By Mark Savage, Music Correspondent
Getty PhotographsAfter Dua Lipa and Coldplay’s smooth and environment friendly units, Glastonbury’s Sunday evening headliner had a troublesome act to comply with.
After a rumoured look by pop queen Madonna fell by means of, the slot ultimately went to US R&B star SZA.
One of the vital-streamed artists on this planet, she’s a vibrant, assured performer, whose advanced, messy dissections of contemporary relationships have endeared her to millennial followers.
However their ardour didn’t ignite any magic on the Pyramid Stage.
The star drew the smallest viewers I’ve ever seen for a Glastonbury headliner, in additional than 20 years of coming to the competition.
It did not assist that, for no less than the primary half an hour, her microphone was each distorted and muffled – a problem for an artist whose enchantment lies within the precision of her lyrics and the great thing about their jazzy vocal runs.
The 33-year-old additionally dedicated the competition sin of failing to deal with the gang. Her solely interplay within the present’s first act was to ask if any of her “day one” followers have been current.
“You recognize I would like you, proper?” she stated, maybe acknowledging that this was not her pure viewers.
By the point she bought to her largest hit – the darkly comedian homicide fantasy Kill Invoice (1.9 billion Spotify streams) – individuals had already drifted away to observe units from The Nationwide, James Blake and London Grammar elsewhere on the positioning.
That is to not say that SZA placed on a foul efficiency, or that the hundreds who stayed to the top of her set have been upset.
She has spectacular vocal command, projecting to the again of the sector with out sacrificing intimacy.
In the direction of the center of her set, she performed No person Will get Me – a devastating ballad about her wrestle to let go after breaking apart along with her fiancé. It was by a long way probably the most weak, shifting efficiency I noticed from a Pyramid Stage headliner all weekend.
Younger followers within the viewers clasped their fingers to their chest and mouthed alongside silently.
‘So over it’
Different highlights included the brittle, rock-infused F2F and the 80s-infused pop smash Kiss Me Extra – which she fused with Prince’s Kiss.
It was a visible feast, too, divided into three distinct sections that mapped out the method of getting over a damaged coronary heart.
She began in a dingy cave, the metaphorical fortress of her personal solitude, surrounded by stalactites and performing Drew Barrymore whereas perched on an enormous ant.
For the second part, dubbed “robotic world”, she struggled with conflicting feelings, concurrently pining for her ex and wishing ache upon him, in songs like Snooze, Kill Invoice and I Hate U.
The ultimate phase was titled “Coming House”. SZA, sprouted wings, climbed a tree, and performed a few of her extra liberated, feel-good songs – together with Saturn (about escaping the earth for a greater life) and the self-explanatory Good Days.
Getty PhotographsHer ultimate tune was 20 One thing, a declaration of solidarity for anybody else going by means of the turmoil of their third decade and she or he climbed down from her elaborate set and sang in communion along with her followers within the entrance row.
“Glastonbury, I used to be so nervous about at the moment,” she stated. “I am so grateful. You could have my deepest love and my deepest respect. God bless you and please get residence safely.”
With sinuous choregraphy and a compelling stage presence, SZA’s set was a elegant present within the incorrect venue – an issue that has repeatedly blighted this yr’s Glastonbury.
Beloved acts like Sugababes, Fred Once more and Avril Lavigne have been booked into areas too small to deal with their followers; whereas the Pyramid Stage struggled to draw adequate numbers for compelling, muscular units by PJ Harvey and Janelle Monae.
In the long run, it is a disgrace that these performances, like SZA’s will go down in historical past for the incorrect causes.
After the set, the singer posted a message that appeared to acknowledge the unfavourable response.
“The bravery required to be alive in public is exceptional,” she wrote on X (formerly Twitter).
“So over everyone doing that [expletive].”
Setlist
- PSA
- Love Galore
- Damaged Clocks
- All of the Stars
- Promenade
- Backyard (Say It Like Dat)
- Drew Barrymore
- F2F
- Forgiveless
- Ghost within the Machine
- Blind
- Shirt
- Kiss Me Extra
- I Hate U
- Snooze
- Kill Invoice
- Low
- Supermodel / Particular
- Open Arms
- No person Will get Me
- Regular Woman
- Saturn
- Wealthy Child Daddy (Drake cowl)
- The Weekend
- Good Days
- 20 One thing
Elsewhere on Sunday, Shania Twain performed the coveted Legends slot, delivering large, brassy anthems like That Do not Impress Me A lot and Man! I Really feel Like A Girl! whereas conveying a wide-eyed disbelief on the dimension of her viewers.
“I discover moments like this very life-changing and I imply that very sincerely,” she stated, choking again tears in direction of the top of her set.
Over on the Different Stage, Avril Lavigne was just as popular, inflicting main site visitors jams as followers clamoured to listen to era-defining pop-punk hits like Difficult and Sk8r Boi.
She kicked off with the brilliantly snotty Girlfriend, and the cartoonish sneer remaining plastered throughout her face for the subsequent hour.
“I can’t imagine it’s taken me 22 years to play Glastonbury,” she stated. “It’s about time”.
Getty PhotographsJanelle Monae performed a decent, funky set on the Pyramid Stage – going by means of a number of costume modifications, together with a duplicate Michael Jackson swimsuit.
Lithe and limber, she celebrated her sexual freedom on songs like Pink, Yoga, Lipstick Lover and Make Me Really feel, whereas dedicating her set to the queer group, within the ultimate hours of Pleasure month.
Later, she expanded that dedication to different marginalised and persecuted teams around the globe.
“I’m proud to face with you as you struggle again in opposition to genocide,” she stated. “As you struggle again in opposition to the criminalisation of homeless individuals. As [politicians] usher in legal guidelines to [regulate] our our bodies.”
She went on to name for an finish to violence in Palestine, Sudan and the Congo – whereas additionally calling out anti-Semitism and Islamophobia.
“These are our individuals. So once we see injustice, we all know,” she declared.
It was a strong second, expressed extra eloquently than a lot of this weekend’s onstage protests.
She was adopted onstage by Nigerian star Burna Boy, in party-starting temper as he raced by means of Afro-fusion hits like Sittin’ On Prime Of The World, Ye and Final Final.
Flirting with the viewers all through, he ultimately eliminated his high and invited everybody else to comply with swimsuit. If it had been hotter, they could have obliged.
Headline units got here from French dance maestros Justice on the West Holts stage and indie-pop group London Grammar, who drew an unlimited crowd to the hillside Park Stage, regardless of singer Hannah Reid’s misgivings about being scheduled in opposition to SZA.
However the largest headliners, when it comes to viewers dimension, have been US indie band The Nationwide, who immersed The Different Stage with epic guitars, wealthy horns, and Matt Berninger’s emotive confessional phrases.
From the intimate Gentle Years, to the pounding Abel, their grown-up sound and intense supply capped off an uneven Sunday, as Glastonbury ready to close up store for an additional yr.
The competition will return in 2025, Emily Eavis has confirmed, earlier than taking a fallow yr in 2026.
