Olivia Rodrigo surprises Glastonbury with song 'we didn't know we needed'
Olivia Rodrigo performs during the Glastonbury Festival (Image: Scott A Garfitt/Invision/AP)
Robert Smith closed this year's Glastonbury with a performance to remember. Taking to the stage in a short white corseted dress, the American looked in awe of the sheer volume of people who had came to see her on the Pyramid Stage.
Playing her biggest hits, including Drivers Licence, Vampire ant Traitor, Olivia showcased her talents with flawless vocals and impressive piano skills. However, it was a surprise guest appearance that had fans gobsmacked.
The American singer songwriter welcomed singer-songwriter Robert Smith to perform a double of duets. And it was their performance of Friday I'm In Love that had fans gasping.
Olivia Rodrigo performed at Glastonbury (Image: Getty Images)
On Twitter/X, one stunned user wrote: "Jfc I didn't realise I needed Olivia Rodrigo singing Friday im in love so much." Another added: "Robert Smith coming out to sing Friday I'm in Love with Olivia Rodrigo is a pure Glastonbury moment."
Her epic performance comes after another recent gig in London at BST Hyde Park left fans stunned with another huge surprise performer. On Friday, the Drivers Licence singer shocked fans as she welcomed Ed Sheeran to the stage with her.
She sent fans wild as she introduced him as "one of the best songwriters of all time". It's far from the first time the Shape Of You singer has turned up at someone else's show, having previously joined the likes of Taylor Swift and Stormzy.
And he was full of praise for Olivia post show. Taking to Instagram following his outing, he said: "Been a fan of Olivia's since Drivers License blew my mind back at the start of 2021. Both albums are no skips for me. I'm a proper fan."
Ed added: "Was gonna go watch the show anyway but she hit me and asked to sing The A Team with her, which was such a buzz. That song turns 15 this year, and I remember playing it to rooms with no one in it in 2010, so to still be playing it to new fans with one of the brightest stars of the next generation is an honour and a privilege."
Prior to her huge closing set, Olivia spoke to the XM CBS channel in the United States. She explained how she sees Morissette and No Doubt frontman turned solo artist Gwen Stefani as a great inspiration for longevity in music.
She said:"I love Alanis. She's so gracious too. I look at her and I talk to her and I'm like, that's how I want to live my life. I feel like she's got it right.
"With Gwen I really love he way that she sort of straddled rock and pop in a really cool way. I think she's super adventurous and takes risks, so I really look up to her. But who's to say, I don't know. I don't know where I'm going to be tomorrow, let alone in five years.'
She also teased a potential venture away from music in the near future. "I love telling stories in songs, and if there was a story that I felt like really resonated with me in a film, I would love to do that too," she said. "I don't quite know yet, but I'm very open to it."
And he also wished Olivia luck ahead of her Glastonbury show, saying: "Rock Glasto headline Sunday @oliviaarodrigo, UK loves you x" READ MORE: How to see Glastonbury acts live this year after festival comes to an end
Like this story? For more of the latest showbiz news and gossip, follow Mirror Celebs on TikTok , Snapchat , Instagram , Twitter , Facebook , YouTube and Threads .
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Telegraph
11 minutes ago
- Telegraph
Tim Davie must consider his position
The BBC says it should never have broadcast the vile rants of Bob Vylan at Glastonbury and should have cut the live stream when he started chanting 'death to the IDF'. So how did it happen? It has emerged that BBC director-general Tim Davie was himself at Glastonbury on Saturday afternoon and whilst ruling that the performance should not subsequently be available on demand, did not pull the livestream from iPlayer. Where were the protocols to ensure anti-Semitic political propaganda was not sent out unexpurgated on the airwaves, courtesy of the long-suffering licence-fee payer? And if such rules existed why were they not enforced by Mr Davie? The incident could not have come as a surprise. Glastonbury attracts all sorts of preening, self-absorbed nonentities who think they have a monopoly of moral and political rectitude. Surely someone at the BBC must have done their due diligence and suspected that an act like Bob Vylan, which revels in controversy, would land them in it. They knew of the risk because an on-screen warning was issued about the 'very strong and discriminatory language'. At the very least, BBC executives should have insisted upon a delay allowing editors to switch coverage to another act in the event of a nauseating stunt of the sort we witnessed on Saturday. The Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy told MPs she wanted to know why this act was broadcast live by the BBC and the feed was not cut. 'I want explanations,' she said. Now that we know that Mr Davie was intimately involved in this disastrous episode he must consider his own position.
