Welcome to Glastonbury 2023 with the Evening Standard team! Read on for the first of our daily round-ups as we roam Britain’s biggest festival
Wales is the land of song
“We’ve been waiting for this one” said Adwaith’s frontwoman Holly Singer (yes, that’s her real name), echoing the feelings of pretty much everyone as her band kicked off Glastonbury 2023 up on the sun-drenched hill of the Park Stage. The all female group added a punky driving bass sound to some traditional-sounding folk songs. They’re Welsh and proud of it, and promised to sing in their “beautiful ancient tongue”.
They were a three-piece, but added a new guitarist for this show. “Wales is the land of song, and I want all of you to be Welsh for us”, Singer said, instructing the crowd to sing along to the Cranberries-esque “Eto”, meaning “again”. By the end, the audience, who had been rubbing their eyes and considering their first cider when they arrived, were all joining in. RG
Friday morning hype man
The first artist to open the Other Stage this year, Ben Howard had quite the task on his hands: hype up a Friday morning crowd that seemed more interested in chatting and drinking than in partying. Fortunately, Howard’s stock in trade has always been gentle, low-key melodies, which here proved themselves to be perfectly suited to the mellower mood. With his trusty guitar in hand – and backed by a band that included, of all things, a cello – Howard treated revellers to a selection of his newest songs, opening with single Walking Backwards.
Given that he spent much of last year recovering from two mini-strokes, his appearance here felt little short of miraculous – and indeed, when the performance was over, Howard offered an emotional “thank you” to the crowd. VJ
Are we awake yet?
Over on the newly renamed Woodsies (formerly known as John Peel) The Sixsters jolted awake the bleary masses in the stage’s opening slot. Judging by the state of things, many assembled here spent their Thursday night sampling the beat-heavy wares of Silver Hayes, The Glade, and the so-called “naughty corner” that houses dance destinations Block9 and Shangri-La. The band opened the set by tying the Ukrainian flag – the flag of their home country – around the mic stand to huge cheers. By the end of a set of spiky, Sleater-Kinney-styled punk rock with plenty of melodic interplay, (almost) everyone was back on their feet and fist-pumping along. A festival miracle! EH
Woman up
Second at the Pyramid Stage, Maisie Peters ran on stage with an acoustic guitar for a set that, to be honest, felt very record industry managed, borrowing heavily from US popstars like Taylor Swift and Olivia Rodrigo (“I wrote a lot of songs about a lot of boys”, she said). The tunes aren’t quite as bulletproof as theirs, but catchy single Lost the Breakup was a highlight. Peters had a feminist message, saying she felt grateful “to be a woman on the pyramid stage”, perhaps a pointed stab at the all-male headliners later on. RG
On the slopes
Getting Glastonbury’s hilltops shimmying, Los Bitchos channelled the psychy surf rock of the ‘70s and served it up with a big dollop of disco-ified cumbia, a style of traditional dancing music from Colombia. Between this and the excellently monikered Fleetmac Wood – a DJing project that serves up dancey edits and remixes of… you guessed it – at the nearby Stonebridge Bar, the slopes were the place to be. EH
Celebrity cameo of the day
Actress Cate Blanchett hopped onstage with the US duo Sparks, to reprise her pleasingly weird, elasticated dance from the recent video that accompanied their song, The Girl is Crying in Her Latte.
Out of time
Up next on the Park stage was Leicester’s Tor Maries, the woman behind Billy Nomates, dressed all in black with bare feet and only a microphone. Behind her on stage was a spiky installation, and half way through her set of post-punk half-spoken tunes she smashed a single cymbal. The heavy bass and percussion-led tunes might be more at home in a club set instead of this sunny afternoon spot, but she got into the Glastonbury spirit, asking fans if they were staying hydrated and practising safe sex. RG
Bringing the sunshine
Not content with bringing a stroke of interior design ingenuity to the Other Stage, glowing-up every single piece of stage equipment in shiny, peach-hued drapes, Carly Rae Jepsen also appeared to have control over the elements themselves on Friday afternoon. The precise moment that she belted out the chorus of closer Cut to the Feeling – “I wanna cut through the clouds, break the ceiling” – golden sunlight suddenly broke through drizzly, grey skies. Elsewhere, Jepsen handed over the mic to the front row for breakthrough hit Call Me Maybe, fully hitting the Glastonbury brief. EH
Spotted
Derry Girls’ Saoirse-Monica Jackson – who played Erin Quinn in the Northern Irish comedy – was sighted among the revellers over at Lonely Heart’s Club. EH
Let’s dance!
On a sweltering Friday afternoon Glastonbury’s newest club The Levels was the perfect spot to catch Canadian DJ Jayda G and groove to her catchy house music. Though the crowd was undeservedly smaller than it should have been – likely due to people leaving to secure space at the upcoming Churnups gig a few stages across – this meant there was actually room to dance properly, and given the popularity of The Levels so far, that was itself a treat to savour.
Featuring saxophones, beats bouncy enough to jump to and (at times) awkward music changes, it was a pleasingly casual affair that made the most of The Levels’ excellent speakers. Even if you didn’t know her music well, it was worth coming just to watch G dance up on the main stage: with her arms throwing shapes galore, it almost looked like she was vogueing up there and having the time of her life doing so. VJ
Political statement of the day
Scottish band Young Fathers dedicated their excoriating song Shame to Home Secretary Suella Braverman, and led an enthusiastic audience in a rousing, angry chant of “Say it loud and say it clear, refugees are welcome here”. Word.
Not so funny
Who’d be a comedian? If James Acaster and Nish Kumar decided to do a quick set together in order to bag themselves a free ticket to Glastonbury, the pair succeeded and then some: crowds for their gig at Carousel were so massive that they spilled out of the tent and most comedy fans – myself included – walked away disappointed. VJ
We’re shocked. Shocked
The worst kept secret of Glastonbury, it turned out that The Churnups was indeed a secret moniker for Foo Fighters, returning to the festival for the first time since 2017. Read the full Evening Standard review here. EH
Afrobeats magic
Dance star Fred again.. brought one of the biggest crowds of the day to the Other Stage. After that, the turn out for Nigerian superstar headliner Wizkid felt unfairly small; especially as his infectious hype man told the crowd, “Africa’s finest” is used to selling out stadiums. This was probably mostly down to the fact that he’d been (perhaps unwisely) programmed within 15 minutes of the Arctic Monkeys taking to the Pyramid Stage after several days of will-they-won’t-they due to Alex Turner’s laryngitis. But those who stuck around for the African star were treated to a set replete with flamethrowers and steamy Afrobeats dance hits up close. RG
Spotted
Other celebs sighted so far include: Queen Charlotte herself, India Amarteifio, Lily James, Game of Thrones star Maisie Williams, Gemma Chan and boyfriend Dominic Cooper. Oh, and Four Tet and Caribou having a pint at the Park Bar
They made it!
Phew – Arctic Monkeys were on fine, gloriously aloof form in their Pyramid Stage set, after a few days in bed for Alex Turner nursing laryngitis. Read our full Evening Standard review here.
Reach for the lasers
It was a good night to be at the infamous Shangri-La area. With celebrities like Matt Smith passing through, electronic music veteran Four Tet treated late night fans to a DJ set at iicon that eschewed heavy beats for more melodic techno. Straight afterwards an anonymous DJ (not confirmed as Fred again.., not yet at least) came in and blew the roof off with a powerhouse performance that made full and enthusiastic use of the lighting rig, with strobes galore. A great end to an epic first day of the 2023 festival. Join us tomorrow for more! VJ
