Glastonbury Festival 2024
11:00: Sofia Kourtesis Opens The West Holts Stage
While live music and DJ sets were to be found across many of Glastonbury Festival’s stages across Wednesday and Thursday, it was Friday that the main stages kicked off proper. And while lockdown-famous fitness instructor Joe Wicks opened up The Park Stage at 10am, albeit with a workout rather than live music, it was Berlin-based Peruvian DJ and producer Sofia Kourtesis that kicked things off on the main stages with a rousing performance on The West Holts Stage.
12:00: Squeeze Start The Music On The Pyramid Stage
Irish DJ and broadcaster Annie Mac was the first on Glastonbury’s Other Stage at 11:30am, but it was 1970s-hailing English rock outfit Squeeze, albeit with only Glenn Tilbrook and Chris Difford from the original line-up still present, who kicked off the music on The Pyramid Stage. But with each taking lead vocal duties on some of the group’s biggest hits, that was all we really cared about as Take Me I’m Yours, Tempted and Cool For Cats are aired.
13:15: Olivia Dean Wins Over The Pyramid Stage
25-year-old Olivia Dean might have played Glastonbury just last year, but her Pyramid Stage takeover is a massive leap from her three tiny appearances over the course of the 2023 edition, the biggest of which was at The Lonely Hearts Club! She brought the tunes, courtesy of last year’s debut LP Messy alongside a handful of other songs, but it was her heartfelt sincerity that connected her with the massive Pyramid field crowd amassed to catch her set. Paying homage to the Windrush generation, she wore a top imprinted with a photograph of her Grandmother who had bravely left home to come to the UK to carve out a better life for her family and become an integral part of British fabric.
14:15: Headie One Dominates The Other Stage
The 13-member group Seventeen became the first K-Pop band to play Glastonbury Festival with their 2:45pm Pyramid Stage slot, but it was British rapper, singer and drill music innovator Irving Ampofo Adjei – AKA Headie One – who was making waves over on The Other Stage. The Tottenham, London-hailing artist opened his hour with Music X Road mixtape cut 18HUNNA before launching into Martin’s Sofa from second LP The Last One, which was released just hours earlier.
18:00: Marina Abramović Silences Before PJ Harvey Lifts The Pyramid Stage
4:30pm and Woodsies is rammed, the former John Peel tent seemingly too small for The Vaccines. Just 25 minutes later and it’s impossible to get close to West Holts if you left it too close to Sugababes’ set time, that’s two for two with Sugababes Glastonbury following similar scenes at the even smaller Avalon tent back in 2022, perhaps it’s time to find them a bigger stage or a headline slot? Bombay Bicycle Club played a sun-soaked, feel-good show over on The Other Stage at 5:15pm, and even brought out Blur’s Damon Albarn for a splendid outing of My Big Day tune Heaven and an even more special rendition of Blur classic Tender. But it is performance artist Marina Abramović that manages to silence The Pyramid Field for a full 7 minutes, requesting each person in the massive crowd to put a hand on the shoulder of the person next to them and be still between gongs struck by festival organiser Emily Eavis as she slowly transforms into a peace sign with the raising of her arms. Wow.
Bridport-hailing PJ Harvey somehow manages to draw on the thoughtful calm infused into the audience, pulling out 2023 LP I Inside the Old Year Dying trio Prayer At The Gate, The Nether-Edge and the album’s title track before delivering a superb set of tunes from across her catalogue. 1992 debut single Dress to Let England Shake are represented here.
18:45: Anne-Marie Lifts The Other Stage
33-year-old popstress and TV personality Anne-Marie brought the flames and theatrics to The Other Stage for a sun-soaked, feel-good hour of pop fun. 2016 hit Alarm kicked off her energetic show, with 2020 Therapy tune Birthday having the singer presented with a celebratory cake on stage! And as balloons adorned a grand piano she sat behind, Anne-Marie welcomed British rapper Aitch to the stage to close out her set with their 2022 collaboration track Psycho.
19:45: LCD Soundsystem Bring All Their Friends To The Pyramid Stage
Brooklyn, New York-hailing James Murphy brought his LCD Soundsytem to The Pyramid Stage for a rousing, feel-good set watched from the side of the stage by the likes of Foo Fighters frontman Dave Grohl and elder Gallagher brother Noel, although the two would not cross paths given Grohl is “our kid’s mate” and won’t stop banging on about an Oasis reunion! Touching on all four of the on-again-off-again troupe’s LPs, Murphy and co. kicked off with 2017 LP American Dream cut Oh Baby, moving deftly through a blistering 10-song set that sampled Kraftwerk’s Computer Love for 2010 tune I Can Change and wrapped up with singalong dance anthem All My Friends.
22:00: Dua Lipa Meets The Glastonbury Headliner Brief
While Idles tore through the Other Stage and Jungle stormed West Holts at 10:15pm before Jamie XX reunited with his XX partner Romy during his turn closing out Woodsies from 10:30pm, at 10pm, all eyes were on first time headliner Dua Lipa bringing her show to The Pyramid Stage, following appearances on the John Peel Stage in 2016 and 2017. And she met the brief perfectly. Her show captivated and kept the energy levels high throughout, a tough feat for a highly choreographed 2 hour set filled with pop bangers. There were multiple costume changes, a moving on stage staircase, a b-stage further into the crowd, fireworks and a special guest. But importantly, the Anglo-Albanian star brought the gushing sincerity of gratitude for her appearance, engaging with her audience at every opportunity. And of course she brought the tunes. Airing the best of each of her three chart-topping LPs, she kicked off with Radical Optimism single Training Season before diving straight into 2018’s One Kiss. Her set made you realise just how many hits the 28-year-old has already amassed, with Break My Heart, Levitating, early hit Be The One, sophomore LP tune Physical and Houdini all making the cut, alongside Cold Heart – her collaboration with Elton John – which John himself had played at the festival without Lipa last year. Phew!
And for those firmly in the party mood following that rousing performance, or one of the many closing out the music stages for the night, there was plenty of adventure to be found, from the infamous South East Corner, Charli XCX taking over Levels. Confidence Man’s double DJ slot over on Greenpeace or those following on from Fatboy Slim’s opening of the newly-installed Dragonfly over at Arcadia.
Glastonbury Festival 2024
Photography at Glastonbury Festival 2024 by Kalpesh Patel. Photography of Dua Lipa by Kalpesh Patel and John Hayhurst.
Dua Lipa Pulls Off A Feat Of Pop Houdini At Glastonbury 2024
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