What happened this year at the Glastonbury Festival

For three days, from Friday to yesterday, he monopolized the attention of the British media and more generally of the whole of Europe, confirming himself once again as the Coachella of the Old Continent. The Glastonbury Festival gathered in the town of Pilton, in Somerset, in the south-west of England, 210 thousand spectators: the subscriptions for the entire weekend, put on sale last November and went sold out in 35 minutes they cost 373.50 pounds, that is to say 435 euros. Also this year, in addition to memorable performances, also the controversy. And then surprises, twists and tears and great announcements. Telling everything that happened in Glastonbury 2025 is impossible: here are some of the highlights of this edition of the Festival.

Neil Young performed (and made peace with the BBC)

The performance of Neil Youngheadliner of the third day of the Festival, last night, was one of the most awaited. At the beginning of the year, after his participation in Glastonbury had already been announced, the 79 -year -old musician surprised all by announcing his retreat from the event. The reason? What he defined as “Excessive interference” of the BBC: «Me and Chrome Hearts we couldn’t wait to play in Glastonbury, one of my favorite outdoor concerts ever. We were told that the BBC is partner of Glastonbury and he wanted him to do a lot of things in a way we didn’t care. It seems that Glastonbury is now under a corporate control and it is no longer as I remembered it », you have known Young, even without revealing what the requests of the BBC were. Time twenty -four hours and Neil Young moved back, confirming his presence in Glastonbury. On the eve of Glastonbury, however, the name of Neil Young did not look, mysteriously, in the schedule of the shows transmitted by the BBC, reopening the lawsuit. Only later did the spokesmen of the British broadcaster explained that it was a “artist’s choice”: it had been Neil Young to explicitly ask the BBC not to spread images and audio of his show. Finally, the BBC released a declaration in which he said he was “happy” to confirm that Young would be included in his schedule. Young kicked off his set with an acoustic version of “Sugar Mountain”, before being reached by his band, the Chrome Hearts, for Crazy Horse’s “Be The Rain”. He also played a song taken from the repertoire of Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, “Name of Love”, before concluding the set with “Old Man” and “Rockin ‘in the Free World”.

The other headliners: I 1975 and Olivia Rodrigo

The first day, on Friday, culminated with the performance of 1975. The band also played the 2018 song controversy “Love it if we made it“, One of those contained in the album” A Brief Inquiry into Online Relationships “, in which they spoke of themes such as the vices of modern society, hypocrisy and disinformation, referring to the text to the protests for the US national anthem, the death of Alan Kurdi, the death of Lil Peep e Donald Trump. On Saturday it was touched instead to Olivia Rodrigowhich on the eve also had the blessing of Ed Sheeran. The red songwriter of Halifax hosted the pop star on the stage of his show in Hyde Park for a duet on the notes of “The A Team”: “I have been a fan of Olivia since Drivers License made me stay with my mouth open at the beginning of 2021,” said Sheeran. In Glastonbury, however, there was none other than his side Robert Smith of Curewith which Rodrigo sang “Friday I’m in Love” and “Just Like Heaven”.

Doechii and Charli XCX

Saturday evening he performed Doechiithe rapper who conquered everyone with “Anxiety”, also winning the Grammy Award as “Best Album Rap” with his “Alligator Bites Never Heal”. The New Musical Express defined the show as “a hip-hop masterclass”. At the same time on another stage he performed Charli xcx. The Guardian assigned cInque in five stars to the siua performance: “A pop star at the height of his power”. But the Queen of the “Brat Girls” was accused on social media of having used the too massive way theAutouman. He has boiled the accusations as “comments from Boomer”: “The accusations that singing with the Autotune deliberately makes you an imposter or that not having a traditional band suddenly means that you are not a” true artist “is like the most boring thing ever. Sorry, sorry, I just fell asleep. ” And again: «In my opinion, the best art is the one that divides and causes and often evolves into a really interesting culture, rather than being a passable thing, easily understandable and in a certain sense forgetable». At the end of the show Flames wrapped a sheet with “Brat” written: The era of last year’s album is officially over, now space for the next record project (to which he has already started working together with Jack Antronoff, producer already at the service of Taylor Swift, Lana del Rey and Grido). Among the spectators there was also Gracie Abrams, framed while dancing on the notes of “Apple”: the video became viral.

The very talked about Kneecap and Bob Vylan

The North-Irish rap trio, censored by the radio (the songs of the album “Cearta” of 2017 were not played due to “references to drugs, politics and swear words”) have risen on stage for a very expected set that He saw them attacking their detractors, including British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and Sharon Osbourne, as well as playing a new song and reaffirming their solidarity with Palestine and the group of Palestine Action activists. The Avon and Somerset police said he will investigate their performance: “We are aware of the comments made by the artists on the West Holts stage at the Glastonbury Festival this afternoon”. The reference is to the insults that the Kneecap addressed to the British Prime Minister, sent without turns to that country. Other controversies have marked the performance of Bob Vylan. The group frontman began to scream in the microphone “Death at the IDF”, an acronym for Israeli defense forces, and the spectators joined the chorus. The Israeli embassy in the United Kingdom said “deeply troubled”.

The return of Lewis Capaldi

Two years ago in Glastonbury the songwriter of “Someone You Loved” was forced to interrupt the performance on the notes of the Hit appointed to the Grammy of 2020 as “Best song of the year” because of the Tic caused by Tourette syndromeof which he suffers. Two years later, Capaldi returned to the crime scene: “I just wanted to come here and finish what I couldn’t finish the first time on this stage. I want to thank everyone in Glastonbury for giving me this possibility”Said Capaldi.

Surprise shows

Also this year there was no lack of “Secret Guests”, surprise guests. The Haim They performed on Park Stage on Saturday evening. Going up on stage, they were enthusiastically welcomed by a crammed crowd and immediately intoned their hit from 2013 “The Wire”, followed by “Now I’m in It”: “Whenever we play Glastonbury is a real honor. We love you a lot, “they said. The set then continued with several songs taken from their new album “I Quit”, released a week ago, including “Relationships”. Also on Saturday there were also i Pulphowever they showed up as patchwork, to sidetrack spectators.

The legend Rod Stewart

At the beginning of the month, the 80 -year -old Star had canceled six concerts for health probes. Specifically, a “influence that forced him to stop temporarily”. The news had held the fans suspended with the breath, who wondered if he did not risk jumping the show in Glastonbury in the “Sunday Legend” slot. In the end, Stewart performed in front of the festival’s crowd. But His performance went like this and so: «The years feel above all in its difficulty in supporting the retained notes»Wrote the Guardian, assigning only three out of five stars to the performance.