Glastonbury may not be able to celebrate it’s 50th anniversary this year, but the festival is getting a highlight reel from the past 50 years of incredible performances. We thought we’d have a look back at some of the most iconic performances from one of the world’s biggest music festivals!
Elbow – 2017
It’s no secret that Elbow are much loved on these shores. They have played Other Voices at Electric Picnic, and Dingle as well as the Main Stage at EP, and even the Late Late Show. Their Glastonbury performance, however, was something of a badly kept secret. The Park Stage heaved with one of the largest crowds it had ever seen, as Garvey and co. made memories, even after some publicised technical malfunctions.
Sometimes those gigs are the best.
DAVE – 2019
Dave is arguably the voice of a generation. With Black Lives Matter sweeping the world, Dave is an artist who has been talking about inequalities in UK Society long before and allows us here in Ireland to hold a mirror to our own culture. However, his set in 2019 was famous, not just because of his music – Alex Mann, the 16-year-old pulled up on stage stole the show when he performed a guest verse during the set. It even landed him a record deal and modeling job with BooHoo!
U2 – 2011
U2 made their festival debut in 2011 at Glastonbury, and we’re still waiting for an EP appearance! However, when they took to the stage and owned the festival. Hits from Sunday Bloody Sunday, and Elevation gave us a whistle-stop tour of the three decades of U2. Beautiful Day turned out to be somewhat ironic, given that it was in fact pouring rain. Even still, we won’t forget it.
Katy Perry – 2015
Katy Perry was up against some stiff scheduling competition when she took to the Pyramid Stage in 2015. Liam Gallagher was on the ‘Other Stage’ at the same time. A wonderworld of glitz, glamour, and glitter; Perry stole the show with her performance. Running through smash-hits like ‘Roar’, ‘Teenage Dream’, and more with the high energy performance that infects any crowd.
Pulp – 1995
When Sheffield band Pulp took to the stage, the Glastonbury festival wasn’t what it is now, still only becoming the sea of tents you see on TV. Subbing for The Stone Roses, when guitarist John Squire broke his collarbone, Common People was already a stand out hit. Glastonbury in ’95 helped cement the band in popular consciousness before they won the Mercury Music Prize the following year. Jarvis Cocker’s onstage presence was something else, similar to last year’s Electric Picnic, where he chats to the audience like a lad in the pub.
The Who – 2015
The Who have played Glastonbury numerous times through the years, but it’s their 2015 performance that would go down in history. Going through decades of hits from “Baba O’Reilly” to “Who Do You Think You Are”, the band were in fine form as adoring fans crammed the stage.
Florence + The Machine – 2015
Originally stepping after the Foo Fighters had to cancel when Dave Grohl broke his leg. This is one of those happy accidents when a festival arguably creates special moments from potential disaster. Welch pirouetted around the stage, showing why her presence as a powerhouse of music is something so special. Using a vocoder to give us otherworldly imaginings of “What Kind of Man” and “Times Like These”. Irish audiences got a taste of this at Electric Picnic, and again at 3Arena last year.
Stevie Wonder -2010
The absolute legend that is Stevie Wonder, recently wowed audiences in 3Arena, but it was 2010 when he took to the stage at Glastonbury that we’re looking to right now. When he closed the festival, his setlist absolutely rammed itself with classics like; ‘Uptight (Everything’s Alright)’, ‘Superstition’, ‘Sir Duke’, ‘I Just Called To Say I Love You’ and ‘For Once In My Life’. The Guardian said, “A Glastonbury headline set featuring so many classics could never go wrong in the hands of this legendary musician,” and we can only agree.
The Killers – 2017/2004
The Killers made waves with their first appearance at Glastonbury back in 2007, which was hot on the heels of their rapid rise to stardom. They made a secret comeback in 2017 on the famed John Peel stage, where the Las Vegas indie-rock band packed the place out, delivering classic hits like ‘Mr. Brightside’ and ‘Somebody Told Me’.
Metallica 2014
More than likely a warm-up for their 2019 Slane gig, Metallica did not disappoint. Considering how long the band had been around, these gods of Metal first played Glasto in 2014. The set included ‘Nothing Else Matters’ and ‘Enter Sandman’. The band then returned for an encore consisting of Thin Lizzy’s ‘Whiskey In The Jar’ and their own ‘Seek And Destroy’, and finally launched dozens of black Metallica-branded weather balloons into the crowd, triggering a giant game of dodgeball between the audience and security guards. Deadly.
Paul McCartney – 2004
Macca took to the stage way back in 2004, but it was decades in the works. The festival had looked for the former-Beatles star for many years before he walked out on stage in front of 120,000 adoring fans. What had been a wet, muddy weekend became sunny and summery as McCartney walked on for a historic set. Classics from ‘Eleanor Rigby’, ‘Back in the USSR’, through ‘Live and let Die’, along with many others and some fireworks in for good measure.
Kanye – 2015
Kanye West is a whirlwind himself, and nobody loves Kanye quite as much as Kanye does. However, he is possibly one of the most culturally relevant artists of our time, regardless of where you stand. When he took to the Pyramid Stage in 2015, solo – you could sense the energy in the crowd. Kanye did not disappoint. No Church in the Wold and Stronger.