Having woken in sweltering heat the previous day, Glastonbury’s grubby, knackered, hungover hordes stumbled out of tents, teepees and campervans on Sunday morning (or, indeed, the middle of the afternoon) to find that the temperature had mercifully dropped a few degrees overnight.
As those hoping for a quick getaway come Monday morning packed up their tents and hauled rubbish bags full of empty lager cans over to the recycling bin, the day got off to a mellow start, and ended similarly, with soulful R&B star SZA closing out the Pyramid Stage.
There was plenty of energy in the meantime, though, with nostalgic Canadian singer-songwriter Shania Twain getting the girls going (pun intended) in the traditional mid-afternoon ‘legend slot’, before Avril Lavigne’s noughties pop-punk hits got the Other Stage crowd head-banging.
Rosie Hewitson and Ed Cunningham are on the ground at this year’s Glasto – here are their best bits from day three.
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The Headliner: SZA on the Pyramid Stage: impressive stamina and stunning vocals bring the energy, despite a small turnout
SZA’s Sunday night headline set was never going to match the feelgood highs of Elton John’s final ever UK date, which drew about half of the festival’s 200,000-odd ticket holders to the Pyramid Stage for the closing act of last year’s festival. In fact, when the St. Louis-born singer first arrived, dressed in a tasselled bronze number that evokes a kind of woodland Lara Croft, it was to one of the feeblest headline crowds the legendary venue has hosted in recent memory, despite it being a good fifteen minutes after her scheduled start time when she launched into debut album favourite ‘Love Galore’.
The opening stages of the four-time Grammy winner’s Glastonbury debut might have felt slightly flat as crowds slowly trickled in from elsewhere, but the 34-year-old brought boundless energy to her set nonetheless, exhibiting impressive stamina as she writhed around the stage with her backing dancers, rarely stopping for breath during a jam-packed fever-dream of a set that saw her climb a life-sized tree trunk, ascend on a giant mushroom and disappear for two costume changes – first transforming into what can only be described as a cyborg insect, then into an emerald green Tinkerbell – while nailing every line of her soulful, confessional R’n’B bangers. Her voice is truly brilliant, and it particularly shines on slower ballads like ‘Broken Clocks’ and ‘Supermodel’, while the popularity of second album singles ‘Kill Bill’ and ‘I Hate U’ get the crowd dancing, despite the relatively low turnout.
If the hedonism, exhaustion and general chaos of Glastonbury’s final day makes it feel like a particularly debauched rendition of ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’, then SZA is a spectacular Titania. Rosie
Shania Twain on the Pyramid Stage: that impressed us quite a lot, actually
There were stetsons, rhinestones and cowboy boots aplenty among the predictably massive crowd as Shania Twain took to the Pyramid Stage for Sunday afternoon’s traditional ‘legends slot’. Entering flanked by a coterie of drag queens carrying gigantic hobby horses – not quite – the country-pop legend sported a chic black rhinestoned hat of her own, alongside matching black gloves, a glitzy black dress and gigantic pastel pink tulle coat, as she launched straight into one of her bigger hits in ‘That Don’t Impress Me Much’. Her voice isn’t quite as powerful as it used to be – she feared she would never sing again after contracting Lyme disease in 2003 – and the sound issues that plagued Cyndi Lauper’s set the previous day were present once more, with the Canadian singer’s microphone cutting out occasionally as she spoke to the audience. But with so many hits to her name – from classic ’90s ballad ‘You’re Still The One’ to the barnstorming ‘Whose Bed Have Your Boots Been Under?’ and the anthemic ‘Man! I Feel Like A Woman!’ – it was inevitable that Twain’s 75-minute set would be a toe-tapping good time. Rosie
Avril Lavigne on the Other Stage: here’s to never growing up
It might be over a decade since Avril Lavigne had a Top 20 hit in the UK, but the turnout for the Canadian pop-punk singer’s Glastonbury debut is proof that the festival’s sizeable millennial cohort are suckers for a bit of nostalgia. Such was the size of the crowd pouring into the Other Stage that one of the entrances was closed several minutes before her set began. It was yet another questionable programming choice that resulted in clashing act Janelle Monáe playing to one of the thinnest Pyramid Stage crowds witnessed over the weekend, as the masses instead chose to headbang, air guitar and throw up devil horns while the 39-year-old made her way through a steady stream of noughties hits, enthusiastically belting out the lyrics to ‘Girlfriend’, ‘Complicated’, ‘I’m With You’ and ‘Happy Ending’ Not even England’s dismal performance in the Euros – with Southgate’s boys looking to be heading out of the tournament until Bellingham’s added-time equaliser during the final notes of closer ‘Sk8ter Boi’ – could temper the raucous atmosphere. Rosie
Two Door Cinema Club on the Other Stage: a victory lap for a beloved indie pop band
In the past decade or so, Two Door Cinema Club’s rep as purveyors of some of the best, most melodic and intricate British indie pop of the 2010s has only become more established. The Northern Irish band’s Other Stage slot listened as a sort of victory lap, the band in sprightly form and revelling in their anthems. The classic stuff (from albums Tourist History and Beacon) landed best, with the tracks’ ear-worming guitar licks and belt-along-able hooks reminding the Glasto crowds why they so fervently fell in love with Two Door all those years ago. Ed
Alvvays on Woodsies: feel-good noise pop
Alvvays last played Glasto’s Woodsies around a decade ago (in 2015, to be precise) – and you can see why this year they were scheduled once again on the tented stage. Alvvays is a noisy pop band, and Woodsies has the ideal intimate acoustics to fully insulate that noise. The five-piece Canadian band played reasonably standard versions of their hits (including ‘Dreams Tonite’ and ‘Archie, Marry Me’) plus a bunch of tracks off 2022 album Blue Rev – but Alvvays don’t really need to do anything particularly radical. Even in what is essentially their unadulterated studio form, these tracks are pure serotonin-unleashing indie. Ed
Kim Gordon on Woodsies: exceptionally cool with tectonic volume
God, the noise; the beautiful, brutal noise of Kim Gordon’s Woodsies set. The sort of volume that makes you take a step back, shove in your earplugs – all in a good way, of course. Gordon’s latest sound is something of a crossover between experimental rock and industrial hip-hop, a style that heaves and screeches but is also, in its own trudging way, fundamentally grooved. Cocooned in the Woodsies tent, the ex-Sonic Youth legend’s sound was consuming, almighty and, as always with Gordon, oozing cool. Ed
Mdou Moctar on Park Stage: mind-melting guitar music
After four nights of less-than-optimum quality of sleep, the ideal jolt on a dreary Sunday afternoon on Worthy Farm arrived via Tuareg guitarist Mdou Moctar (real name Mahamadou Souleymane). Moctar’s Tuareg-infused psychedelia sprawled out over 10-minute (ish) jams, his guitar play fizzling up and down the fretboard. Supported by a rock-solid band and towering Orange amps, it was loud, technical and intoxicating. Ed
JayaHadADream on Woodsies: a true entertainer with a bright future
The winner of Glastonbury’s annual Emerging Talent Competition, Jamaican-Irish rapper JayaHadADream had already played four different sets at this year’s festival by the time her slot at Woodsies rolled around, yet she still managed to bring a fantastic energy to her set. A born entertainer clearly having the time of her life, she got a bleary-eyed, coffee-swigging Sunday morning audience on side with some endearingly frank crowd engagement and lyrically dextrous, soulful hip-hop songs soundtracked by a stellar live band. She’s definitely one to watch. Rosie
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