And that’s it for the liveblog this evening!
We’ll be back at noon tomorrow. Join us then for the big day! And to bid adieu, here’s a picture of some people dressed for Where’s Wally?
Rae of light
Caspar Llewellyn Smith has gone to Avalon! And there he saw Corinne Bailey Rae!
With the late evening sun penetrating the fringes of the rammed Avalon tent, Corinne Bailey Rae’s soulful vibes provide an uplifting delight, but a calming one. When she says “A lot of us feel the country isn’t going in the direction we want it to, but we are the people and people have the power,” the reaction is muted. By now at the festival, people are looking for simple good times, no less and no more.”
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A proper pop goddess
Craille Maguire Gillies popped up to the Park stage to have a look at Ronnie Spector:
‘Don’t leave me baby. Don’t tell me it’s over, Ronnie Spector sings with something like a smile. ‘You said you loved me … I’m going to miss your loving arms.’ Who knows if she had the Brexit in mind, but the former Ronette had already lulled everyone at the Park stage into something like carefree joy. No one was letting anything burst their little bubble of rollicking, nostalgia-tinged bounce. ‘Look,’ Spector said, peering out from the stage at the sky, ‘the sun came out just for me.’”
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Why do Foals fall in love?
Harriet Gibsone has been in front of the Pyramid stage, where she’s been feeling a little horse. (Here all week, try the lamb). And this is what she’s been thinking about the whole experience:
It’s a burly beginning to Foals’ Pyramid stage set – a sturdy metal assault starts the show, before the groovy, aquatic funk of Olympic Airways bleeds beautifully amid the sunset. With so much fury loaded in their music you’d assume some type of political statement would be inevitable – and yet we’re told to “forget about all that stuff” and have a good time (we’re not ones to speculate but it’s worth noting frontman Yannis Philippakis had previously shared his concerns regarding Britain remaining in the EU). Perhaps what’s most exciting about tonight’s performance is the prospect that Foals could be one of the few contemporary bands to ascend; their status as potential Glastonbury headliners seems very possible given the vast and adoring audience tonight. While lacking in warmth and showmanship, their set is full of brilliantly danceable, anthemic hits during which the audience know each and every word. Tonight the Oxford band provide an indie disco on the grandest of scales.”
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Did they survive?
Disaster for one unlucky punter, sucked into a sinkhole. Or a cesspit. One or the other.
Don’t watch that, watch this!
We’ve been out canvassing people in wellies about geopolitics.
Is this the worst cover version ever?
I’ve got BBC4 on in our cabin, which is currently bringing us highlights of the Lumineers’ set. Which includes their rendering of Subterranean Homesick Blues, on object lesson in taking a great song of wild foreboding and shoulder shrugging disdain and turning it into Compulsory Fun Around the Campfire. Do you hate it as much as I do?
Bring me metal!
Sheffield’s foremost practitioners of grinding noise, Bring Me the Horizon, are currently rocking the Other stage. Kate Hutchinson is there, on the grounds that she was nu-metal fan, and sends us these words STRAIGHT FROM THE FRONTLINE:
The Sheffield metallers pummel out a refreshing, thrashing wall of riffage. Frontman Oli Sykes, mouth bleeding, is impressed with the turnout: ‘And here was me thinking Glastonbury was a bunch of fucking shite,’ he yelps.”
I saw Bring Me the Horizon at a festival in Johannesburg a few years back. They followed a band singing in Afrikaans about the fatherland. Which was unnerving.
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Later tonight!
The Pyramid stage headliners tonight are Muse. We are currently running a book in the Guardian cabin on whether or not Matt Bellamy will be passing comment on the referendum result. The big money is on him saying: “Fucking get in! Free from the Euro lizard overlords at last!” Alexis Petridis will be reviewing the headline set and offering his thoughts shortly after Teignmouth’s premier sci-fi conspiracy theorists finish their work. While you ponder that, here’s a lesson from the Ken Tamplin vocal academy on how to sing like Matt Bellamy.
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It’s hard to disagree
There are flags. And there are flags.
Who ever the person is with the flag at Glastonbury of Ainsley Harriott, I feel I need to buy them a drink
— Richard Hargrave (@RichardHargrave) June 24, 2016
Politics update!
John McDonnell, the shadow chancellor, is not not turning up tomorrow. He was due to be doing the John Barnes rap during New Order’s set, when they played World in Motion. Or talking about something serious in Leftfield. One or the other.
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ZZ Top boogie the mud away!
