Ed Sheeran has closed this year’s Glastonbury Festival at the Pyramid Stage, just six years after his debut at one of the festival’s smallest venues.
In 2011, Ed Sheeran played the solar-powered Croissant Neuf stage, playing “to about 500 people”.
On June 25, he closed the festival, attracting a much younger audience than Friday and Saturday’s headliners, Radiohead and Foo Fighters.
Ed Sheeran, 26, admitted he was “very nervous but very excited” to be there.
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“For those of you who haven’t seen one of my shows before or haven’t heard one of my songs, please pretend that you know them,” the singer told the audience.
“For those of you who have, please sing all of the words.”
He added: “The aim of tonight is to lose our voices.
The audience took Ed Sheeran up on the challenge; joining in wistfully as he sang the ballads Photograph and Thinking Out Loud.
They didn’t quite keep up, however, with the spittle-flecked Take It Back – a whirlwind of wordplay in which Ed Sheeran declared: “I’m not a rapper, I’m a singer with a flow.”
Ed Sheeran played, as he usually does, without a band; using a loop pedal to layer his vocal and guitar lines and create a backing track live, on the spot.
He also invited traditional Irish band Beoga on stage to accompany him on Nancy Mulligan, a song about his paternal grandmother.
It was a moment that reeked of cheese but, watched from the side of the stage by his grandfather, Ed Sheeran made it seem genuine.
This year saw more pop and grime acts than ever, from Charli XCX to Katy Perry; from Wiley to Stormzy.
On June 25, the festival also saw sets from Royal Blood, Courteeners, Foo Fighters, The Jacksons, Radiohead and The Killers – who played a secret show on the John Peel stage on Sunday evening.
Lionel Richie’s performance has drawn the biggest crowd of this year’s Glastonbury Festival, with at least 100,000 people estimated to have watched the singer.
The Pyramid Stage field at Worthy Farm was packed to see Lionel Richie playing hits like Dancing on the Ceiling, Hello and Say You Say Me.
This year’s festival closed with The Who performing their hits on the Pyramid Stage as part of a world tour that has been billed as their last.
Paul Weller and Patti Smith also played and the Dalai Lama visited the site.
The 177,000 festivalgoers are now making their way home from the Somerset site.
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Lionel Richie’s performance in the festival’s traditional Sunday afternoon “legend” slot will be remembered as one of this year’s highlights.
Organizers suggested the field could have been near its 120,000 capacity when the star played.
Lionel Richie’s set included hits like All Night Long, We Are The World, Easy and Three Times A Lady.
Fans chanted the singer’s name and the security guards in front of the stage had even learned a dance that they performed when Lionel Richie played Dancing on the Ceiling.
After that song, the singer looked disbelievingly at the size of the crowd and repeated: “What the hell is going on?”
Lionel Richie was following in the footsteps of stars like Dolly Parton, Tom Jones and Neil Diamond, who have taken the Sunday afternoon slot in the past.
At the end of the night, The Who brought the festival to a close with a greatest hits set that included rock classics like Pinball Wizard, Baba O’Riley and Won’t Get Fooled Again.
They also took a dig at Kanye West’s claim, made during his Saturday headline slot, to be the world’s greatest rock star.
The Who’s Glastonbury appearance was part of a world tour to mark their 50th anniversary, which singer Roger Daltrey has described as “the beginning of the long goodbye”.
Elsewhere at the festival, dance favorites The Chemical Brothers ended proceedings on a high on the Other Stage, while there were also appearances by Ryan Adams, art-pop auteur FKA Twigs and FFS – a group made from merging Franz Ferdinand and Sparks.
Fans gave an enthusiastic reception to the Dalai Lama after he joined punk poet Patti Smith during her Pyramid Stage performance at this year’s Glastonbury festival.
The exiled Tibetan spiritual leader was introduced on the main stage by Patti Smith after earlier delivering a speech in the Peace Garden.
Patti Smith presented the Dalai Lama with a cake in advance of his 80th birthday on July 6 and led a rendition of Happy Birthday.
The Dalai Lama said he was an admirer of Patti Smith and her band.
“I very much appreciate those singers and musicians – most of you with white hair,” he said.
“That voice and physical action looks very beautiful.
“That gives me encouragement. Myself, now 80 years old, I should be more like you.”
