Before Metallica were confirmed as the final headliners for this year's Pyramid Stage lineup, alongside Arcade Fire and Kasabian, it was widely rumoured that Prince would be making his Glastonbury debut.
In an interview with The Guardian, which enlisted famous names and Glasto regulars to ask Michael questions, the founder of the fest revealed that the Purple Rain hitmaker said no to the headline slot.
Responding to a question from fashion designer Henry Holland, Michael explained: "We wanted him to play, and it got to the point where his people were talking to us about him doing it, but before he confirmed he got really upset because he thought we had advertised that he was playing."
Michael Eavis is preparing to open the gates for Glastonbury 2014 (WENN)
"We hadn't, but with social media, rumours get everywhere, and one of those rumours was that Prince was coming. So he didn't want to do it in the end," he added.
Michael added that he isn't a fan of the Twitter rumours in general: "All the social media chit-chat now about who might be playing really doesn't help us. People think we've advertised them early, but there'd be no point to us leaking details because the tickets sell out in an hour in October, before the headline acts are announced. People come for what the event means to them, not the headline acts."
Prince turned Glastonbury down (WENN)
The interview also saw Michael open up on who he'll be watching this year. He explained that he could never go to the festival as a regular punter as "I couldn't detach myself from it", but he did admit one benefit of taking a year off from organisational duties would be the chance to see a lot more bands.
"For example I'd love to see Dexy's this year, but they're on [the acoustic stage] against Metallica, and I have to see what Metallica do," he explained. "Metallica have been trying to play for so long – they ring every year, and they're so polite about it. 'We'd love to be there, we're getting older, can we play it now?' That sort of thing. The least I can do is to watch them."
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