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England Unites For Massive Glastonbury Festival 2017

June 28th, 2017 - 12:00 AM

England Unites For Massive Glastonbury Festival 2017

Music fans converged on Somerset over the weekend, to celebrate music the world over, for Glastonbury Festival 2017.

There was a party-like atmosphere surrounding the place, as for the first time in decades there was no significant rainfall during the whole festival, and fans duly celebrated as such, before the festival takes a year off in 2018, to allow the ground and plant life of the festival site to have a summer off from the damage of hundreds of thousands of attendees.

The event was a significant one in particular for many of Britain and London’s musicians, with many having their say on the recent general election, as well as the public outrage surrounding the tragedy of the Grenfell Tower Fire, and the Tory government’s neglect of housing standards, that cost the lives of so many.

Friday night saw Radiohead headline the Pyramid stage, as they brought their usual array of ethereal brilliance, with Johnny Greenwood twiddling his boxful of buttons, and Thom Yorke bringing out his perennially outstanding dance moves.

Despite a somewhat avant-garde setlist (15 step and Myoxomatosis, anyone?), fans were treated to a rare performance of the band’s first ever hit in ‘Creep’, which was a massive surprise for those in attendance, given Radiohead’s less-than-glittering relationship with their own breakthrough hit.

Thom Yorke and co. pulled out the big guns towards the end of their set, and set the fans home very happy, with a spine-tingling rendition of ‘Karma Police’ rounding off the night.

Meanwhile, Grime veteran Dizzee Rascal was pleasing his own fans, with a hit-laden headline slot on the West Holts stage, set the benchmark for the rest of the weekend’s Grime acts to aspire to.

Prior to the triumphant return of Grime to Worthy Farm, Anderson .Paak and the Free Nationals caught the eyes of thousands, with a blisteringly good set just before Dizzee, bringing funk, soul, and more glorious dance moves to a baying crowd, lit beautifully by the Friday night sunset. It was a star-making performance for the band, and you can watch their set in full here

Saturday was the day the politics came, as Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn- whose name had already been heavily chanted by fans on Friday night- received a heroes welcome on the Pyramid stage, as he gave a speech, before Run the Jewels’ set.

Killer Mike and El-P then laid waste to the festival, in their typically incendiary fashion, with extra emotional value placed on the performance due to the passing of Mike’s mother just days before the festival.

Stormzy packed out the Other Stage for his evening set, and undid his tracksuit jacket part-way through his set to reveal a t-shirt paying tribute to the victims of the Grenfell fire. He then demanded answers and ownership of responsibility of both the government and authorities involved, before rapping a short verse lamenting his sadness over the tragedy.

Liam Gallagher also paid tribute earlier in the day, but to the victims of the Manchester terror attacks of last month, before a rousing rendition of Oasis’ classic ‘Don’t Look Back in Anger’, which was shared beautifully with a very emotional crowd.

Saturday night- a very nearly Sunday morning- was polished off in style by the Foo Fighters, who played nothing but hits, repaying the fans’ patience after pulling out of 2015’s festival, due to frontman Dave Grohl breaking his leg.

As is customary with a Foos set, there was fantastic rapport with the crowd from Grohl, and deafening crowd singalongs, particularly for the likes of ‘Best of You’ and ‘Monkey Wrench’, the breakdown of which was dragged out for so long, it would’ve been annoying if it had been anyone else doing it. Grohl and Foos drummer Taylor Hawkins also switched places for a great cover of Queen and David Bowie’s ‘Under Pressure’, with Hawkins surprising many, and doing very well with the not-so-enviable task of covering Freddie Mercury’s vocals.

After a surprise set from Elbow on Friday night, there was much speculation about the unannounced act on the John Peel Stage on Sunday afternoon. Festivalgoers were then sent into complete overdrive when The Killers made their triumphant return to a tent so packed out, the Festival Twitter page had to tell fans to turn back from trying to see the band, as it was already totally full.

Boy Better Know continued Grime’s strong showing at the festival, with a raucous headline slot on the Other Stage, with Justice providing a similarly emphatic end to the weekend with a live set on the West Holts Stage, for the fans that hadn’t yet been burnt out by the weekends events.

It was left to ginger songsmith Ed Sheeran to close the Pyramid Stage, and he did so fantastically well. Whether you’re a huge fan of him or not, there’s something thrilling about watching him build and entire song up using only a loop station- even if some people didn’t understand that that’s what it was.

Sheeran also ‘did a Radiohead’ by finishing his set with the previously retired ‘You Need Me, I Don’t Need You.’ Draped in a gay pride flag, Sheeran sat on the edge of the stage, surveying the enormous, female crowd, an infectious smile on his face, ending the festival in a way that can’t help but make you smile.

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