Telegraph
25 minutes ago
- Telegraph
Justice demands that Connolly and Vylan are held to the same standard
Long after it ceased being fashionable to hate on Margaret Thatcher, Pascal Robinson-Foster – AKA Bobby Vylan – was shouting about desecrating her grave. 'Let's go dig up Maggie!' he cried, to a cheering crowd at Glastonbury, in 2022. With this unpleasant entreaty, the controversial rapper was building on a well-established theme, having used his first ever big gig to rant about assassinating the Queen. 'After all, she killed Diana,' went his warped logic. For a broadcaster doing due diligence, Robinson-Foster's back catalogue should have raised more red flags than the sea of pro-Palestinian banners fluttering over the fields of Somerset last weekend. A glance at the shock jock lyrics favoured by the dreadlocked artiste ought to have been plenty enough warning for the boneheaded BBC that no good was likely to come of live-broadcasting his set. Nonetheless, in front an open-air crowd of thousands, and an at-home audience of millions, the rabble rousing rapper was allowed to chant 'Death, Death to the IDF' (Israel Defence Forces). In much the same breath, he encouraged spectators to chorus 'From the River to the Sea' – a highly inflammatory expression of desire to see Israel erased from the world. Lest anyone be in any doubt about Vylan's deep-seated antipathy towards Jews and the Jewish state, ahead of Saturday's gig, he publicly labelled a Jewish music executive a 'bald-headed c---,' making clear his displeasure at having had to work for what he called 'f---ing Zionists'. Nor can there be any ambiguity about the ugly sentiment behind the political slogan used by Hamas and other militant Palestinian groups to call for the destruction of Israel. As the sinister masked mobs that continue to march around our towns and cities reciting the phrase know full well, the words are extremely offensive to the Jewish community. They have no place in any public protest – or from the stage at Glastonbury. As for openly appealing for the slaughter of the entire Israel Defense Forces (into which all young Israelis are drafted) that is incitement to violence, pure and simple – unless of course it is (as Bobby and his drummer sidekick Bobbie will doubtless claim) just 'poetry'. The trouble is that artistic licence was not a defence poor Lucy Connolly was allowed to use when she found herself in the dock for calling for 'mass deportation now' in the wake of the Southport murders. When she took to X to suggest that people upset by the violent killing of three young girls by what she mistakenly thought was an asylum seeker could 'set fire to migrant hotels', she did not mean it any more literally than Vylan is likely to have meant with his own unpleasant words. All the same, Connolly was sentenced to 31 months behind bars, after pleading guilty to stirring up racial hatred. Unlike foul-mouthed Vylan, Connolly had no public profile whatsoever when she posted her now notorious message. In the three hours before she thought better of it and deleted it, her post was certainly viewed many times, but she could not possibly have been described as a role model to anyone, other than perhaps her own family and the little ones she looked after as a childminder. As such, it was vanishingly unlikely that anyone would be inspired by her words. Indeed, there is not a shred of evidence that they were. Moreover, unlike Vylan, who must have rehearsed his vile rhetoric many times over in the run up to what was surely the biggest public performance of his career, Connolly did not have months in which to find the right words to express her anger and grief. Had it not been for the extraordinary decision to throw her in jail, her ill-judged outburst would have attracted no attention whatsoever. In short, one of these two people is a high-profile figure guilty of grossly abusing a very privileged position to drum up hatred towards Jews. The other is a previously law-abiding private citizen who had been living in quiet anonymity before making a single silly mistake. She is the one paying the price. There is a growing public perception that authorities are terrified of upsetting certain group for fear of being labelled racist. By contrast Connolly is white British and Right-wing. This makes her a much softer target. In the wake of last summer's riots, she was simply bracketed with all the other 'far-Right thugs' that Sir Keir Starmer prioritised for punishment. Last week, an indignant Lord Hermer dismissed claims of 'two‑tier justice' in Britain as 'disgusting'. Starmer seems as incapable of recognising the glaring discrepancies in the way different groups are treated by the authorities as his idiotic Attorney General. These two Labour politicians now face a real test. Doubtless, apologists for the outrages of October 7 will seek to draw some fine difference between the two cases. In the court of public opinion, however, the two cases are one and the same. If public confidence in the justice system is to be maintained, there must be equal consequences for both. The truth is that neither character belongs in jail. While Connolly was a fool, Vylan is just a puerile professional provocateur whose stupid stunt is unlikely to result in any real harm to the IDF. 'Inshallah' – as he would say – it might at least mark the demise of his career.
