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Mumford and Sons have closed this year’s Glastonbury festival, with their first ever headline set on the Pyramid Stage.

The band began in the dark, playing the slow-burning Lovers’ Eyes, which opens with a lone vocal over feedback.

The lights came up for second song I Will Wait – their only UK top 20 hit – and the crowd erupted.

“We came for a party,” frontman Marcus Mumford said.

The set was the band’s first since bass player Ted Dwane had surgery for a blood clot on his brain this month.

They closed their set by playing the Joe Cocker version of A Little Help From My Friends, for which they were joined on stage by Vampire Weekend, The Vaccines and folk singers The Staves.

This year’s Glastonbury Festival has seen 180,000 people descend on Michael Eavis’s Somerset farmstead.

The music has catered to a wide range of tastes with sets from artists such as Laura Mvula, Chase and Status, Rita Ora and Elvis Costello.

Sunday’s line-up included Vampire Weekend, Smashing Pumpkins, Jessie Ware, Bobby Womack and Sir Bruce Forsyth.

Avon and Somerset Police said crime at this year’s festival has dropped dramatically since the last event in 2011.

Crime levels were 33% lower than in 2011, with 220 reported crimes, including drug offences and thefts from tents, since gates to the campsites opened on Wednesday.

Police added that there were no major incidents on site and a total of 154 arrests have been made.

Mumford and Sons’ had said they would have pulled out of the headline slot if their 28-year-old bass player had not made a full recovery.

The band were hit by the news of Ted Dwane’s condition while they were on tour in the US earlier in June. He had been taken to hospital after being described as “feeling unwell” for several days.

His illness forced the band to cancel the remainder of their North American Summer Stampede tour and threw their first headliner slot at Worthy Farm into doubt.

“Nothing was more important than Ted’s health,” said Ben Lovett.

After leaving hospital, Ted Dwane posted a picture of himself bearing surgery scars on the band’s website, accompanied by the caption: “Bear with a sore head!”

Mumford and Sons have closed this year’s Glastonbury festival, with their first ever headline set on the Pyramid Stage

Mumford and Sons have closed this year’s Glastonbury festival, with their first ever headline set on the Pyramid Stage

The band took to a stage still vibrating from the barnstorming set from Saturday night’s closing act – The Rolling Stones.

The veteran rockers received five-star reviews in most of the Sunday papers.

Some fans in the audience, however, felt the sound was too quiet and there were scattered chants of “turn it up” during the band’s performance.

Mumford and Sons were among those watching the gig, as they had with Friday night headliners the Arctic Monkeys.

Ben Lovett said the shows had made him worry that his banjo-brandishing band did not have quite enough hits to fill their show.

“We’ve only got two albums, so we’ve got to write more,” he laughed.

“But we’re match fit. We wouldn’t perform if we didn’t think we could do a great job.

“We’re confident and we’re looking forward to it.”

The Grammy and Brit-winning band are the biggest stars of the nu-folk scene which emerged from West London five years ago.

Their contemporaries Noah And The Whale, who played on The Other Stage on Saturday, said the headline slot was a coming-of-age moment.

“It’s funny,” said frontman Charlie Fink.

“Every time things get a bit bigger, you think <<I can’t believe it’s got to this stage>> and then something else happens.

“But I think it’s amazing. It’s crazy everything that’s happened to people we know and that genre of music.”

Another oldie making his debut was 85-year-old Bruce Forsyth, who emerged on the Avalon Stage to the Strictly Come Dancing theme and introduced himself as “The Rolling Stones 2”, before playing a set of music hall standards, including Gershwin’s Funny Face.

The turn-out for Sir Bruce Forsyth was so large that security officers shut down the Avalon field for 20 minutes, as hundreds of fans spilled out of the tent into the field beyond.

The notorious Sunday afternoon “Glastonbury legend” slot – which has played host to the likes of Shirley Bassey and Johnny Cash – was filled by country star Kenny Rogers.

“I was told it was a special slot but I don’t always believe everything my manager says when he’s trying to get me to do something,” admitted the singer.

Kenny Rogers added he was unsure whether the Glastonbury audience would be familiar with hits such as The Gambler, Coward Of The County and Islands In The Stream.

