Glastonbury 2023: Highlights include cut sets, feuds and surprise performances

The festival at Worthy Farm in the UK featured standout sets from Arctic Monkeys, Guns N’ Roses and Elton John

Axl Rose, left, and Slash of Guns N' Roses perform on the Pyramid Stage at Glastonbury Festival. Getty Images

From the outside looking in, Glastonbury Festival has been rife with drama this year.

Cut sets, late performers and surprise rockers, the event, which began 53 years ago, has given people a lot to talk about this weekend.

Glastonbury is running until Sunday at Worthy Farm in the UK. With an audience of about 200,000 people, it is one of the largest greenfield music and performing arts festivals in the world.

Here are the highlights from the event so far.

The ChurnUps Revealed

Dave Grohl of the Foo Fighters gestures to the sky after referring to the late drummer Taylor Hawkins as the band perform at the Glastonbury Festival 2023 on Friday. Getty Images

There was much speculation about who mystery band The ChurnUps were on the line-up, but on Friday night they were revealed as the Foo Fighters.

The band rocked through their most popular tracks on the Pyramid Stage ahead of Royal Blood and Arctic Monkeys, who topped the bill. It was their first appearance at the festival since the death of their drummer, Taylor Hawkins. The last song of the band’s setlist, Everlong, was dedicated to Hawkins. Frontman Dave Grohl also introduced the audience to Foo Fighters’ new drummer, Josh Freese.

The band previously headlined the festival in 2017.

Glastonbury Rickroll

Rick Astley took Glastonbury by storm, more than once.

First appearing at the Pyramid Stage for a warm noon performance on Saturday, Astley returned in a surprise set with the rock band Blossoms.

The group performed several songs by The Smiths. The Never Gonna Give You Up singer, who has become something of an internet sensation with the viral Rickroll prank, delivered a vocal performance that The Smiths' frontman, Morrissey, is unlikely to have enjoyed, but the crowd lapped up.

Cate Blanchett appearance

After starring in the music video of Sparks’ single The Girl Is Crying In Her Latte earlier this year, Australian actress Cate Blanchett appeared with the band on the Park Stage.

“We did a video for this song recently and we had the great honour of having the great actor Cate Blanchett join us,” singer Russell Mael, one half of the pop duo, said to the crowd, before adding to a surge of cheers: “Where are you Cate Blanchett?” The actress then delighted the crowd by appearing on stage, wearing the yellow suit she wore in the music video.

Rocking headliners

Arctic Monkeys headlined Glastonbury Festival on Friday night. AP Photo

Glastonbury faced criticism ahead of the festival for having all white, male headliners, with critics labelling them as “pale, male and stale.”

However, both Arctic Monkeys and Guns N’ Roses, who headlined the first two days of the festival, won crowds around on the day with strong performances of their best-known songs.

“Wow, the Monkeys are back on the farm,” the band's frontman, Alex Turner, said to the audience. The performance marked the third time the band have headlined Glastonbury, previously topping the bill in 2007 and 2013.

Reaction to the Guns N’ Roses set has been mixed. The band powered through their hits with tight instrumentation, but frontman Axl Rose’s singing was not so warmly received. Even with a sprightly stage presence, the ageing rocker’s voice had noticeably wilted from the shrieking glory of his prime. A highlight of their performance was a loud and heavy cover of Paul McCartney’s Live and Let Die.

'I've had enough'

Rina Sawayama criticised The 1975 frontman Matty Healy for derogatory comments he made against women. AP

Japanese singer Rina Sawayama lambasted Matty Healy, lead vocalist of the band The 1975, during her performance at Glastonbury on Saturday.

Sawayama criticised Healy for a podcast interview in which he made derogatory comments about women and seemingly mocked Japanese, Hawaiian and Scottish people.

“Tonight, this goes out to a white man that … mocks Asian people on a podcast,” Sawayama said in the build-up to her song STFU! “He also owns my masters … I’ve had enough.”

Both Sawayama and Healy are signed to the record label Dirty Hit.

Sets cut short

The crowd supported Scottish singer Lewis Capaldi as he struggled to finish his one-hour set. AFP

Lana Del Rey’s set was cut short after the singer appeared 30 minutes later than scheduled. She was headlining the Woodsies stage at the same time Guns N’ Roses performed on the Pyramid Stage.

Fans were irritated when Del Rey’s microphone was muted at midnight. The singer mustered through by urging fans to sing her hit ballad Video Games before she was led offstage by security.

Scottish singer Lewis Capaldi, meanwhile, struggled to finish his one-hour set as he began to lose his voice. He powered through most of his show on Saturday, accompanied by a rapturous crowd.

Last year, Capaldi announced that he had been diagnosed with Tourette’s syndrome. He told the audience at Glastonbury that he'd recently taken a break from performing due to “mental health reasons.”

“I wanted to come back and do Glasto because it’s so incredible, so I just want to thank you for watching us. I was […] scared but you’ve really made me feel at ease.”

As he was visibly struggling to finish his set, Capaldi said: “We’re gonna play two more songs if that’s OK, even if I can’t sing properly. I’m really sorry before I go any further. You’ve all come out and I’m really apologising. My voice is packing in.”

Yusuf/Cat Stevens

Yusuf Islam, known during his early musical career by his stage name Cat Stevens, performed on Sunday. AP

Yusuf Islam, formerly known as Cat Stevens, took to the stage mid-afternoon on Sunday in the Legends slot of the festival.

With acoustic guitar in hand, Yusuf began his set with his spiritual melody of The Wind, before singing the folk classic Moonshadow. He went on to perform some of his most well-known songs Here Comes My Baby, The First Cut Is The Deepest, and Matthew and Son.

Despite many of his biggest hits being written in the '60s, Yusuf's songs roused a roaring reaction from the contemporary crowd.

“Wow, thank you! Incredible. Woah!” he responded to the audience, surprised by their reactions.

He closed his set with two of his most well-known tunes, Wild World and Father And Son. "Oh you are sweet. You are too sweet," he thanked the crowd. "For this beautiful moment, thank you so much."

Goodbye Yellow Brick Road

Sir Elton John performs on the Pyramid stage at his final UK show at the Glastonbury Festival 2023. Photo: Getty

Sir Elton John played his last UK show on Sunday night at the closing of the festival.

"I never thought I'd play Glastonbury – and here I am," he said. "It's a very special and emotional night for me as it may be my last show in England, in Great Britain."

Dressed in a gold suit, the artist, 76, opened his set on the Pyramid Stage with Pinball Wizard followed by some of the biggest hits of his career including Tiny Dancer, Your Song, I’m Still Standing, and Bennie And The Jets.

Throughout his two-hour set he invited a number of other artists to share the stage, including newcomer Rina Sawayama to perform Don't Go Breaking My Heart, Brandon Flowers of The Killers to duet Tiny Dancer and Jacob Lusk of soul group Gabriels to sing Are You Ready For Love.

John also dedicated his hit Don't Let The Sun Go Down On Me to George Michael.

"He was my friend, an inspiration, and today would have been his 60th birthday,” he said to the crowd.

"I want to dedicate this song to his memory, and all the music he left us with which is so gorgeous."

While John has had an illustrious career, releasing 32 studio albums, achieving 10 number ones and touring all over the world in the past 50 years, this was his first time at Glastonbury. His current international tour, Elton's Farewell Yellow Brick Road tour, began in Pennsylvania in the US in September 2018 and is set to end in Stockholm, Sweden on July 8.