Glastonbury Festival 2025 ends after weekend of controversy and surprises
Punk duo Bob Vylan and Irish rap trio Kneecap have seen both of their sets on Saturday being assessed by Avon and Somerset Police to decide whether any offences were committed.
Bobby Vylan, of Bob Vylan, led crowds on the festival's West Holts Stage in chants of 'death, death to the IDF', before a member of Irish rap trio Kneecap suggested fans 'start a riot' outside his bandmate's upcoming court appearance, and led the crowd on chants of 'f*** Keir Starmer'.
Mr Starmer had said in the run-up to the festival that he thought Kneecap's set was not 'appropriate' at Glastonbury.
On Friday, festival goers were treated to surprise performances from alternative pop star Lorde, who played her new album Virgin in full, and Scottish singer Lewis Capaldi, who played two years after a set at the festival during which he struggled to manage his Tourette syndrome symptoms.
The 1975 took to the Pyramid Stage to headline that night, with a set which saw singer Matty Healy joke he was his generation's 'best songwriter', with the band playing songs such as Chocolate, Love Me and About You.
Pulp were revealed to be Patchwork appearing on the Pyramid Stage on Saturday to a backdrop paying homage to their classic 1995 stand in headline set.
The Jarvis Cocker-fronted band performed some of their best known songs such as Common People, Babies and Do You Remember The First Time?.
Their appearance came 30 years after their breakthrough headline performance at the festival when they stood in for The Stone Roses after the Manchester band's guitarist John Squire was injured in a cycling accident.
Candida Doyle, the band's keyboard player, had previously appeared to confirm the band would not perform at the festival, despite being keen to play, telling BBC Radio 6 Music last week 'they (Glastonbury) weren't interested'.
Also on Saturday, Haim made a surprise appearance on the Park Stage opening with one of their best known songs in The Wire, before performing a mix of older songs such as Summer Girl, and new singles including Relationships.
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The day saw veteran rocker Neil Young headline, performing some of his best known songs including Cinnamon Girl, Like A Hurricane and Rockin' In The Free World, at one point in the set he performed with Hank Williams' guitar.
Brat star Charli XCX headlined the Other Stage on Saturday, performing tracks from last year's summer sensation such as 360, Von Dutch and Club Classics.
Performing the viral Apple dance, during the song of the same name, was US singer Gracie Abrams, who had played on the same stage a day earlier.
Rod Stewart performed in the Sunday legends slot, bringing out former Faces bandmate Ronnie Wood for Stay With Me, Lulu for Hot Legs and Simply Red's Mick Hucknall for a performance of his band's If You Don't Know Me By Now.
He was also joined by the festival's founder, Michael Eavis, who was wheeled on to the stage by his daughter, organiser Emily Eavis.
Bagpipes had signalled the arrival of Rod, who kicked off his afternoon performance with 1981 single, Tonight I'm Yours (Don't Hurt Me).
Rod's set also included hits such as Maggie May, You Wear It Well and Da Ya Think I'm Sexy?.
The Pyramid Stage was headlined by pop rocker Olivia Rodrigo on Sunday evening, who brought out The Cure frontman Robert Smith to sing his band's songs Just Like Heaven and Friday I'm In Love.
As the 66-year-old indie-goth star arrived on stage on Sunday night, Rodrigo said: 'Glastonbury would you please welcome Robert Smith, give him a big welcome, come on.'
At the end of Just Like Heaven, the pair hugged, before Rodrigo said 'give it up for Robert Smith you guys' before adding she was 'so honoured to play with him tonight'.
The weekend saw many acts express their support for Palestine, with singer Ellie Rowsell of indie rockers Wolf Alice telling the crowd: 'We want to express our solidarity with the people of Palestine, and we shouldn't be afraid to do that.'
Their Other Stage set saw them climax with their best known song Don't Delete The Kisses, which came after they had played snippets of The White Stripes' Seven Nation Army and Black Sabbath's War Pigs.
Irish star CMAT, real name Ciara Mary-Alice Thompson, chanted 'free Palestine' during her set, which included Take A Sexy Picture Of Me, from her forthcoming third studio album Euro-Country.
While frontman Dan Hoff of Irish noise rockers Gurriers said during their Woodsies set: 'Free Palestine, unlike other bands we know where we stand politically.'
A number of other acts performed through the night on some of the festival's smaller stages, before a large scale clean-up operation begins in the early hours of the morning.
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17 minutes ago
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The BBC has said it "should have pulled" the live stream of Bob Vylan's performance during Glastonbury that contained "utterly unacceptable" and "antisemitic sentiments". The broadcaster is facing questions after rapper Bobby Vylan – of the rap punk duo – led crowds at the festival's West Holts Stage in chants of: "Free, free Palestine" and: "Death, death to the IDF (Israel Defence Forces)" on Saturday. British Prime Minister Keir Starmer has also condemned the chants. UK broadcasting regulator Ofcom has said it is "very concerned" about the BBC live stream of Bob Vylan's Glastonbury performance, adding that the corporation "clearly has questions to answer". In a statement, the BBC said: "Millions of people tuned in to enjoy Glastonbury this weekend across the BBC's output, but one performance within our live streams included comments that were deeply offensive. "The BBC respects freedom of expression but stands firmly against incitement to violence. "The antisemitic sentiments expressed by Bob Vylan were utterly unacceptable and have no place on our airwaves. We welcome Glastonbury's condemnation of the performance. "The performance was part of a live stream of the West Holts stage on BBC iPlayer. The judgement on Saturday to issue a warning on screen while streaming online was in line with our editorial guidelines. "In addition, we took the decision not to make the performance available on demand. The team were dealing with a live situation, but with hindsight we should have pulled the stream during the performance. We regret this did not happen. "In light of this weekend, we will look at our guidance around live events so we can be sure teams are clear on when it is acceptable to keep output on air."
Irish Daily Mirror
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Aidan O'Brien's reaction says it all after Irish Derby – 'It's nonsense!'
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34 minutes ago
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The BBC have said they "should have pulled" the live stream of Bob Vylan's Glastonbury performance. During their set on the West Holts stage, Bobby Vylan lead a crowd to chant 'Death to the IDF'. The corporation admitted the set aired "utterly unacceptable' and 'antisemitic sentiments". The BBC have now said in a statement: "Millions of people tuned in to enjoy Glastonbury this weekend across the BBC's output but one performance within our live streams included comments that were deeply offensive. "The BBC respects freedom of expression but stands firmly against incitement to violence. The antisemitic sentiments expressed by Bob Vylan were utterly unacceptable and have no place on our airwaves. We welcome Glastonbury's condemnation of the performance. The performance was part of a live stream of the West Holts stage on BBC iPlayer. "The judgement on Saturday to issue a warning on screen while streaming online was in line with our editorial guidelines. In addition, we took the decision not to make the performance available on demand. The team were dealing with a live situation but with hindsight we should have pulled the stream during the performance. We regret this did not happen. "In light of this weekend, we will look at our guidance around live events so we can be sure teams are clear on when it is acceptable to keep output on air." During the set, which aired on Saturday, Bobby Vylan led a string of chants. The set was uploaded to iPlayer and remained on the site for more than five hours before it was eventually being removed by the BBC. Alongside the stream, the corporation issued a warning about "very strong and discriminatory language" before it was later decided that the set would not be available to watch on demand. It comes as Ofcom issued a warning to the BBC. An Ofcom spokesperson said: "We are very concerned about the live stream of this performance, and the BBC clearly has questions to answer. "We have been speaking to the BBC over the weekend and we are obtaining further information as a matter of urgency, including what procedures were in place to ensure compliance with its own editorial guidelines."