“But I think any time you get that number of people together, percentage-wise I should have enough people who know my music to carry the rest of them.

“I’m convinced now that my audience falls into two categories: Either born since 1980 and their parents played my music as child abuse, or they were born before 1960, and can no longer remember the 60s.”

The 74-year-old, who is the seventh-biggest-selling artist in US history, also said he was hoping to see Mumford and Sons.

“I saw them on a Country Music Television show in the States, and I thought they were excellent.

“You know, my first 10 years, I played upright bass and sang in a jazz group – so I can really appreciate what they’re doing melody-wise and time-wise.

“It’s great to hear a group like that be so successful.”

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Fun, Gotye and Mumford and Sons among the winners of the 55th Grammy Awards which took place last night in Los Angeles.

Fun’s anthem We Are Young, featuring Janelle Monae, was named Song of the Year, with the New York band going on to win the best new artist prize.

Gotye’s international hit Somebody That I Used To Know received the Record of the Year, one of three prizes received by the Belgian-Australian artist.

Surprised Mumford and Sons took home the Album of the Year prize for Babel.

The English folk rockers received their honor from fellow-countrywoman Adele, who had earlier won best pop solo performance for her live version of Set Fire to the Rain.

Adele, who won six awards last year, said: “I just wanted to be part of the night, because I loved it last year, obviously. Thank you, I just wanted to say a massive, send big love to all the other girls, and all us females doing this because we work so hard and we make it look so easy.”

Mumford and Sons had received six nominations ahead of the ceremony. In the event, though, their only other prize came for best long form music video.

Ben Lovett from the band said: “I just want to say how beautiful Adele is looking tonight, and how great it is to be presented this award by another British musician.

“Yeah, there’s a few of us out there, and the Grammys have opened their arms to us, and we’re very grateful for all of this country and the Grammy foundation for being so welcoming.”

Indie rock group The Black Keys enjoyed the most success overall, receiving four of the six awards for which they had been shortlisted.

The event, held at Los Angeles’ Staples Center, kicked off with Taylor Swift singing her hit We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together.

The 23-year-old star was joined by performers on stilts, a White Rabbit and human puppets for the Alice in Wonderland-themed performance.

Ed Sheeran and Sir Elton John appeared shortly afterwards to perform Sheeran’s single The A Team, with further performances coming from Justin Timberlake, Alicia Keys and country star Carrie Underwood.

Sting, Bruno Mars and Rihanna joined forces for a Bob Marley tribute that featured Rihanna and Marley’s son Ziggy duetting on his father’s 1980 classic Could You Be Loved.

Elton John returned later to perform in another all-star collaboration, paying tribute as he did so to the 26 people killed in the Sandy Hook Elementary School shootings last December.

The event was preceded by a pre-awards ceremony at a neighboring venue at which the majority of this year’s prizes were handed out.

Mumford and Sons took home the Album of the Year prize for Babel at Grammy Awards 2013

Mumford and Sons took home the Album of the Year prize for Babel at Grammy Awards 2013

Winners announced ahead of the main event included the late Indian sitar player Ravi Shankar, whose award for Best World Music Album was collected by his daughter Anoushka.

“I wish he was here to do it himself,” said Ravi Shankar. The 31-year-old had been nominated in the same category alongside her father, who died in December.

Sir Paul McCartney’s Kisses on the Bottom record was named Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album, while The Beach Boys won Best Historical Album, their first ever Grammy, for The Smile Sessions.

Yet it was The Black Keys and its singer-guitarist Dan Auerbach who dominated the pre-telecast awards show, receiving prizes for Best Rock Song and Best Rock Album.

Dan Auerbach received an additional prize for non-classical producer of the year, with his band going on to win Best Rock Performance during the main awards ceremony.

“Welcome to the greatest music show on earth,” said rapper LL Cool J at the beginning of the evening in his role as ceremony host.

The event saw a surprise appearance from Prince, who appeared sporting black sunglasses and a white cane to present the Record of the Year award to Gotye.

The Belgian-Australian musician said he was overwhelmed to meet one of his musical heroes.

“A little bit lost for words, to receive an award from the man standing behind us with the cane. Many years listening to this man’s music growing up, and a big reason I was inspired to make music. Thank you.”

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