Glastonbury Festival 2024
11:30: Toby Lee Makes A Statement Of Intent On The Acoustic Stage
Following a masterclass in headline performance delivery from Coldplay on Saturday night, Sunday at Glastonbury Festival 2024 had much to live up to. But for 19-year-old blues guitar prodigy Toby Lee, today was about stopping by Worthy Farm for his Glastonbury debut while on tour with Jools Holland – he jests about his dad needing to drive quickly to make it to an opening performance for Holland in Chiswick later in the day! “We’re all pinching ourselves, so thank you for having us” he gushes as Lee and his band kick off Into The Light. The quartet deliver a head-bopping set of gorgeous blues tunes, including Crossroads as the music draws in the morning crowd. Picking up the guitar aged 7 and performing from the age of 9, this kid certainly has something special and a huge career ahead. Not only has he been picked up by Jools Holland, but he’s performed with the likes of Joe Bonamassa, Walter Trout, Buddy Guy, Bernie Marsden and even McFly!
12:30: Seasick Steve Gushes With Thankfulness For His British Audience
Steven Gene Wold – AKA Seasick Steve – is 73 years old. But throughout a colourful life of playing music alongside the likes of John Lee Hooker, Albert King, and Joni Mitchell his professional career never quite took off. That is, of course, until he appeared on Jools Holland’s annual New Year’s Eve Hootenanny in 2006. “Miracles still happen” Steve yells. “In 2006 I was 100% unemployed” he continues, sharing how he and his wife were close to losing their house. “Then a miracle happened, the miracle of Jools Holland” he gushes of his appearance on the show. “Over the next couple of weeks, the people of the UK adopted me like some ol’ stray dog” he relays, driving the musician to tears. “Thank you for this wonderful job you gave me” he says with a warming sincerity before kicking off 2009 tune That’s All. A present from Tennessee is offered to the Glastonbury crowd by way of “soul brother” and former Black Crowes man Luther Dickinson, who joins Steve for the majority of his set. Move To The Country and Internet Cowboys see the trio on stage joined by former CC Smugglers frontman Ritchie Prynne on harmonica. From where I’m stood in the crowd I can see Steve’s grandson Kai at the barricade, and the musician smiles proudly as he points him out. “He’s only 14, but he looks like he’s 20” he shares before warning “you girls leave him alone now I’m tellin’ ya ok, I swear…” to laughs from the crowd. You Can’t Teach An Old Dog New Tricks is introduced by Steve having considered adding more to his show than simply playing solo, as he’d done during his second appearance at Glastonbury. “We’ll do one more song, then get outta your face!” he says gruffly, closing his 45-minutes with Sonic Soul Surfer tune Bring It On. He’s charming, endearing and brings a stomping vibe it’s hard not to groove along to. Thank you Seasick Steve.
13:45: Paloma Faith Stuns On Her Pyramid Stage Turn
While Isaac Holman and Laurie Vincent’s pop punk outfit Soft Play tore up The Other Stage at 1:45pm and Galway-hailing rockers NewDad took over the Woodsies tent at 2pm, it was time for the wonderful, singer, actress and trained dancer Paloma Faith to wear her heart on her sleeve and bring her quirky uniqueness to The Pyramid Stage. As described by Seasick Steve in the set proceeding hers: “she’s crazier than a bat!” and following frightful screen appearances such as Bet Sykes in Batman prequel series Pennyworth, I can believe it. Organs ring out for Faith’s 10-person choral backing to enter the stage to deliver gorgeous harmonies of latest LP The Glorification Of Sadness tune There’s Nothing More Human Than Failure, the singer herself appearing to continue the song to rousing beats, blasted by on-stage fans as she bounced around the massive stage, beats, soul, piano and delicious crunchy guitars melting together gloriously before Bad Woman continues music from the new LP. “That is the song that I sing every night before my 3-year-old goes to sleep” she offers, before telling the massive Pyramid field audience about her breakup with partner of 10 years. “I’m now a single mum, and this show is dedicated to all the single mothers out there. I know it’s hard, I’m doing it” she says going on to call out societal differences in the raising of boys and girls, sharing her desire to shift those gender differences. “I’m a bad woman, and proud” she continues “I hope that you are going to raise all your daughters to be bad women too, because I listened and acted with servitude and it got me nowhere, so screw that!” Stone Cold Sober offers one of two tunes from 2009 debut LP Do You Want The Truth Or Something Beautiful? and Picking Up The Pieces “another song about a rubbish ex” the sole cut from sophomore release Fall To Grace. Soulful God In A Dress stuns before a resplendent delivery of a line from Amy Winehouse classic Back To Black “you’re here in spirit” Faith offers, looking up at the sky in honour of the late singer. Her shoes are removed ahead of Let It Ride, the singer marching the full length of the vast Pyramid Stage. “The key to looking ok is loneliness” the 43-year-old shares of her youthful appearance while reaching her mid-forties, introducing debut LP tune Upside Down. Cry On The Dance Floor is offered for her LGBTQ friends before 2018 Sigala collab tune Lullaby, Sigma collab Changing and massive 2014 single Only Love Can Hurt Like This close out a blistering hour.