Kanye West will headline this year’s Glastonbury festival performing on the Pyramid stage on Saturday night, organizer Emily Eavis has confirmed.
Emily Eavis has tweeted: “We are thrilled to let you know we have the one and only Kanye West headlining Saturday night on the Pyramid stage!”
The Foo Fighters had already been confirmed as Friday night’s headliners, while the main act for the Sunday night has yet to be announced.
Tickets for Glastonbury 2015 sold out in less than 30 minutes in October 2014.
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Music fans paid £225 ($340) for a ticket to the festival held at Worthy Farm in Somerset.
Back in 2008, Noel Gallagher claimed it was “wrong” to have a hip-hop headliner when Jay-Z performed on the Saturday.
Today’s announcement seemed to have passed Kanye West by at first as he spent much of it tweeting topless pictures of his wife.
Kanye West, 37, has since acknowledged the announcement tweeting: “Excited to announce I’m headlining Pyramid stage Saturday night @glastofest this year.”
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
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.”
Prince Harry attended this year’s Glastonbury Festival and managed to sneak into the UK’s biggest music event unnoticed to party with friends until the early hours.
The festival’s organizer Michael Eavis said today he had chatted with Prince Harry last night and recommended he stayed to sample the nightlife.
Prince Harry’s on-off girlfriend Cressida Bonas was pictured enjoying the sunshine at the Worthy Farm site in Somerset yesterday, but the prince managed to evade photographers as he partied the night away.
Michael Eavis, 77, said Prince Harry had watched the Rolling Stones performing at the Pyramid Stage last night and also enjoyed music at the Park and John Peel stages.
The organizer said: “Prince Harry was great actually. I recommended that he should go on into the night, because the nightlife is what Glastonbury is all about. At three o’clock in the afternoon, you don’t get it.
“I told him to get his taxi driver to come back at five o’clock in the morning and do you know what? He lasted until four in the morning.
“His friends were all having a great time. He didn’t want to make a formal thing of being here.”
Glastonbury Festival has attracted celebrities including Kate Moss, Wayne and Colleen Rooney and Katherine Jenkins over the weekend.
Backstage today, actress Sienna Miller, singer Florence Welch and presenter Dermot O’Leary were spotted.
Michael Eavis said he did not join Prince Harry for a pint of cider as he abstains from drinking from two months before the festival until after everyone has left the site.
He added that the Rolling Stones had been the festival’s best-ever headline set and that their two-hour performance – complete with fireworks and a burning phoenix on top of the stage – was worth the wait.
He had tried to secure the band, celebrating their 50th anniversary, for years and said he was not sure how next year’s headliners, who have already been booked, would live up to the Stones.
“It was 43 years in the making, 50 years for them, and we’ve finally come together. We’re on the same page at last,” Michael Eavis said, on the third day of music at the festival.
Prince Harry attended this year’s Glastonbury Festival and managed to sneak into the UK’s biggest music event unnoticed to party with friends until the early hours
He said: “It’s the whole razzmatazz of the occasion – the two of us finally getting together at long last.
“I had to prove myself to them. We were a bunch of hippies; it’s hardly a Rolling Stones set up, is it?”
The capacity of the Pyramid area was expanded for the first time for the Stones, meaning a festival record of 100,000 people saw Mick Jagger strutting his stuff.
Mick Jagger led the band through their classics, starting with an energetic Jumpin’ Jack Flash and ending with a soulful You Can’t Always Get What You Want, before crowd-pleaser Satisfaction.
Sir Mick was said to have been concerned about sound quality ahead of the gig, but his fears were unfounded.
“Musically, they were absolutely brilliant,” said Michael Eavis, who claimed the band were number one in his top 10 of headliners, above Radiohead, U2 and Oasis.
“Mick Jagger’s energy leading that band with such a passion and so much style – he was absolutely amazing.
“I’ve never seen anything like it. It’s quite remarkable to think he can go like that, at his age.
“I’m a bit older and I couldn’t keep going. His legs and his arms and his movement – he was going for it like his life depended on it.”
The mechanical phoenix created by Joe Rush, which came to life during Sympathy For The Devil, was a labor of love, with health and safety officials voicing concerns, Michael Eavis said.
He laughed as he claimed the ornate moving sculpture had cost almost the same as the Stones’ fee for their set.
