Glastonbury superfan’s 3D-printed Coldplay hat pays off after line-up announced

Alex McGuire, 47, said his themed hats take ‘a couple of hundred hours’ to create.

A Glastonbury superfan has said he was “delighted” to see rock band Coldplay on the line-up for the 2024 edition of the festival after he took “a risk” designing a hat inspired by the group.

Alex McGuire, 47, will mark his 17th year at the Worthy Farm festival in Somerset this summer after going for the first time in 2003.

For the last five years, he has been creating hats to wear at the festival which he designs around the headline acts – last year’s being a Sir Elton John-themed cap featuring colourful rockets and lights.

A photo of Alex McGuire's Coldplay-inspired hat — Alex McGuire’s hat this year features a replica of the Pyramid Stage and Lego characters resembling the four Coldplay band members (Alex McGuire/PA)

It was announced on Thursday that British rock band Coldplay will headline the festival, which runs from June 26 to 30, along with British singer Dua Lipa, country pop superstar Shania Twain and American singer Sza.

After starting preparations for his Coldplay-themed hat in September, months before seeing the band on the line up, Mr McGuire, from Taunton, Somerset, told the PA news agency: “I was delighted, the hat is worth quite a few hours worth of work.

“My friend has 3D-printed a replica of the Pyramid Stage and it’s taken him a while to do that.

A view of the pieces of the hat, including a picture of Coldplay and Alex McGuire's wristbands from the festival in previous years — The hat also features the Glastonbury wristbands Alex McGuire has collected from his previous years at the festival (Alex McGuire/PA)

Mr McGuire, a shop assistant at Asda, added that the themed hats take “a couple of hundred hours” to create.

“I start thinking about them in September, getting the bits together, and now I’ll add bits to it slowly as it gets closer to the festival and as more ideas come into my head,” he said.

“In terms of the actual work doing the hat, it’s probably a couple of hundred hours, but I do bits here and there and getting all the bits together is more work.”

Alex McGuire wearing his Elton John-themed hat at last year's festival — Alex McGuire created an Elton John-themed hat for Glastonbury 2023 (Alex McGuire/PA)

“It will be my 17th festival this coming year – I love the place, I love what Emily (Eavis) does and I love the whole camaraderie around the festival,” he said.

“There’s always such a variety of music, meeting friends.

“The music is probably secondary to me, it’s about how happy people are generally and the spirit of the place.”

Hats Alex McGuire has created for the festival in previous years — The hats Alex McGuire has created for Glastonbury in previous years (Alex McGuire/PA)

“I’m a fan, I like their tunes and Chris Martin is just an absolute legend as far as the farm is concerned, he is part of Glastonbury,” he said.

“Dua Lipa will be a great headline set, I imagine, with lots of energy, and I’ll see Shania Twain – it’s great all round.”