Telegraph
26 minutes ago
- Telegraph
How Glastonbury lost the plot
Glastonbury has always been a political music festival. It started in 1970 as part of the hippie movement, has been associated with the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND) for more than 40 years, and is always haunted by Left-wing speakers who are guaranteed a rapturous welcome. Causes championed at Worthy Farm over the years include saving the environment, world peace and lifting children out of poverty around the globe. This year, however, one issue overshadowed all others: the ongoing conflict in the Middle East. The build-up to this year's festival was dominated by questions about whether Kneecap, the Irish rappers, would remain on the bill or have their set broadcast by the BBC after one of their members was charged with a terror offence; it is alleged that Liam Óg Ó hAnnaidh displayed a Hezbollah flag at a concert last November. He denies the charges. Kneecap gigs were cancelled across the country, but in this febrile atmosphere, Glastonbury bosses stood firm. 'There have been a lot of really heated topics this year, but we remain a platform for many, many artists from all over the world,' organiser Emily Eavis told the BBC last week. 'Everyone is welcome here.' Eavis, 45, may now regret that sentiment as the dust continues to settle on the most controversial Glastonbury yet. Kneecap – who led chants of 'F--- Keir Starmer' and ' Free Palestine ' – were made to look relatively moderate by the punk duo Bob Vylan, who railed against the Israel Defence Forces in the preceding gig on the West Holts stage. They led thousands of fans in chants of 'Death, death to the IDF,' which have been condemned by ministers and Jewish groups alike, investigated by the police, and sparked turmoil at the BBC – even leading to calls for the director general to resign. How is it that performers at a festival set up in the wake of the Summer of Love are now the subjects of police probes into hate speech? This year seems to be the one where Glastonbury lost the plot, as such angry, violent language on stage feels out of step with its counter-cultural origins. Ahead of the 1971 edition, just the second festival hosted at Worthy Farm, artists such as David Bowie and Hawkwind put their names to a manifesto calling for conservation and more spirituality. 'Man is fast ruining his environment,' it read. 'He is suffering from the effects of pollution; from the neurosis brought about by a basically urban industrial society; from a lack of spirituality in his life; and from a spiritual awakening.' The organisers said that Glastonbury was for the 'expression of free-thinking people.' One might wonder how much 'free thinking' happens at Glastonbury now, as it takes a brave sort to go against the prevailing wisdom of the liberal Left. This year, for instance, Richard Tice, the deputy leader of Reform UK, was invited to the festival for a debate against Zack Polanski, his Green Party counterpart. Tice declined because 'my team concluded that it would not be safe.' While supporters of Palestine were loud and proud over the weekend, those with ties to or support for Israel may have been better advised to keep their heads down. There were only three editions between 1970 and 1979 because the festival lost money. It was relaunched in 1981 as the Glastonbury CND festival. Michael Eavis, Emily's father and the festival's founder, is a strong opponent of nuclear weapons and ran the event in partnership with the activist organisation. Alongside music, Glastonbury hosted speakers who addressed the crowds, including the Marxist historian EP Thompson, future Liberal Democrat leader Paddy Ashdown and Bruce Kent, the CND chairman. Looking back, it all seems very genteel, and the festival raised £1 million for the CND during the 1980s. Following the end of the Cold War, Eavis believed people would become more concerned about environmentalism than nuclear Armageddon, so he forged partnerships with charities like Greenpeace and Oxfam. This tradition has continued to the present day, and in 2022, Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg appeared on the Pyramid Stage to warn that the world faces a 'total natural catastrophe' because of global warming. The combination of pop and politics is one of the attractions for many Glastonbury-goers, according to Liam Bailey, a photojournalist who was there this year and has been visiting for more than three decades. 'You do hear and see quite a lot of political action on the stages and around the edges,' says Bailey, who published the book Glastonbury: The Festival and Its People last year. 'It's speaking to an audience that is there either for entertainment, for a bit of messaging, or for a bit of both.' 'There was radicalism in the Eighties and there were lots of thoughts about New Labour in the Nineties. From the perspective of the festival, there was a [feeling of] bereavement and loss with the long reign of the Conservatives [until 2024].' The idea that Glastonbury was not just a place to be entertained by favourite music acts but also a crucible for progressive philosophy and debate was confirmed in 2000, when Left-wing singer Billy Bragg started organising the Left Field tent. Its programme combines political discussion and protest music, with 'recharge your activism' as its mantra. One of the most frequent speakers over the years was Labour MP Tony Benn, after whom the tower by the Left Field tent was named following his death in 2014. Benn was an intellectual heavyweight who earned respect even from opponents with very different views. The members of Kneecap and Bob Vylan are not exactly following in his footsteps; some might say they are merely seeking attention. 