Bands have already been booked for next year’s key Pyramid Stage headline slots. Asked if there were any veteran rockers on a par with the Stones, Michael Eavis smiled and said: “Ever so slightly, yeah.”
He joked that there were now very few acts left on his wish list, and pondering how many more festivals he will organize, said: “Another 10, do you think?”
Michael Eavis said the ticket holders, of which there were 135,000 this year, were what kept him going.
A BBC Two spokesman said its coverage of The Rolling Stones peaked at 2.5 million viewers, compared to the peak of 2.1 million for U2 who headlined on the Saturday night at the last Glastonbury Festival in 2011.
Other highlights of the weekend have included Friday night’s headline set from the Arctic Monkeys, Portishead on the Other Stage and an early morning performance from Liam Gallagher’s band Beady Eye.
Michael Eavis said he had particularly enjoyed Elvis Costello’s Saturday afternoon gig, and taking part in a karaoke session on the same day.
“It fills me with so much confidence because people love it so much,” he said.
“The people are so thrilled to be here. So that’s my energy, really.”
Police said crime at this year’s Glastonbury Festival has dropped dramatically from the last time the event was staged.
Avon and Somerset Police said crime levels were 33% lower than in 2011, with 220 reported crimes since gates to the campsites opened on Wednesday.
Those crimes included 61 drug offences and 106 thefts from tents. There were no major incidents on site and a total of 154 arrests have been made.
Inspector Shirley Eden said: “We are very pleased with how the festival has gone. It’s been a fantastic event, the atmosphere has been brilliant and crime is low.
“We would like to thank the majority of festival goers for their cooperation, good festival spirit and for being sensible with their property.”
The Rolling Stones made their Glastonbury debut at Pyramid Stage – 43 years after the festival first took place.
The band opened with Jumping Jack Flash, with Mick Jagger prowling the stage in a green sequinned jacket.
Mick Jagger thanked the fans and, after It’s Only Rock ‘N’ Roll (But I Like It), joked that organizers had “finally got round to asking us” to play.
They are set to play for two-and-a-half hours, with tens of thousands of fans stretching up the hill to Worthy Farm.
Organizers are expecting the festival’s biggest ever audience for a single act. The capacity for the main stage was increased to 100,000 this year.
Michael Eavis has been trying to book the band almost since the first Glastonbury in 1970. The Rolling Stones last had a UK number one single a year before that, with Honky Tonk Women.
An opening tape featuring Michael Eavis saying “we waited a long time”, and the familiar rhythm track of Sympathy For The Devil warmed up the crowd, who spontaneously broke into the familiar “whoo whoo” backing vocals.
“It’s great to be here doing this show, doing this festival,” said Mick Jagger after It’s Only Rock ‘N’ Roll (But I Like It).
“After all these years they finally got round to asking us,” he added.
Drummer Charlie Watts gave the joke a desultory cymbal crash.
And five songs into their set, Mick Jagger introduced a new song, written for a girl he claimed to have met at the festival last night.
An uptempo country-rock number, it featured the refrain “Waiting for my Glastonbury girl”.
After 90 minutes, Sympathy For The Devil got a full airing, as flares turned the sky red and the mechanical phoenix rose from atop the Pyramid stage.
Mick Jagger said: “We’ve been doing this for 50 years or something. And if this is the first time you’ve seen a band, please come again.”
Meanwhile, at the Acoustic tent, the Bootleg Beatles played a Stones riff and commented: “Sign of a good band – you’ve got to know when to split up.”
The Rolling Stones made their Glastonbury debut at Pyramid Stage
Earlier on Saturday, as the sun beamed down on Somerset’s Worthy Farm, familiar riffs from Stones hits Start Me Up and (I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction rang out from the festival’s main stage, as technicians prepared for the show at 21:30 BST.
Proceedings started with Malian musician Rokia Traore, whose upbeat blend of African roots, blues and jazz gave early risers a chance to dance off the fug of a late night.
A headliner at this year’s Womad festival, Rokia Traore was offered a Glastonbury slot as a gesture of solidarity with Mali, where Islamic militants have all but banned music in some areas.
Billy Bragg got into the spirit of the day by playing classic Stones track Dead Flowers during his set, while soul singer Laura Mvula welcomed the sun by breaking into a sing-a-long rendition of Bob Marley’s One Love.
