Haim – Pyramid Stage
★★★★★
“We’re just going to play you a couple of songs, is that alright?” Alana Haim asks the Pyramid Stage audience.
It’s very alright. Apparently everything good comes in threes: Haim have done Glasto three times before – they know the deal – and now they’re on the Pyramid Stage with three Brits, three Grammys and three albums under their belts.
Known for sun-drenched singles such as last year’s “Summer Girl”, with its noodling saxophone, and the booty call-themed “3am” , the California sisters have experienced an incremental rise that culminated in their career-best, 2021’s Women in Music Pt III.
Much of the appeal of this early-evening set comes from their confidence and onstage chemistry. Recalling how she once passed out mid Glastonbury set, Este is interrupted by a phone call, which cues a “should I call him back?” skit between the band and their audience. They’re entirely at home at the heart of Worthy Farm, and very welcome too.
Glass Animals – Other Stage
★★★★☆
“I’m so sorry guys,” says Glass Animals frontman Dave Bayley. “So anticlimactic.” The Oxford four-piece have just bounded onto the stage, only for technical issues to stop them bursting into the heady “Life Itself”.
They leave the stage. Try again. Succeed. It’s a blistering start. Skipping, spinning and gyrating, Bayley is an indefatigable frontman, with a tendency to roll his tongue out lasciviously, as if channeling Gene Simmons. Mixing buttery R’n’B grooves with indie pop, the band has always been a hugely confident live act. But this year they have even more reason to be full of swagger, having conquered the US with their 1.7-billion streamed song “Heat Waves”. Before they drop that, though, we get Bayley standing on the barrier, delivering an especially louche rendition of 2014’s woozy hit “Gooey”.
As “Heat Waves” finishes the set, sparking a mass singalong, the sun comes out. How fitting. PS
Celeste – West Holts
★★★★☆
After a heavy night spent watching the sun rise in Block9, listening to Celeste’s silky tones on a Saturday afternoon feels like the ultimate hangover cure. When the 28-year-old arrives on the West Holts stage, her hair spiked into sharp points like a high-fashion Dennis the Menace, she gives off a warmth that emanates throughout the crowd.
It’s hard to tell whether it’s the sudden burst of sun or her voice doing it. She kicks things off with “Ideal Woman”, the opening track from her Mercury Prize-nominated album Not Your Muse. With just a cello accompanying her, it’s a subdued start to the set, but she quickly shows off the real star of the show: her voice.
There’s a richness to Celeste’s vocals that belies her youth. Every song carries the precision of an album recording, but the live band bring new depth to tracks like her drum and bass-inspired hit “Stop This Flame”.
There’s minimal audience interaction (which might be down to nerves) and at times, the set feels a little placid. Still, it’s a tonic the crowd laps up, and “Strange” is a fittingly soulful closer. IL