Gwilym Mumford has been to Pyramid stage to see the grizzled veterans of the Texas boogie …
Skepta this ain’t, but ZZ Top’s somewhat more mature audience seem to be having at least as much fun as the lads in the moshpit earlier today. The dress code of bandanas and – yep – novelty beards is scrupulously adhered to and the mood is buoyant as zer Top rattle through the classics: Sharp Dressed Man, Foxy Lady et al. “Is everybody having a good time?” Billy Gibbons yelps. In truth it was a question that barely needed asking.
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Greetings!
Welcome to the evening from Glastonbury – Michael Hann taking over from Harriet here. Because of all the Brexit business, we’re not doing our usual thing of handing to someone in front of a telly in London for the night. We’re going to keep on here till 9, then collapse.
Protoje at West Holts
Here’s Ben Beaumont Thomas, who had a nice musical massage at Protoje.
With a pleasingly summery skank and a nice line in anti-Brexit patter, Protoje brings together every demographic under the intermittent Glastonbury sun. Whether the proximity to the overpowered cider bar is a factor or not, the vibes flow freely, as the Jamaican singer - who straddles poppy dancehall production and classic roots rhythms - runs through a perfect summer afternoon set. It sort of all blends into one, but this is a soft head massage of a set after a few hours of rain.
John Harris has spent his time at the festival talking to Glastonbury revellers about Brexit, from youngsters who say they feel they feel disconnected to those who voted Leave, to some older Welsh steel workers who break into a celebratory song. There is, however, one thing they agree on: Coldplay’s performance is unlikely to lift spirits.
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I know what you’re all thinking: give me a visual interpretation of the Glastonbury lineup created by an abstract expressionist artist from Belfast with synaesthesia, please!
Jack Coulter, who has a rare sensory, neurological condition which allows him to “hear” colour, has created a piece of art based on a Deezer playlist of this year’s lineup. Here’s what he has to say:
“I listened to the harsh dualities of each and every unique artist’s individual sound, responding to the specific songs that truly resonated with me emotionally. I wanted to capture the beautiful atmospheric element of this year’s artists, while simultaneously paralleling the darker undertones of melancholy ambience.”
“Aside from those who are unable to attend Glastonbury, I was inspired to create an immersive visual experience for deaf individuals, and those with impaired hearing. If my painting can induce a visual auditory experience of Glastonbury in even the slightest sense, that would be very special. My visual auditory senses bleed in harmony to create an incomprehensible life form on canvas. I want this painting to be viewed as a sole visual of musical sign language.”
Take a look at the image below.
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Ezra Furman at the Park
Furman has words of sympathy for those who are finding 200,000 people stuck in mud to be a trying experience. If you’re on hallucinogens and finding things hard, he assures us, we’re on your side. As ever, he defies you to mock, introducing a taut Restless Year with an apocalyptic monologue of non sequiturs that begins: “Glastonbury … festival … Tentative stab wound.” It’s odd to see people punching the air to a chant of “Death is my own Tom Sawyer!”
He’s utterly compelling, although I do overhear a complaint about his “obnoxious voice”. Even so, he’s till pop’s premier cross-dressing, gender-fluid, observant Jewish, doo-wop-influenced punk rocker ...
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Fashion update
Our fashion writer Morwenna Ferrier is on site and has the following to say about what’s IN and what’s OUT this year.
An athleisure, sportswear and hiking-wear aesthetic – one of the year’s sleeper trends – has taken over. Most significantly, this has resulted in a distinct lack of flower crowns.
Once a festival essential, the identikit accessory is seemingly, and thankfully, on the wane. One wearer we spoke to en route to the Pyramid stage admitted that she recycled hers from last year, suggesting the trend is now practically retro.
The same cannot be said of denim cutoffs and Hunter wellies, which have dominated the site so far. This year it feels as if practicality has trumped high fashion. The vintage stalls here – and there are plenty – are empty.
Instead, revellers seem to be taking subtler cues from athleisure, a stylish take on the loucher side of sportswear (think logo tees, monochrome tracksuits and, sometimes, cashmere loungewear) popularised by Chloé on the catwalk and sports brands on the high street.
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Vince Staples at West Holts
Our Gwilym Mumford has been all the way to the West Holts stage and back and reports:
Come for the hip-hop, stay for the standup. Few people do between song patter like the California rapper. Midway through his set, he halts proceedings to try and identify the species of a plastic bird being held aloft on a stick by one audience member (a heron, as it happens). Later on he notes the amount of mud on show and slyly quips: “At Glastonbury everyone is brown.”