She said the cover had been suggested by her musical director, Troy Miller “whose last appearance here was with Amy Winehouse, so he knows what he’s talking about”.
Laura Mvula, who only released her debut album Sing To The Moon in March, said stepping out on the festival’s main stage was overwhelming.
“Let me tell you something, there’s nothing like it. A sort of nervousness I’ve never experienced before.
“It was like a mental battle – the goal was to get through it and enjoy as many moments as possible”
Other acts on Saturday’s line-up include Elvis Costello, rap pioneers Public Enemy and psychedelic rockers Primal Scream.
Prince Harry was also rumored to have been spotted backstage at the John Peel tent, where the bill includes Smiths guitarist Johnny Marr and electropop band Hurts.
The Rolling Stones, currently celebrating their 50th anniversary, have kept their plans for the festival a closely guarded secret.
“I’m not saying what we’re doing at Glastonbury,” Mick Jagger told Radio 4’s Today programme on Saturday morning.
“I can’t tell you the set list.”
Guitarist Keith Richards was similarly cagey, but said he was excited by the prospect of the show.
“I’m looking forward to it because it is an iconic gig and it’s an iconic band and finally the two meet at last,” he told Radio 1’s Newsbeat.
“In a way it’s kind of weird that at last we’ve made it to Glastonbury. It’s like building Stonehenge right?”
Despite the press attention, Glastonbury is far from being the biggest show of the Stones’ career – they played to more than a million people on Rio’s Copacabana Beach in 2006.
For Michael Eavis and his daughter Emily, however, the appearance is an ambition achieved.
“It’s one of those things you thought might never happen,” said Emily Eavis.
“We were very pleased to get them.
“For my dad, it’s been a lifetime of really wanting them to play, so he’s really thrilled.”
Although The Rolling Stones drive a notoriously hard bargain when it comes to fees and ticket prices, Emily Eavis was adamant they had not received any special favors.
She said: “At Glastonbury we have a certain kind of deal which everybody gets, and everyone’s getting the same. So we’re very happy with that.”
The Arctic Monkeys performed at the Pyramid Stage in front of more than 90,000 fans closing the Glastonbury Festival’s first night.
Opening with a brand new song, Do I Wanna Know, they also rattled through crowd-pleasing hits like I Bet You Look Good On The Dancefloor.
Frontman Alex Turner also led the crowd in a chorus of Happy Birthday to his mum, Penny, who was at the festival.
They were joined on the bill by Jake Bugg, Rita Ora and Dizzee Rascal, as the weather largely stayed dry.
LA trio Haim also played the main stage, but bassist Este Haim was taken ill during their set.
The 24-year-old had to sit on a stool after nearly collapsing on stage.
“I’m not going to let this get the better of me, especially when there are so many beautiful people here,” she told the audience.
“If I pass out, will someone give me mouth to mouth.”
Later, she told the NME she had “nearly died” and blamed the incident on diabetes.
“I didn’t eat before my set like a smart, good diabetic does and I remember not being able to feel my arms,” she said.
The Arctic Monkeys made a low-key entrance on the Pyramid Stage – with none of the pyrotechnics or showbiz affectations of the festival’s last headliner, Beyonce, two years ago.
In keeping with the slow-burning groove of their new single, the band set opened with subdued lighting and darkened video screens, before crashing straight into the heavier, faster Brianstorm, a single from 2007.
The Arctic Monkeys performed at the Pyramid Stage in front of more than 90,000 fans closing the Glastonbury Festival’s first night
More confident as a frontman than the last time the band headlined Glastonbury in 2007, Alex Turner squared up to the mic and adopted an exaggerated Elvis swagger when addressing the crowd.
“We’re gonna play all night long,” he informed them.
“Does that sound good to you?”
Songs from their first two albums – I Bet You Look Good On The Dancefloor, Fluorescent Adolescent, Sun Goes Down – received the warmest response, while new material was tolerated with good humor.
A string quartet, arranged by Elbow’s Guy Garvey, joined the band for the encore, playing Mardy Bum and Cornerstone.
The set ended with early track 505 and a wall of feedback.
Earlier, Liam Gallagher’s band Beady Eye kicked off the action with an unscheduled appearance on The Other Stage at 11:00 BST.
The early morning set was something of a turnaround for the singer, who previously headlined the event with Oasis in 1995 and 2004.
