The Best And Most Bonkers Bits Of Glastonbury Festival 2019
Miley Cyrus and Mark Ronson covering 'Back To Black' was an all-time festival moment.
Glastonbury Festival is done and dusted for another year, taking with it headlining sets from Stormzy, The Killers, and The Cure.
It was a welcome reprieve for the British public, who have been mired in Brexit fury for what feels like an eternity. For one shining weekend (and, unusually for Britain, it was sunny the whole way through) they could forget about all that, and instead thrash about with a flag in front of the Pyramid Stage.
If you couldn’t get over to Worthy Farm this year (and given how fast it sold out, that was a lot of you), we’ve wrapped up the best and most exciting bits of the festival right here for you. Dive in, and get ready for some serious FOMO.
Stormzy Crushed His Headlining Set
The second youngest headliner in Glastonbury’s history left no stone unturned with an incendiary performance on the Pyramid Stage. Arriving on stage in a Banksy-design stab proof vest emblazoned with the Union Jack, he tore through a set of fan favourites like ‘Cigarettes and Kush’, ‘Funky Friday’, ‘Shut Up’, and ‘Mr Skeng’. He brought Chris Martin n stage for ‘Blinded By Your Grace Pt. 1’, and he even dropped in a cover of Ed Sheeran’s ‘Shape Of You’, and Kanye’s ‘Ultralight Beam’.
During single ‘Vossi Bop, he led the crowd through a rousing chant of “Fuck Boris Johnson”. And in a totally cringeworthy move, Johnson is jokingly trying to claim the crowd were chanting “Back Boris”.
“I want to pay tribute to Stormzy — I am a great enthusiast and admirer of Mr Stormzy’s works, and I think he’s one of the great lyricists and poets of our time,” Johnson said over the weekend. “And I want to thank him for his rousing endorsement of the Back Boris campaign. ‘Back Boris’ I think was what he said and there may have been some problem with the acoustics that caused him to be briefly misunderstood, but Stormzy seems to me to be thoroughly on message.”
Johnson antics aside, Stormzy’s set was hailed as one of the festival’s greatest – “a statement of intent and bloody brilliant”, as NME put it.
“This is the greatest night of my entire life,” Stormzy told the crowd. We believe it, too.
Billy Ray Cyrus And Lil Nas X Dropped ‘Old Town Road’
The freight train that is Lil Nas X shows no sign of stopping. Whether it’s the crowd at Stagecoach festival or a hall full of six-year-olds, nobody can seem to get enough of the ‘Old Town Road’ hitmaker.
So, naturally, he had to turn up at Glastonbury. And he did, alongside Billy Ray Cyrus (wearing a spectacular tasselled jacket) during Miley Cyrus’ set at the Pyramid Stage. It was, of course, bananas.
Lil Nas X also dropped a preview of his new single, ‘Panini’. Check out both songs below.
HUGE!!! @LilNasX @billyraycyrus doing ‘Old Town Road’ in the middle of @MileyCyrus’ set at Glastonbury!!! 🤯 pic.twitter.com/AmegGf36jS
— ill Will (@officialillwill) June 30, 2019
Pt.2 pic.twitter.com/IKeQVorCA1
— ill Will (@officialillwill) June 30, 2019
Who wants a Panini!!!??? 😋 @LilNasX at Glastonbury. This can’t be life! 🙌🏻 pic.twitter.com/LaUsIGbkiV
— ill Will (@officialillwill) June 30, 2019
Miley Cyrus And Mark Ronson Covered ‘Back To Black’
Miley’s mid-afternoon set was crammed with guests, one of which was her recent collaborator Mark Ronson. The two came through with one of the earliest hits of the year with ‘Nothing Breaks Like Heart’, which landed in the Hottest 100 despite being released only a few weeks before voting closed.
They performed the single in front of a packed Pyramid Stage crowd, twisting in a cover of Amy Winehouse’s ‘Back To Black’ — a track which Ronson produced with the late singer.
Cyrus also brought out a fictional guest: Ashley O, the character she embodied in the latest season of Black Mirror, and who has become somewhat of a cult pop star in recent weeks. She tore through the “single” ‘On A Roll’, causing a few raised eyebrows among those in the crowd who didn’t get the reference.
Watch both clips below.
