After two days of build-up, Glastonbury Festival kicks into high gear on Friday with the first full day of music on the main stages. Squeeze will open the Pyramid Stage at midday, with other acts
including Idles, Jamie xx, LCD Soundsystem, PJ Harvey, Fontaines DC, and Anne-Marie.
Pop sensation Dua Lipa headlines the opening night, set to perform disco-pop hits like "New Rules," "Don’t Start Now," "One Kiss," "Levitating," and "Houdini." “I’ve got to figure out a way to make 150,000 people feel like they’re in a small little nightclub,” she told the BBC earlier this year. “That’s the goal, and if there’s one place to do it, it’s gotta be Glasto.”
Dua Lipa has been rehearsing in Birmingham all week following warm-up shows in Croatia, Germany, and France. Although briefly interrupted by a TikTok influencer trying to film her, the rehearsals have been smooth, with her friend and fashion designer Guiliano Calza sharing a snippet of her athletic dance breakdown during "Houdini" on Instagram. The show promises “incredible surprises and some unexpected moments,” according to her record label boss, Max Lousada.
For the first time, Dua Lipa's Glastonbury performance will be broadcast outside the UK via a livestream on BBC.com.
Other headliners this weekend include Coldplay, SZA, and country star Shania Twain, who humorously expressed a desire to “ride a horse to the stage” on Sunday, a request previously turned down by festival organizer Emily Eavis for being impractical in the busy environment.
Glastonbury, the UK’s biggest festival, features over 100 stages catering to 200,000 fans over the weekend. Early attendees enjoyed a spectacular drone display on Wednesday night, and Thursday featured music on the outer stages with DJ sets by The Orb, MJ Cole, Kurupt FM, and Skream. Festival co-founder Sir Michael Eavis made a special appearance on The Park Stage, delighting the crowd with covers of Frank Sinatra's "My Way" and Elvis Presley’s "Suspicious Minds."
Besides music, attendees can enjoy poetry, comedy, circus acts, and even pottery throwing. Health guru Joe Wicks will kick off The Park Stage at 10 am with an early morning workout, while BBC Radio 3 presenter Georgia Mann will start the day with a classical DJ set in the Crow’s Nest at 11 am. “I’m thinking possibly it’ll be sleep-deprived campers emerging from their tents, confused to discover me with my classical set - but I'm also anticipating people being in a pretty upbeat mood,” she said.
At the festival’s second-biggest venue, The Other Stage, Brazilian environmentalist Chief Raoni will speak at 11:20 am, followed by Headie One, D-Block Europe, and Bombay Bicycle Club. Seventeen will become the first K-pop band to play the Pyramid Stage, with a bill that also includes Paul Heaton and LCD Soundsystem. “There’s a great sense of responsibility,” said Seventeen band leader S Coups. “We’ll keep coming back to that feeling and do our best to prepare, so that we can blow everybody away... Not just our fans, but every other member of the audience.”
Mercury Prize nominee Olivia Dean will make her Pyramid Stage debut, fulfilling a lifelong ambition. "It’s a stage that every musician dreams of walking out onto," she told the BBC. "I’m going to have a massive grin on my face. I might even cry."
Performance artist Marina Abramovic will hold a special “moment for peace” on the Pyramid Stage before PJ Harvey’s set at 6 pm. “We’ve been working on this for a while,” said organizer Emily Eavis. “She’s going to speak from the Pyramid and then she’s got a plan… which I’ll leave to her to describe.”
This year, Glastonbury will feature two female headliners for the first time in its history. Eavis expressed pride in achieving gender balance and giving Dua Lipa her first UK headline slot. “We’re creating a moment for her. And that's really as exciting as anything.”
Dua Lipa, who last played Glastonbury in 2017, has since become a seven-time Brit Award winner, largely due to her hit album "Future Nostalgia." She was offered the headline slot last November as she began rolling out her third album, "Radical Optimism." "When something like that comes along, you just don't say no to it," she told the BBC. Headlining Glastonbury had been on her bucket list since recording her first album in 2018. "It's the greatest place on Earth. Just the sense of community and togetherness and having fun and taking care of one another. It's just beautiful." Photo by Harald Krichel, Wikimedia commons.