Keith Richards has said that The Rolling Stones were “destined” to headline Glastonbury.

Speaking via a video released through the band’s official YouTube channel, Richards says the band have declined the chance to play the festival in the past but explains how much it means to him to be headlining this year. “It’s almost as if you were destined to play Glastonbury,” the guitarist says. “There were many years we were offered it and turned it down. I look upon it as the culmination of our British heritage. It had to be done and it’s gonna be done. We’ll see what happens.”

Also in the same video is Mick Jagger, who says: “All my kids are going to be there so I’m going to be visiting them in the days before the actual show and they’ve got all sorts of activities lined up for me to do. My brother lives in Glastonbury too.”

The BBC are set to broadcast an hour of the Stones’ Saturday night headline set at next weekend’s Glastonbury Festival. It was previously thought that the festival’s official TV media partner would only be showing four songs from the show, but the festival’s founder Michael Eavis has now revealed that a full hour of the band’s performance will be broadcast.

The end of the band’s set – which will run for a total of two hours and 15 minutes – will be seen by festival attendees only, and will include a fireworks display. Eavis also said that the Pyramid Stage area has been extended to make sure the site doesn’t become overcrowded during their performance, although he added he is still concerned about how popular the set will be, saying: “There might be a problem with the size of the crowd so it’s slightly worrying for me, in a way.”

This year’s Glastonbury festival is to be live streamed for the first time with viewers able to watch different stages as they happen. The BBC will use the latest digital technology to allow viewers to choose from simultaneous live streams from all the major stages and has announced that over 250 hours of footage will be broadcast across the weekend.