Damon Albarn's band – which also features former Clash stars Mick Jones and Paul Simonon – will now take the top of the bill slot on Friday, 25 June.

The band called yesterday to offer their services after U2 pulled out when Bono was ordered to rest for two months.

Glastonbury organiser Michael Eavis said: "This is going to be Gorillaz' only UK festival appearance, and it'll be a massive audio-visual spectacle, which will really ignite the Pyramid on the Friday night, with Muse, then Stevie Wonder to follow. The alchemy will be astonishing."

Eavis thanked the music industry for rallying round to offer to help out in the last minute search for a headline act.

Gorillaz drew rave reviews for recent shows to promote their third album, Plastic Beach. The shows saw the group drop their guise as cartoon characters for the first time – they had previously appeared as holograms and cartoon characters during shows in 2005.

Albarn created the act with old friend Jamie Hewlett as a side project away from Blur, with a string of guest vocalists joining them live and on record.

Collaborators have included Mos Def, De La Soul and Shaun Ryder.

Bono said yesterday he was "heartbroken" when he announced the band were unable to perform at Glastonbury.

The band have also been forced to postpone 16 shows on the north American leg of their U2360 Tour.