Foo Fighters have performed a raucous surprise set at Glastonbury, confirming one of the worst-kept secrets in the festival’s recent history.
The US rockers had been rumoured to appear since organisers announced a mystery act would play the Pyramid stage shortly before headliners Arctic Monkeys on Friday night.
The speculation began when Glastonbury said an unknown group called the ChurnUps would feature in the prominent slot – despite them having no online profile or, more importantly, any songs.
Fans quickly suggested it would be Foo Fighters, and rumours were as good as confirmed this month when they posted a tweet to their fans, saying: “It feels good to see you, churning up these emotions together.”
The band seemed to end the speculation an hour before they were due on stage when they tweeted a photograph of flags in the festival crowd, one with the phrase Churn It Up brandished across it, and tagged the post #Glastonbury 2023.
A tweet from the account of the ChurnUps was signed DG, the initials of talismanic frontman Dave Grohl.
The band were greeted with a huge cheer from the biggest Pyramid stage crowd of the weekend so far as the ChurnUps logo was replaced with that of the Foo Fighters, before Grohl strolled on stage to a solo by the band’s new drummer, Josh Freese, launching into cult hit All My Life.
Grohl addressed the crowd about 20 minutes after their raucous opening numbers, shouting “Hi!” to the tens of thousands in attendance.
“You guys fucking knew it was us this whole time, didn’t you?” he said. “We’re happy to see you guys. It’s nice to see you guys after all this time.”
The band tore into their first songs with uptempo renditions of older favourites such as The Pretender and Learn to Fly interspersed with extended solos by Freese, who replaced the drummer Taylor Hawkins after he died last year.
They played an emotional tribute to Hawkins, dedicating Everlong to him. “Let’s sing this one loud and sing for Mr Taylor,” said Grohl to a huge cheer before appearing briefly emotional. “Sing it for T,” he added.
“Last time we played here was 2017. I remember you all having a good time,” said Grohl as a flare sent plumes of red smoke over the crowd.
Fans were clearly expecting a performance to remember as the crowd stretched all the way up the perimeter fence – an audience of a size usually reserved for headliners.
Before the band performed, there was also a tribute to students Barnaby Webber, Grace O’Malley-Kumar, both 19, and school caretaker Ian Coates, 65, who were stabbed to death in Nottingham two weeks ago.
The crowd applauded as their pictures were shown on the Pyramid stage, soundtracked by John Lennon’s Imagine.
