As Glastonbury 2022 draws to a close, a variation on the rumours that have abounded all weekend about Harry Styles making a secret guest appearance during one of the headline sets starts circulating. This time it involves not the former One Direction star but Eminem, who has apparently been spotted swimming at the exclusive Babington House hotel not far from the Worthy Farm site: evidence, it’s adduced, that he’s set to make a guest appearance during Kendrick Lamar’s performance. It turns out to be no more true than the Harry Styles stuff.
Lamar’s set is tightly choreographed, involving two troupes of dancers, one all-male, the other all-female, their movements shifting from sinuous to militaristic. It’s also beautifully lit, frequently in stark white light, with the screens behind Lamar flashing up sections of his lyrics in vast fonts: The Blacker the Berry plays out with its angriest line – “You hate me don’t you” – towering over him. A huge Parental Guidance sticker appears during DNA. It’s clearly not the sort of thing built to be disrupted by a surprise appearance from Slim Shady.