Book him in the comedy tent as well next year, Mr Eavis.
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The Glastonbury Free Press says ...
The festival organisers produce their own daily newspaper for those on site. Here’s their line on this morning’s News from the Outside World.
So let’s trudge on through the mud. And sing out loud our protest songs.
Meanwhile, also from their own Instagram account, here’s something for those people holding out for a hero.
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Up at the Park: Unknown Mortal Orchestra
Conditions are dire up at the Park stage; so dire so that wading up the swampy hill feels like cruel army training. But the classic soul-rock fusion of Unknown Mortal Orchestra pulls an enormous audience – such a mass of hipsters, hippies, frazzled rockers and families that it feels as if the Kiwi group are on the fringes of something professionally significant.
Prone to the odd moment or indulgent noodling, the group – mostly solitary and silent between songs – look like real rock stars; enigmatic frontman Ruban Neilson is captivating with his trademark Lennon shades, hiding all multitudes of brain-fried exhaustion after years on the road. In fact, such is their authentic rock and roll presence that today’s set is like watching a classic 70s group re-form but with renewed relevancy.
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“What’s the best way to look after your beard in the rain?”
Later, ZZ Top play the Pyramid stage. Billy Gibbons spoke to me earlier about how to care for your facial hair and the perils of Mexican fondues.
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Grime guvnor!
All day today, the Sonic stage in Silver Hayes has been given over to the UK’s angriest music, grime. Kate Hutchinson has been around there, and tells us that Novelist has just led the crowd in a chant of “Fuck David Cameron!” If you want to read more about grime and politics, have a read of this excellent piece by Dan Hancox.
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Christine and the Queens – our first report
Alexis Petridis went to the Other stage to see the woman whose appearance on The Graham Norton Show propelled her album up the charts. He was impressed.
The heavens open during Christine and the Queens’ Other stage set: from the lip of the stage, Christine shakes her fist at the clouds. But nothing can dissipate how great her performance is. She somehow manages to pull off a set that’s both heavily stylised and choreographed, and heartfelt: she dances up a storm, throws flowers at the crowd “because this is a first date”, announces herself to be a “hashtag tiny French angry thing” and interpolates versions of Technotronic’s Pump Up the Jam and Stardust’s Music Sounds Better With You into her own material. But it’s the latter that’s the most striking aspect of the show: Tilted and Saint Claude sound anthemic – a repeat of the kind of stardom she’s already found in France looks increasingly likely.
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Here’s something cheerier
The intermittent and often heavy rain, meanwhile, has not deterred quite everyone.
![Mud for it. [Further #glastocliches to come.]](https://media.guim.co.uk/c1d1efe1c66d39aeb382e7c4dc1d9c8cd0f64102/0_0_4368_2621/1000.jpg)
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Jeremy Corbyn cancels his appearance
The Spectator is reporting that the referendum result, and the consequent questioning of his leadership of the Labour party, has led Jeremy Corbyn to pull out of his scheduled appearance at Left Field on Sunday, “to focus on the issues thrown up by the ‘momentous’ EU result”. We’ve asked the Glastonbury organisers for confirmation.
UPDATE We have now been told that Corbyn will indeed not make it to Worthy Farm – not this year at least.
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The view from Left Field
We’ve got not one but TWO Serious News Reporters down here this year. Here’s Serious News Reporter Lisa O’Carroll, who’s been listening to the talk in Left Field.
Despite the political tumult, Jeremy Corbyn’s support was undimmed in Left Field, where immigration was centre stage with Norfolk South Labour MP Clive Lewis calling for “progressives” to show Nigel Farage his vision of Britain was not desirable.
The mere mention of Jeremy Corbyn, whom Lewis supported, prompted loud cheers from the audience.
“At a time like this people need to be resolute and strong. We need to show leadership because we now have a challenge,” he said.
“The England that Nigel Farage represents is not the UK I want to be part of, that I have a vision of, and we are going to tell him that. We need to rebuild a progressive place in this country.”
He called for healing of divisions in the Labour party.
“What we have had here is a political riot and people have smashed their own windows because winter is coming. We need to stand together because there is a storm coming.”
He said Michael Gove and Boris Johnson had “a cheek” to say they’re standing up for working people. “Pull the other one.”
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Skepta report!
Emerging in a brocaded tunic like some grime-scene Hugh Hefner comes Skepta, armed with a series of gunmetal bangers that turn the sky grey. Moshpits open up, teenage girls in expensive sunglasses point fingers, and the stage is eventually mobbed by the Boy Better Know crew including Novelist, Frisco and Jammer riding a BMX round the stage. The likes of Crime Riddim flex satisfyingly, while That’s Not Me and Man are butch and laser-guided, all of it totally opening up the energy of the day.”