'What we have got at the moment is amplification of anything that is done. I didn't see anybody stand up there and give a really good, strong critical understanding of the situation and then talk to an audience about it,' Bailey says. 'It's all a throwaway line or quick flashpoint of grabbing a flag, or something. I've got no understanding why those particular artists do that in that way because it doesn't really enhance any of the conversations,' he adds. 'It doesn't bring forward any debate other than, 'I'm holding a flag, so does that get me some more coverage?'' Boris Johnson offers a useful example of how much Glastonbury has changed in recent years. In 2000, Bragg invited Johnson – then editor of The Spectator – to tour the festival site with him and speak from one of the fringe stages. The BBC broadcast footage of the future prime minister reciting Homer in the original Greek, an effort that earned him a rousing round of applause. Such a spectacle would be unthinkable now, in what are much more febrile and censorious times. In his 2019 headline set, Stormzy wore a Banksy-designed stab-proof vest with a Union Flag on its front and the crowd gleefully sang one of the lines in Vossi Bop: 'F--- the government and f--- Boris.' The party-political mission creep arguably began in 2017, when then-Labour leader (and long-time friend of Benn) Jeremy Corbyn spoke to a packed audience in front of the Pyramid stage. He was serenaded by tens of thousands singing his name to the tune of 'Seven Nation Army' by The White Stripes as he urged people to 'build bridges, not walls.' Michael Eavis described him on stage as a 'hero.' Today, dissenting from the prevailing ethos among festival-goers is enough to cause performers grief. Take Rod Stewart, who played the Sunday teatime slot reserved for musical legends. Though he has impeccable credentials when it comes to speaking out against Israeli actions in Gaza (at least to the Palestine flag-wavers in attendance), the fact that he gave an interview the day before saying, 'We've got to give [Nigel] Farage a chance,' made him a bogeyman for others on the bill. Kneecap fans booed Stewart's name when it was mentioned during the rap trio's set (one member of the band also quipped that 'he's older than Israel'), while the south London singer-songwriter Joy Crookes urged those at her gig to 'Boycott Rod Stewart'. Some will commend Eavis for having the strength to stand by Kneecap when other gig organisers cancelled their shows – but it is also notable that, despite all the talk of Glastonbury 'welcoming everyone,' high-profile artists with links to Israel who might have been given a platform after their own concerts were cancelled were absent. For instance, Radiohead lead guitarist Jonny Greenwood (who has headlined the Pyramid Stage before) was due to play gigs in London and Bristol last week with the Israeli musician Dudu Tassa; the shows were cancelled after threats were made to the venues by anti-Israeli activists. Glastonbury could surely have found the duo a spot on one of their stages. Have Glastonbury bosses lost control? The Bob Vylan fiasco so clearly discomfited festival organisers that Emily Eavis made the unusual move of joining the chorus of disapproval over what happened on stage. 'We will always believe in – and actively campaign for – hope, unity, peace and love,' she wrote on Instagram. 'With almost 4,000 performances at Glastonbury 2025, there will inevitably be artists and speakers appearing on our stages whose views we do not share, and a performer's presence here should never be seen as a tacit endorsement of their opinions and beliefs. However, we are appalled by the statements made from the West Holts stage by Bob Vylan.' She added: 'Their chants very much crossed a line and we are urgently reminding everyone involved in the production of the Festival that there is no place at Glastonbury for antisemitism, hate speech or incitement to violence.' Part of the difficulty for Glastonbury is that it is no longer an insurgent, counter-cultural force. Instead, it has become the country's pre-eminent music event and is so much a part of the Establishment that some guests are helicoptered in and spend tens of thousands of pounds on glamping sites. It is so mainstream now that even Samantha Cameron, wife of former Tory prime minister David, was spotted in the backstage areas this year. Another aggravating factor is the blanket live coverage that the BBC now provides, with acts from the five largest stages broadcast to the world. If any performers had behaved like Bob Vylan in previous decades, it would have made little to no impact on public consciousness because there was no quick way to spread the word about what happened on the festival's third-largest stage. Then there is social media. The BBC decided, ahead of Kneecap's set, not to broadcast it live in case what happened on stage fell foul of its editorial guidelines, denying the band the oxygen of publicity. But that was undone when a festival-goer, Helen Wilson, streamed the set live from the front of the stage on her TikTok account, drawing more than 2 million viewers. Michael Eavis was asked by the Glastonbury Free Press, the festival's newspaper, whether the event still stood for something before it kicked off last week. His answer was telling. 'Oh heaven's above, yes, of course it does,' he replied. 'And I think the people that come here are into all those things. People that don't agree with the politics of the event can go somewhere else.'