The latter appearance was particularly flat, and Liam Gallagher claimed the festival was “full of idiots”.
But after Friday’s show, he said: “Glastonbury’s back in the good books. I just had a bad experience but now it’s cool again.
“It’s always been cool, it’s just me. I’m full of it.”
He added that playing before lunchtime had been something of a risk.
“I thought 11 o’clock could be really ropey but I thought we done well, man.”
Musical legends could be found dotted around the site on Friday, with Sinead O’Connor headlining the acoustic stage and Nile Rodgers of disco pioneers Chic on the West Holts Stage.
The musician, whose hits include Chic’s Le Freak, Diana Ross’s Upside Down and Madonna’s Like A Virgin, was playing his first ever Glastonbury.
“I come from America, right, so in our heads it all started with Woodstock and Monterey Pop – and Glastonbury has kept that tradition alive.
“Now I’m actually here I can come home and either dispel the myth or say <<wow, it’s everything I thought>>,” he said.
Mercury Prize-winners Alt-J also drew a large audience to The Other Stage, and surprised them all by ditching their smart, intricate rock songs for a cover of Kylie Minogue’s Slow.
Jake Bugg pulled off an early “Glastonbury moment” with an energetic set that climaxed with his hit Lightning Bolt; while Dizzee Rascal provided a canny mix of crowd-pleasing hits and new material, including his Robbie Williams-featuring single Going Crazy.
With an audience of 180,000 music fans, many artists look forward to Glastonbury as the pinnacle of the festival season – and anticipation was particularly high after the event took a year off in 2012.
“I’m never going to forget this,” declared pop star Rita Ora as she left the stage.
“You have changed my life.”
Rapper Professor Green, who followed her on the Pyramid Stage, said he was similarly amazed to be part of the line-up.
Describing himself as “some little toerag from Hackney who samples INXS”, he described his booking as “mental”.
Professor Green, 29, whose hits include Read All About It and the INXS-based I Need You Tonight was also aware of the opportunity the stage – and the accompanying TV coverage – presented.
“I think a lot of people that are here won’t know my music, bar the singles, so this is a good opportunity to show the musicality of what we do when we play live,” he said.
With more than 2,000 performers over the weekend, rumors of “secret appearances” are always rife at Glastonbury, and this year’s crop range from the likely (Fatboy Slim and Radiohead’s Thom Yorke) to the fanciful (Daft Punk and David Bowie).
Definitely confirmed for the weekend are co-headliners Mumford and Sons and The Rolling Stones.
The Glastonbury Festival rain made its traditional appearance this afternoon, with fans wearing wellies and ponchos when a shower hit the tent city.
However, a good forecast is expected for the rest of the hotly-anticipated weekend.
Meanwhile aerial photographs show the sprawling site of the world-famous music festival, where the rain has stayed away so far for the thousands of fans attending.
Sunshine even broke through the clouds over Worthy Farm in Somerset yesterday, as festival goers trudged miles with rucksacks, tents and sleeping bags to reach the campsites.
The site was due to open at 8 a.m. but flung open its doors an hour early to allow the streams of people in, at an estimated rate of 5,000 per hour. Some had even slept out in their cars overnight to be the first in line.
They carried their precious cargo of beer and cider in shopping trolleys, laundry baskets and wheelbarrows as they made their way across the 900-acre site to secure the best camping spots.
The main performances at the event, which had a fallow year in 2012 to coincide with the Olympic and Paralympic Games, will not start until tomorrow – when Arctic Monkeys will top the bill, followed by The Rolling Stones on Saturday night and Mumford & Sons closing the festival on Sunday.
Celebrities including Kate Moss are set to be among the festival goers, with Mick Jagger even staying in Somerset to enjoy the weekend’s festivities. Hundreds of festival-goers proved they had the moves like Mick Jagger by taking part in a Jumping Jack Flashmob at Glastonbury.
The Jagger Off, arranged by two Rolling Stones fans to celebrate the band’s first appearance at the festival, saw crowds of people mimic Mick Jagger’s trademark dance moves.
It was held near the Pyramid Stage, where the band will perform their headline set on Saturday night, under the watchful eye of a giant metal phoenix that is perching on top of the structure this year.
A sound system played classic Rolling Stones songs including Brown Sugar and Start It Up to about 400 fans.
