Glastonbury gears up for The 1975, Alanis Morissette and more
After two days of build-up, Glastonbury will open its main stages on Friday with performances from music stars including Alanis Morissette, Wet Leg, Rizzle Kicks, Denzel Curry, PinkPantheress, Loyle Carner and Busta Rhymes.
The day will reach its climax when rock band The 1975 headline the Pyramid Stage at 22:15 BST, giving their only concert of the year.
The band, fronted by Matty Healy, have reportedly spent four times their festival fee on a “specially designed set” for the show.
Meanwhile, there’s fevered speculation over the mystery acts on this year’s bill, with Lewis Capaldi rumoured to be making a return to live music at the festival after a two-year hiatus.
The singer stepped out of the limelight in 2023 after a difficult performance at Glastonbury, where a combination of anxiety and Tourette’s caused him to lose his voice.
The singer received a huge outpouring of support from fans, who helped him finish his set by singing along to Someone You Loved.
Days later, he scrapped his future concerts, saying he needed time to get his “physical and mental health in order” and “adjust to the impact” of his Tourette’s diagnosis.
With a new single, Survive, released at midnight on Friday, the star is the presumed frontrunner to play the Pyramid Stage’s “TBA” slot at 17.00 BST.
Friday’s other big enigma is the surprise guest who is scheduled to open the Woodsies tent at 11:30.
The venue, formerly known as the John Peel Tent, is dedicated to alternative pop and indie acts – with rumoured performers including Olivia Dean, Jamie xx, Lorde and Haim, who have a gig in Margate later on Friday.
Meanwhile, The 1975 will top the main stage bill, with fans hoping for a glimpse of their forthcoming sixth album, tentatively titled GHEMB (God Has Entered My Body).
“It’s such a big gig, and it’s the only show that we’re playing this year,” their manager Jamie Oborne recently told the Money Trench podcast.
“Matty thought doing it in isolation would be a really powerful thing. I obviously agreed with him, as I often do.”
Tickets for the festival sold out in just 40 minutes last November, before the line-up had been announced.
The majority of festivalgoers arrived for the gates opening on Wednesday, and were treated to an opening ceremony featuring theatre and circus performers in front of the Pyramid Stage that evening.
Others started their festival with a “ravers to runners” 5k race on Thursday morning, braving a torrential downpour as they circled the site.
And thousands of revellers spent Thursday night sampling the festival’s nightlife, as the dance stages opened with DJ sets from acts like Confidence Man, Eliza Rose and BBC news analysis editor Ros Atkins.
This year’s festival is expected to have a political dimension, too, with performances and talks addressing political upheaval, conflict in the Middle East, the climate crisis, and the rise of the far right.
Among the speakers is former Match of the Day presenter Gary Lineker, who will take part in a panel called “Standing Up for ‘Getting Along’ in a World that’s Being Pushed Apart”.
He told the festival’s on-site newspaper The Glastonbury Free Press that the talk was inspired by the idea that “everything is done to try and divide us”.
“And I think if people can pull together – because I think most of us are decent human beings – then just a bit more kindness in the world would go a long way at the moment.”
Festival founder Michael Eavis said he stood by the event’s left-leaning ethos – which sees a share of profits go to organisations including Oxfam, WaterAid and Greenpeace.
“I think the people that come here are into all those things,” the 89-year-old told the Free Press.
“People that don’t agree with the politics of the event can go somewhere else.”
