There were, as always, plenty of detractors when the first line-up announcement for this year’s Glastonbury festival was announced back in March. Headlined by 28-year-old British-Albanian pop star Dua Lipa, pop-rock five-piece Coldplay (in a record-breaking fifth headline appearance on the Pyramid Stage) and American R’n’B singer SZA – the 2024 line-up was criticised for lacking anything truly cutting edge, being devoid of star power and altogether playing things too safe.
But while organisers could certainly have stood to take a few more risks with their programming, the nostalgia-heavy line-up served as proof that sometimes cutting edge is overrated.
Missed day one? Here’s Time Out’s review, including our take on Dua Lipa’s headline performance.
Day two review: Coldplay wrap up a talent-packed day.
Day three review: SZA and Shania Twain bring festival to a close.
How to get tickets for Glastonbury 2025.
How to watch highlights from Glastonbury 2024 on TV.
In fact, it was often precisely where the line-up’s nostalgic picks were concerned that programmers could perhaps have afforded to take a few more risks. Overcrowding for many of the festival’s old-school sets proved to be an issue throughout the weekend, with Friday afternoon’s Sugababes performance at West Holts and noughties pop-punk princess Avril Lavigne’s Sunday afternoon slot on the Other Stage proving so popular with the festival’s sizeable millennial cohort that both stages were shut down before either set had begun.
Large crowds were also seen for several more nineties and noughties, from the reunion of dubstep duo Skream and Benga at Silver Hayes’ Lonely Hearts stage on Thursday Evening, to Bloc Party’s mid-afternoon set on the Other Stage on Saturday, followed by The Streets’ set on the same stage.
And while the three headline acts each proved to be consummate entertainers, there were several future contenders further down the line-up who would certainly have wowed in the same slots, most noticeably on-the-up Glaswegian producer Barry Can’t Swim, who drew one of the largest crowds the Park Stage had ever seen for his set early on Friday, and north London rapper Little Simz, whose slick, confident performance proved her to be one of the most exciting voices in British rap today.
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