Organizer James Duke-Evans, 33, from south London, said: “It’s gone fantastically well.
“When it got dreamed up late at night we thought it would be funny if 100 people turned up, but 3,500 joined the Facebook group in the end.
“People like to get involved in something that’s not scripted and programmed. I’ve been told some people were looking forward to this more than the festival itself. And quite frankly – do you really want to live in a world where things like this don’t happen?”
Mick Jagger is expected to be on the festival site over the weekend, and is staying nearby with his family.
There is a chance he might even stumble upon the second “Jagger Off”, at the silent disco held in the early hours of Saturday morning.
“I would imagine it’s on Jagger’s radar. I don’t think he can avoid it,” said James Duke-Evans.
Glastonbury aerial photographs show the sprawling site of the world-famous music festival
“It’s a tribute to him. We’ve watched him for years and I hope he’ll be able to watch us if he sees the footage from today.”
Many of those performing the moves, which including the “finger waggle” and “squeezing through a narrow doorway”, wore Mick Jagger masks as a tribute to their musical hero.
Some 135,000 ticket holders have been making their way on to the site at Worthy Farm, Somerset, since the festival flung open its doors yesterday morning. Campsites have been filling up quickly as music fans rushed to pitch their tents in the best spots.
They are set to be joined by celebrities, said to include Wayne and Colleen Rooney and Kate Moss, over the coming days. The main acts play from tomorrow, with other headline acts including The Arctic Monkeys and Mumford & Sons.
Police are hailing a successful start to the event, with crimes down from the last Glastonbury Festival in 2011.
In the first day, 40 crimes were reported, 22 of which were thefts, mostly from tents, and police made a total of 24 arrests, many of them over drugs.
There have been 24 drug-related offences but some of those involved were dealt with by way of a caution instead of arrest, Inspector Shirley Eden said.
Their first arrest of the festival was a person who tried to smuggle drugs into the site in a packet of fruit pastilles.
A police officer’s suspicion was raised by the fact the sweets had been hidden in a sock.
“It looked like a bag of sweets but it turned out the sweets had been taken out and replaced with drugs,” said the officer.
There is a team of 600 police officers on site, working in three shifts, and plans for the policing operation have been under way since the end of the last festival.
Inspector Shirley Eden said: “For there to have been 40 crimes so far at a festival of this size is pretty good.
“I work in Bath in my day job and would say the populations are roughly equivalent. The number of crimes you would expect in Bath in a 24-hour period is on a par with what we’ve had here. Our message to people is to protect their property and put it in the free lock ups.
“We’ve had officers in plain clothes on site who’ve seen people sleeping, with their mobile phones clearly on display next to them.
“I know people want to relax and chill but they need to look after their stuff. The majority of people here are not criminals and are not looking to steal, but there’s always going to be some crime.”
There have also been arrests for drink driving and theft from a motor vehicle, police said.
Liam Gallagher, rumored to be playing a set with his band Beady Eye, could be seen arriving at Castle Cary – the nearest railway station – by train yesterday morning.
James Wilby, forecaster with Meteogroup, said: “You always expect there to be a deluge when it’s Glastonbury but luckily that doesn’t seem the case.
“There’s a fair bit of cloud around but it’s starting to brighten up, with temperatures up to 20C yesterday. It’s pretty pleasant and will stay dry.
“This morning will be dry and bright but there’s a chance of rain in the afternoon, with a damp end to the day. It will be more typical of the conditions you’d expect at a festival. It could potentially get a bit muddy, but there will only be a millimetre or two of rain.”
Friday will see spots of drizzle but conditions will improve during the day, with Saturday being dry and sunny. Sunday will be the best day of the festival with temperatures up to 22C (71.6F), James Wilby said.
Forecaster Tony Gray from the Met Office said: “On Friday there’s a chance of light rain first thing in the morning, but then it should be cloudy. Saturday you’ve got a chance of some sunny intervals after lunchtime and high temperatures reaching 19C.
“Sunday much the same – a bit overcast, but sunny intervals for the afternoon and evening, highest temperature 19C. Monday it’s basically overcast until 10am, followed by cloudy conditions.”
Glastonbury organizer Michael Eavis said he believes the weather, combined with the line-up, means this year’s festival will be “unusually good”.
“The whole thing is fantastic,” the 77-year-old farmer said.