.@MileyCyrus performing “On A Roll” dressed as #AshleyO at #Glastonbury Festival in England tonight! #MileyGlasto pic.twitter.com/5AcbBSiBfJ
— Miley Cyrus Access (@MileyNewsAccess) June 30, 2019
R.I.P. Amy 😢 @MileyCyrus and @MarkRonson doing a cover of ‘Back To Black’ at Glastonbury. pic.twitter.com/97hU4nxIgt
— ill Will (@officialillwill) June 30, 2019
Sir David Attenborough Turned Up, And The Crowd Lost Their Minds
Glastonbury may have been packed with the likes of Stormzy, Kylie, and Billie Eilish — but by far the most anticipated guest was Sir David Attenborough.
The environmentalist and living legend appeared on the Pyramid Stage before Minogue’s set to play a trailer for BBC’s new series Seven Worlds, One Planet, and also to praise the festival’s new No Plastic policy.
“There was one sequence from Blue Planet 2 which everyone seems to remember,” Attenborough told the ecstatic crowd. “It showed what plastic has done to the creatures that live in the ocean. It had an extraordinary effect, and now this great festival has gone plastic free!”
“That is more than a million bottles of water which have not been drunk by you in plastic. Thank you, thank you! The ocean covers two-thirds of this planet of ours…the land only covers one-third of the globe. There are seven great continents on which we human beings live. Each of them has its own marvellous creatures — birds and mammals, animals of all kinds. Each of them has its own glory, each of them has its own problems.”
The trailer also featured a track called ‘Out There’, a collaboration featuring Sia and revered composer Hans Zimmer. Watch the crowd lose their shit at Sir David’s appearance below.
Biggest cheer of the day for Sir David Attenborough #glasto2019 @itvnews pic.twitter.com/PUOMnS58mq
— Rupert Evelyn (@rupertevelyn) June 30, 2019
Kylie Brought Out Nick Cave And Chris Martin
Fourteen years after a battle with cancer forced her to pull out of her headlining slot, Kylie Minogue took over Glastonbury for one of the biggest performances of the weekend. Holding forth on the Pyramid Stage on Sunday afternoon in the legends slot, she bounded through a set of greatest hits which included ‘Spinning Around’, ‘Locomotion’, and ‘I Should Be So Lucky’.
“In 2005, I was meant to be here on this very stage & circumstances meant that I didn’t make it. I wish things were different, but life is what it is right? We are here together in this moment,” Minogue told the crowd.
She brought out fellow icon Nick Cave for a sensual duet of the unofficial Australia anthem, ‘Where The Wild Roses Grow’ — a song they have rarely performed live together since its explosion in 1995.
She also invited Coldplay frontman Chris Martin to help her out on ‘Can’t Get You Out Of My Head’ — a note to the band’s tribute of Minogue at Glasto in 2005, when they took over her headlining slot at the last minute.
Just saw Kylie Minogue & Nick Cave perform Where The Wild Roses Grow love on the Pyramid Stage. I can’t cope… so much love here for Kylie. #glastonbury2019 pic.twitter.com/KiajCVfB4V
— dannysioux (@dannysioux) June 30, 2019
In 2005, when @kylieminogue had to pull out of Glastonbury due to breast cancer, many artists paid homage with covers of her biggest hits.@coldplay were one of those bands.
Today, Kylie duets with Chris Martin to repay the favour… 😍#Glastonbury2019 pic.twitter.com/lERL0oFVmt
— BBC One (@BBCOne) June 30, 2019
Janelle Monáe And Christine And The Queens Proved They’re Ready To Headline
Just months after they became the talk of the weekend at Coachella, Janelle Monáe and Christine and the Queens utterly dominated proceedings on Sunday night. Choosing between the two was difficult, as they were both sandwiched in the same set times on Sunday night — but whichever way you went, you were rewarded.
Christine vaulted and spun her way through a set of favourites — ‘Comme Si’ and ‘Girlfriend’ being the unquestionable highlights — backed by her usual troupe of limber dancers.
Monáe, meanwhile, served up the same badass theatricality that we saw at Coachella, at times sitting on her glittering throne — and other times squirting water pistols at the crowd. “No matter who you love or how you love, you are welcome in my house any time,” she told the crowd. “As a young, queer, black woman in America I’m honoured to be here. I’m proud to be here.”
Photo via BBC/YouTube