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Chronicle Live
Entertainment
Sonia Sharma

Massive Glastonbury clean-up operation begins after 200,000 people descended on festival

A huge clean-up operation has started at Glastonbury after 200,000 revellers turned up to enjoy performances from top musicians over the weekend. It was the first time the event had been staged since 2019 due to the Covid-19 pandemic and it had many highlights.

The 800-acre Worthy Farm site was left strewn with thousands of discarded items including paper cups and food containers, and volunteers began shifting the rubbish as festival-goers made their way home. The crew also dealt with over-flowing bins and big items like camping chairs, blow-up mattresses, slippers, flip-flops and shopping bags.

Campers left the Somerset site on Monday morning, having witnessed headline sets during the event from Sir Paul McCartney and Billie Eilish as well as Kendrick Lamar's dramatic demonstration for female rights. Diana Ross also entertained the crowds with hit after hit after taking to the stage during the Sunday teatime legends slot.

Read More: Why Sir Paul McCartney's Glastonbury set was not shown live - BBC explains amid fan complaints

On Saturday, Sir Paul wowed music lovers with a show-stopping setlist which included surprise guest appearances from Bruce Springsteen and Foo Fighters frontman Dave Grohl. The former Beatle became the festival's oldest solo headliner, a week after he celebrated his 80th birthday.

During his set, which lasted more than two hours, he played a string of classic songs including Hey Jude, Blackbird, Live and Let Die, Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da and Get Back. Springsteen later joined him for Glory Days and I Wanna Be Your Man.

Gulls fly over waste left at Worthy Farm in Somerset as festival goers leave following the Glastonbury Festival. (Ben Birchall/PA Wire)

As part of the encore, through special technology which could isolate John Lennon's vocals from old recordings, Sir Paul was able to duet The Beatles' track I've Got A Feeling alongside his former bandmate on the Pyramid Stage.

Award-winning North Shields musician Sam Fender also made his Glastonbury debut on Friday night.

The festival featured countless other memorable moments including Greta Thunberg calling on society to take on its "historic responsibility to set things right" with the global climate crisis and Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky giving an address via a video message.

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