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Meeting your audience
Here’s Tim Booth of James, deciding that the best way to perform is to lie down on a sea of hands, during Getting Away with It.
To be honest we've never been a *massive* fan of actually using the stage anyway https://t.co/Ei8OGpZ8ng #BBCGlasto https://t.co/33ne1YnKum
— BBC Radio 6 Music (@BBC6Music) June 24, 2016
Après le deluge
It just started raining, prompting a rush of people back from the Pyramid stage, where they’ve been watching Skepta. The consensus seems to be that he was terrific. Ben BT will supply some thoughts on the matter forthwith.
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A new performer speaks!
Frankly, I have no idea who Rocky Nti is (his Facebook page says: “I make noise for a living”). But you’d have to have a heart of stone not to think this Twitter update is sweet.
MUM, DAD, I JUST PLAYED GLASTONBURY!!!!!AHHH THANK YOU EVERYONE THAT CAME IM SO EXICTED! pic.twitter.com/B8TtEaDzrI
— Rocky Nti (@RockyNti) June 24, 2016
Mosh!
Skepta’s set on the Pyramid stage has provoked what appears to be the first moshpit of the festival. Our own Ben Beaumont-Thomas has been at that one. We await discovering whether his shirt has been ripped off in a frantic burst of energy with like minded souls.
.@skepta at #Glastonbury is a movie 🎥 https://t.co/iwGUekejZU
— BBC Radio 1Xtra (@1Xtra) June 24, 2016
Whether the weather
There’s nothing like a bit of sunshine to up spirits. Back before noon, when the rain was coming down, and bands were appearing late. Now the view from the front of the stage is rather cheerier – just look at those bare arms! Check out those smiles! Let joy be unconfined!
All change!
Hello! Harriet Gibsone has signed off, and it’s Michael Hann here to guide you through the next couple of hours. Our team is scattered around the site – most of them seemingly gathered at the Pyramid stage for French hitmaker Christine and the Queens right now. We will, naturally, let you know who’s good. Me, I’m waiting to see if the great Billy F Gibbons of ZZ Top makes good on his promise to find the Guardian cabin and answer some silly questions.
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Bastille are a nice group of guys, aren’t they? Not the sort of men who would smuggle their way into a festival, or hang around with someone who’d commit an “emergency defecation” at a silent disco, surely? Dan Smith and Will Farquarson shatter all of our preconceived illusions in a quick Glastonbury Q&A above.
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Meeting Michael Eavis
A moment of magic in the mud …
Something strange happened last night. On the way back from watching Lekkido Lord of the Lobsters – an experience some might regard as unusual in itself – I spotted a hysteria on the road ahead. As I closed in on the commotion I realised it was Michael Eavis, Glastonbury founder, driving around in his red Land Rover, with adoring disciples clawing at his car window. Caught up in the madness, I decided to get in on the action. Only, what started as a quick selfie for social media evolved into what some on-site are calling the greatest (platonic) love affair of all time. Here’s what happened:
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James open the Other stage
10.55am – Five minutes to stage time, and the front of the Other stage is fenced off. Lorries are delivering woodchips.
11.00 – Announcement from the stage: “We’re still having some trouble with the ground here. It should be resolved very soon.”
11.16 – A lorry delivers a truckload of woodchips to the front of the stage.
11.29 – Michael Eavis starts striding around the stage, clutching a pair of scissors, hoping to begin cut the red ribbon across the lip of the stage.
11.39 – Michael Eavis is still loitering on the stage.
11.42 – Eavis says we are five minutes from opening the stage.
11.47 – The fences are taken away and the crowd flood in.
11.49 – James take to the stage.
11.50 – Eavis declares the stage open.
11.51 – James begin playing. The play several songs from their new album, to a distinctly underwhelmed crowd, who are being rained on.
Come Home gets the middle-aged knees bobbing to the baggy shuffle, guitarist Saul Davies gets a cheer when he tells the crowd: “It is with incredible sadness that we stand here today, unified in sadness that our country has turned on people. Fuck them!” They rouse the crowd with a closing Laid. They don’t play Sit Down. No one would have, anyway. Too wet.
