An Anti-Festival Girlie Reviews The Biggest Moments From Glastonbury
I’d like to make a confession: I am not a festival girlie.
Crowds make me nervous. I hate camping. I worry about SPF application and staying hydrated. It’s just not my scene. However, ever since seeing Kate Moss stomping through the mud in her Hunter gumboots, I’ve always had a soft spot for Glastonbury Festival.
Unlike the sponcon-heavy Coachella or quite literally terrifying Burning Man, Glastonbury Festival seems a lot more lowkey. It’s not about branded pop-up experiences, or gimmicks, or riding around the desert on a bike dressed like a Mad Max extra. It’s about excellent music, contemporary arts, fostering community and it even consciously focuses on its positive impact (partnering with Oxfam/GreenPeace, inclusivity and diversity efforts, and energy/decarbonisation initiatives etc).
This year, the Glastonbury Festival took place between June 26-30. Here are some erratic highlights from my non-festival girlie but pop culture perspective.
Glastonbury 2024: Iconic throwbacks
I genuinely couldn’t believe some of the names I saw on the lineup. Shania Twain, Avril Lavigne, Sugababes (!!!), Fatboy Slim and even 80s pop queen Cyndi Lauper. Girls DO just want to have fun!
“Where are my sk8er bois at? Where are my sk8er girls at?” Avril asked her adoring fans during her debut Glastonbury set. The singer (or her clone) absolutely rocked out and delivered her hits ‘Sk8er Boi’, ‘Complicated’ and ‘I’m With You’ to those lucky enough to snag a spot in the audience.
British girl group Sugababes caused chaos with crowd sizes, and with mega hits like ‘Push The Button’, ‘Round Round’ and ‘Too Lost In You’, this makes sense. I’ve always found them to be criminally underrated and I guess Glastonbury thought so too, given this is the second time they’ve put the act on a smaller stage that’s reached capacity (much to the dismay of disappointed fans who missed out). Here’s hoping they make it to the main stage next appearance!
Unfortunately, from all reports, Shania’s set didn’t go too well. To me, this is blasphemy, so I’ll just leave this hot pic of her here:
Image credit: Joe Maher/Getty Images.
Glastonbury 2024: Notable celeb spottings
Expectedly, the internet fucking frothed learning that Normal People co-stars Paul Mescal and Daisy Edgar-Jones were partying together at the festival. Sharing a snap of him in a carousel on Instagram captioned “Glasto, you’ve been good to me,” her followers seemed far more interested in the duo than any of the actual Glastonbury content. Which I’m absolutely not not blaming them for.
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Unexpectedly, Sporty Spice Mel C was spotted hand in hand with a “mystery man” who turns out to be an Aussie! Pics of her and the new boyf did the rounds and apparently his name is Chris Dingwall. According to his Instagram bio, he is a “Writer. Director. Other.” which made me laugh. Good for them!
Love Island UK host Maya Jama and boyfriend, British Rapper Stormzy, were seen partying up a storm together. I know so little about these two but something about their energy really speaks to me and I love the outfit coordination.
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Fashion girlies Alexa Chung, Sienna Miller, Anya Taylor-Joy and Cara Delevingne were all spotted and Harpers Bazaar reckons they all looked great. I agree.
Glastonbury 2024: Mainstage headliners
This year’s Pyramid Stage headliners were Dua Lipa, Coldplay and SZA.
“I have written this moment down, I’ve wished for it, I’ve dreamt it,” Dua told her audience. “When I wrote it down, I said I really want to headline the Pyramid stage on a Friday night so I can party the next two days at the best place on earth.” See queens? Manifestation works! Dua played a mix of her old and new hits, and surprised the audience by bringing out her collaborator, Tame Impala’s Kevin Parker for a duet of the Tame Impala monster hit, ‘The Less I Know The Better’. OOFT.
Unfortunately, SZA somewhat drew the short end of the stick with her Sunday night headline slot. As explained by Dazed, “Glastonbury has acquired a fairly particular demographic – mainly British festival-goers who lean towards indie rock heritage artists,” so it didn’t help that the RnB singer’s set clashed with The National, James Blake and London Grammar.
The singer has been praised for her live performances and from what I’ve seen, she smashed it, but perhaps the vibes just weren’t aligning with the overall energy of the festival.
I’VE SAVED THE BEST UNTIL LAST.
I have always been a staunch defender of Coldplay. I don’t care if it makes me a massive loser, the band are incredibly talented and have been delivering consistent hits for decades now. In fact, Chris Martin even referenced the fact that Coldplay made their Glastonbury debut 25 years prior. How good.
The Guardian gave the performance five stars (huge), and as someone who has seen this band live, I can vouch for the fact that they would’ve absolutely slapped.
The highlight of the set has to be when the band surprised the audience by bringing out beloved actor Michael J. Fox to join them for their performance of saddest song in the world, ‘Fix You’. Chris explained that Michael’s movie Back To The Future was a huge reason the band got together in the first place, and called Michael his “forever” and “one of the most amazing people on earth.”
Michael, who was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease in the early ‘90s, looked overwhelmed to be joining the band, and absolutely smashed the song’s memorable guitar riff. He shared pictures of the experience on Instagram and called the experience “fucking mind-blowing.”
In conclusion, Glastonbury > other festivals. Watching footage from the comfort and safety of my own apartment > attending.
Written by Lil Friedmann, a pop culture enthusiast who has never owned a pair of gumboots. You can follow her at @lilfriedmann on socials.
Image credit: Getty + Punkee