“There are 1,000 acres of creativity on a massive scale and to a very, very high standard. You won’t see anything else like this in the whole world.”
There is even the promise of the best-ever Glastonbury toilets, with a new system that sees waste go straight into the ground, designed to beat the infamous smell.
Michael Eavis has even said that, 43 years since the first Glastonbury, they have finally found “the perfect loo”.
To mark the resurrection of the festival after a year off, a giant phoenix has been installed on top of the Pyramid stage, designed by Joe Rush, who was behind many of the mechanical vehicles and props used at the Paralympics closing ceremony.
Indeed one of them – a steamship on which singer Rihanna performed – can be found at the festival this year.
Other highlights fans can expect are appearances from Primal Scream, Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, Smashing Pumpkins, Elvis Costello, The xx, Public Enemy, Professor Green and Dizzee Rascal.
As ever, the Glastonbury Festival is also offering some more unusual acts alongside the chart toppers – with Bruce Forsyth playing on the Avalon Stage on Sunday, country star Kenny Rogers taking to the Pyramid Stage the same day, and the Dalai Lama’s Tibetan monks also making an appearance.
The unlikely combination of shorts and wellies was the order of the day as temperatures rose during the afternoon, with ice cream vans and bars alike enjoying a roaring trade.
Many chose to enjoy the sun while sitting at the stone circle, overlooking the whole site, while others were still pouring in through the entrances.
The last batch of tickets for Glastonbury Festival 2013 has sold out, organizers have announced today.
Weekend camping tickets went quickly in just over an hour, before coach packages were snapped up by festival-goers.
The festival’s Twitter feed apologized to people who missed out after “demand far outstripped supply”.
The Rolling Stones, Mumford and Sons and Arctic Monkeys will headline the event in June at Worthy Farm.
Fans could reserve up to four tickets, which cost £205 ($320) plus a booking fee, when the site opened at 09:00 BST.
The last batch of tickets for Glastonbury Festival 2013 has sold out
Glastonbury Festival organizer Emily Eavis tweeted asking for feedback on the ticketing process which has been criticized in the past for not being able to cope with demand.
Tickets for the event, which had a break last year to rest the fields, cost £10 ($16) more than the previous festival.
The Rolling Stones, who play on the Saturday night, will be performing at the festival for the first time.
Lead singer Mick Jagger said he would call U2 singer Bono for advice about their upcoming performance, following the Irish band’s 2011 headline slot.
More than 190 acts will appear at the event, including country star Kenny Rogers, Primal Scream, Nick Cave And The Bad Seeds and Elvis Costello.
New acts Rita Ora and Jake Bugg will appear on the main Pyramid Stage alongside Rufus Wainwright and festival veteran Billy Bragg.
Glastonbury Festival 2013 takes place from 28 to 30 June.
The Rolling Stones are to play as one of the three headline acts for the Glastonbury Festival 2013, taking place on the final weekend of June (28-30).
It will be the first time the Rolling Stones have played at the festival at Worthy Farm, Somerset, which will draw about 135,000 people.
The other headline acts at the festival are Mumford and Sons and the Arctic Monkeys.
The Rolling Stones will be performing on the Saturday night – the penultimate night.
Mick Jagger tweeted: “Can’t wait to play Glastonbury. I have my wellies and my yurt!”
The Rolling Stones are to play as one of the three headline acts for the Glastonbury Festival 2013, taking place on the final weekend of June
Glastonbury Festival of Contemporary Performing Arts was not held last year because of the Olympics and to allow the farmland to recover from the previous festival.
Surprises among the 190 acts include country star Kenny Rogers, who is among the figures playing the main Pyramid Stage.
Also appearing on the Pyramid will be Rita Ora, Jake Bugg, Rufus Wainwright and festival veteran Billy Bragg.
Names on the Other Stage include Portishead – almost 20 years after they released their debut album Dummy – along with Smashing Pumpkins, Mercury Prize-winners Alt-J and John Lydon’s band PiL. The XX, The Lumineers, Alabama Shakes and Foals are included on the bill.
Elsewhere on the huge site in Somerset will be performances by 1970s disco pioneers Chic, Tom Tom Club, rap stalwarts Public Enemy, Dinosaur Jr., The Horrors and Johnny Marr.
Glastonbury 2013 is already a sell-out but there will be some resales next month.
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