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Brexit: Glastonbury speaks
It’s hard to gauge the mood and get a real sense of how 200,000 people feel about the referendum result. Walking around the Glastonbury site this morning it’s certainly the chief topic of conversation. I woke up this morning to hear one nearby tent crying: “We’re leaving the EU! Cameron’s gone! Can we all just stay in Glastonbury forever?”
Marta Bausells, who asked festivalgoers about the result, found the mood was almost unanimously depressing – except for a few “no comments” and a young man named Tom who confessed to being “a really self-absorbed person” and said he will “feel sad about it in a few days,” when back in the real world.
“These outfits were supposed to be a celebration of the EU – now we’re commiserating. We didn’t actually think it was going to happen,” said Jess from Leeds, with her friend Kate from London, covered with a EU flag and dressed in Tirol-like fancy dress respectively. Should Glastonbury become independent?
“It would be the best country in the world!” says Kate “... And Boris Johnson stays far away.”
Poppy and Josh from Kent and the Midlands respectively, say they were “upset” and “disappointed.”
“We were Remain. But I kind of knew it was going to be Leave,” says Poppy. “At my age, social media is big in terms of seeing who everyone supports. In the general election everyone in my feeds was for Labour, and I felt confident they would win. Now, I was seeing everyone up for Remain. I suspected it would happen again.”
James, 26, from Leeds, wasn’t planning to come in fancy dress – but ended up sporting a big peace sign and anti-Nigel Farage T shirt. He sums the situation up as “pretty shit.”
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Gwenno opens the Park stage
A simple set up – drums, a guitar and a synth – adds a surreal, sorrowful spirituality to the Park stage opening. Consisting of songs from Gwenno’s Welsh language album, Y Dydd Olaf, the former Pipette’s 30-minute show is broken up by humour, but an overriding sense of heartache in the wake of the referendum results fuels her performance. Throughout the set she protests the patriarchy, dedicates a song to whistleblower Chelsea Manning and touches on the voting system. “It’s devastating that 16 to 18 year olds can’t vote” she says. The show still flickers with optimism amid her fear, however. “I still believe in people, that’s all I want to say,” Gwenno laments at one stage. “Don’t forget that your heart is in the revolution.”
Dan Stuart and Twin Tones opens the John Peel Stage
Early contenders for best dressed band at Glasto goes to Twin Tones, the Mexican backing band to former Green On Red man Dan Stuart. Immaculately dressed in matching waistcoats and bow ties, they look a fair bit smarter than the bleary-eyed crowd assembled for this opening John Peel stage set. Their southern-fried take on Stuart’s soulful college rock isn’t too shabby either.
Stuart, LA-born but currently living in Mexico City, offered an outsider’s take on last night’s referendum result. “It’s a sad day for Britain today”, he said. “Very sad day. You can’t go home, you can’t go back”
The Orchestra of Syrian Musicians open the festival
Before there is any live music on the Pyramid stage, the crowd is treated to the video of Portishead’s tribute to Jo Cox, their amazing cover of ABBA’s SOS. It feels like some kind of tone has been set.
Then Damon Albarn walks on stage to introduce the Orchestra of Syrian Musicians – whose appearance here is an extraordinary story in itself – with the words: “So here we are, Friday. Reasons to be cheerful? Ok, it’s not raining!”
He talks about the musicians’ journey to get here, then says:
I have a heavy heart today. Democracy has failed us. Democracy has failed us because it was ill informed. And I want all of you to know that when we all leave here, we can change that decision. It is possible.
The orchestra itself is fabulous – the swooping strings on the track known as Mounir Song quite heart stopping – while guests include a number of the musicians who have appeared regularly with Albarn’s Africa Express, who have made this gig possible. They include the magnificently dressed Tunisian singer Mounir Trodi, ngoni player Bassekou Kouyate with kora player Seckou Keita, Albarn himself – with a version of Blur’s Out of Time – and rappers Kano and Bashy. Some of the Syrians played here with Gorillaz when they headlined the same stage in 2010, a show that lost chunks of the audience; this morning, even when there are some flecks of rain, the reception is pretty rapturous. The forecast for the rest of the day? Further bursts of optimism possible.
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Friday has started
Hello everyone. We’re back on site at Worthy farm, where after a couple of days of often rainy preamble, the proper stuff begins today. The first artists have just taken to the stage, so very shortly we’ll be updating you on Damon Albarn and the Orchestra of Syrian Musicians, Gwenno, James, Dan Stuart and Twin Tones, all of which packed their sets with a political punch.
It’s not all earnest, however. Some people chose to start the day with a session which billed itself as EDM yoga, but looks more like a group of sleepy toddlers gently rocking back and forth.
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