TRNSMT boss says "it will be a while" to get even gender split on festival lineup

Yesterday (26 November), TRNSMT revealed the first names for the 2020 event, featuring headliners Liam Gallagher, Courteeners, and Lewis Capaldi.

So far, there are just two female artists on the 2020 lineup - Little Simz and Rita Ora.

Discussing the lack of female acts on the lineup, TRNSMT's Geoff Ellis said to BBC, "We'd love there to be a higher representation of females but there isn't, certainly on the acts we're announcing today."

Speaking about an equal gender split, Ellis added, "It will be a while until there's a 50/50 balance. That's definitely several years ahead for any major festival to achieve because there's far, far less female artists."

He then made a bizarre statement about the lack of female musicians in the world (which is obviously not true), "We need to get more females picking up guitars, forming bands, playing in bands."

TRNSMT 2020 will see the return of the women-only Queen Tut's stage. Ellis said of the stage, "We're giving that platform to help more females see that kind of opportunity because you do get more of a drop-off at a grass roots level and there are less female artists around."

Ellis added, "It's not just about booking more female acts because if there are less of them then there are less of them to go round all the festivals."