15:45: Shania Twain
For Glastonbury Festival 2024, all roads led to Shania Twain’s Pyramid Stage “Legends” slot on Sunday afternoon. Commonly known as the fourth headliner and receiving top billing for the festival alongside Dua Lipa, Coldplay and SZA, many a cowboy hat was to be seen across the weekend in anticipation of the best-selling female artist in Country music history. Rumours had been rife – would Twain arrive on a horse? Not quite, but we did get six horse heads being carried on poles by her dancers as the legend herself appeared on stage wrapped in pink chiffon to open with massive 1998 single That Don’t Impress Me Much, The Pyramid Stage security performing a choreographed line dance routine! Violins and crunchy guitars mingled next for more from the 58-year-old’s seminal Come On Over album by way of Don’t Be Stupid (You Know I Love You). The more Country-leaning You Win My Love offers a taste of 1995’s The Woman In Me, the cowboy hat-wearing star encouraging the crowd to clap along. Twain seems truly in awe of the “city of Glastonbury” that has amassed to catch her set, reaching the very edges of the Pyramid Stage to catch a better view. The hits are delivered with gusto of course, 2002’s I’m Gonna Getcha Good followed swiftly by global smash You’re Still The One, Twain encouraging a crowd sing-along before leading the song herself. “Normally my shows are at night and I can only see reactions near to the stage, but I can see all of you, all the way to the back, right up to the tents!” she says looking out at her audience. Giddy Up! is the sole cut from most recent LP Queen Of Me, her hour closed out with 1999 hit Man! I Feel Like a Woman!
16:30: Nothing But Thieves
“I realise this is televised, I think my Nan is watching. Sorry Nan, I swear so much, but I fucking love it so …” Nothing But Thieves frontman Conor Mason grins cheekily mid-way through their storming 60 minute set on Glastonbury’s Other Stage. Truly a band that will, no doubt, rise through the slots and stages in the coming years, Nothing But Thieves delivered a storming hour of rock anthems, both of their own making – Oh No :: He Said What? evoking Micheal Jackson’s Thriller, Is Everybody Going Crazy? pulling on those Queens Of The Stone Age strings – and by others: a rousing rendition of of Pixies’ huge 1988 single Where Is My Mind? noted by Mason as the group’s “favourite song on the setlist.” They’re delighted to be here, of course. The Southend-hailing rock quartet understand just how special a Glastonbury Festival appearance is and what it can do for your career. Here’s hoping the audience, both in attendance and watching at home on TV, were paying attention.
18:00: Avril Lavigne
While groans might have been heard about some of the acts announced for this year’s edition of Glastonbury Festival (Coldplay again? Dua Lipa & SZA not being festival exclusives?), anticipation was high for Canadian pop-punk star Avril Lavigne who made her Glasto debut this year, albeit not headlining a stage nor making it onto the Pyramid. And that was one of a number of missteps by festival organisers for sure as some 70,000 attempted to pile into the Other Stage field ahead of the 39-year-old’s appearence, many not making it in! For some, she was a days-gone-by curiosity. But for so many, this was an opportunity to relive those naughties pop-punk days in all their glory. But what was most surprising for the casual fan, was just how many hits she has that we all know and how recent some of these are! Here’s To Never Growing Up hails from 2013 while Bite Me and the super catchy, singalong anthem Love It When You Hate Me are pulled from 2022’s Love Sux LP. But it was Lavigne’s debut 2002 LP Let Go that offered the biggest crowd-pleasers of her blistering early evening set. Complicated, I’m With You, Losing Grip and, of course, massive hit Sk8erBoi are all present and accounted for. The clashes here meant that Janelle Monae’s performance on the Pyramid Stage wasn’t as heavily attended as it should have been, while those at the Other Stage also missed out on Brittany Howard over on West Holts and Sonic Youth’s Kim Gordon taking over Woodsies.
21:15: London Grammar
With a wide variety of superb acts closing out the main stages for this year’s edition, it was always going to be tough to choose, and while SZA’s Glastonbury debut on the Pyramid Stage was questioned, The National delivered a rousing set on The Other Stage while Justice closed out West Holts, James Blake drew in great crowd at Woodsies and France-hailing Catalan troupe Gipsy Kings owned the Acoustic Stage. But it was the return of Nottingham-hailing English trio London Grammar that packed out The Park area all the way the beyond the festival’s iconic Ribbon Tower (now missing a few ribbons!) and meant that some that far up had to contend with clashing sounds from nearby bars as the dulcet tones of the Hannah Reid-led group flowed gently up the hill. Kicking off with debut record If You Wait single Hey Now, the trio had the huge crowd enamoured from the get go, the blend of guitars, synths, beats and simply delicious vocals throughout reminding us just how special this group are. “We do let other people into the band sometimes” Reid teases. “It’s a very special club, the three of us, and we’re very good judges of characters after doing this for many years” she continues before inviting electronic musician George FitzGerald to the stage on keys for airings of Baby It’s You and Lose Your Head from the group’s 2021 LP Californian Soil. Closing out with huge tunes Metal & Dust and Strong from the trio’s debut LP is the perfect close to the live music over at The Park as the crowd slowly dissipates to find one final adventure at the conclusion to another, wonderful Glastonbury Festival.
And that’s a wrap on what was another magical Glastonbury Festival. Sure there were lineup missteps which did a disservice both to those in attendance and the wonderful acts on stage who played to either ridiculously overfilled or sparsely empty areas. But I can imagine just how difficult it must be to coordinate an event on such a ridiculously massive scale with so many artists from all over the globe who are also sequencing their own tours and other festival appearances to fit in with this event. Here’s looking forward to next year’s festival, the last before a confirmed fallow year in 2026 where the festival will take a break for the site, comprised of not just the Eavis’s farms but those of neighbouring farmers who all need to coordinate and sustain their respective farming businesses.
Photography at Glastonbury Festival 2024 by Kalpesh Patel. Photography of London Grammar by Kalpesh Patel and John Hayhurst.
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