On Wednesday morning, as Glastonbury opened its gates, the Guardian canvassed the opinions of early arrivals as to which act they were most looking forward to seeing. Several suggested singer-songwriter Lewis Capaldi, who wasn’t listed on the festival’s bill at all. His appearance – a re-entry into public life after two years away, dealing with poor mental health and Tourette syndrome – was meant to be a secret, but everyone already seemed to know when and where he was playing.
Such is the peculiar conceit of the Glastonbury “secret set”: ostensibly a closely guarded surprise, but this year seemingly a matter of public record, only moderately less discussed than the controversial appearance of Belfast rap trio Kneecap, whose set even the prime minister apparently had an opinion. So it was that Lorde’s “secret” set in the Woodsies tent on Friday morning was so oversubscribed that the entire area around it had to be closed off. In fairness, she did her best to thin them out a bit by playing her new album, Virgin, released that morning, in its entirety. It’s a great album – a sharp, intriguingly fraught update of the dancefloor-focused pop style she previously deployed on 2017’s Melodrama – but throwing in only a couple of the hits after nearly 40 minutes of unfamiliar material comes under the heading of A Big Ask at a festival.
