Glastonbury kicked off with a bang last night – with revellers seen enjoying laughing gas balloons and buying ‘vegan alternatives’ to cocaine at the start of a five-day music extravaganza.
Around 200,000 festival-goers are descending on Worthy Farm to enjoy a long weekend of music from acts including headliners Dua Lipa, Coldplay and country legend Shania Twain.
After the 30C heatwave yesterday, this morning started off a damp squib for revellers as the heavens opened over the campers – with pictures showing them taking outdoor showers and retreating to their cardboard tents.
Photos from last night show festivalgoers blowing up pink balloons with ‘laughing gas’ on the grass surrounded by various drink cans.
Elsewhere, a small mobile cart saw entrepreneurs flogging little bottles claiming to contain the ‘vegan alternative to cocaine’. The brand, Karmaceuticals, advertises its product on Facebook as a ‘tool’ to ‘help you be your best authentic self and boss Glasto weekend like an absolute legend’. The substance is not actually cocaine and is legal to sell.
It claims to prevent ‘over-consumption, over-stimulation and burn-out’ by sustaining high octane levels.
Meanwhile, many ticketholders enjoyed the festival’s first ever drone show as well as a peace parade.
The Met Office said fans can expect conditions to be ‘a little cloudy’ with the ‘odd spot of rain’ before it turns drier with plenty of sunny spells in the afternoon and some isolated showers.
It is expected to be ‘a little breezy’ with a high of 21C. The weather across the weekend is expected to stay ‘mostly dry with plenty of sunny spells’ and temperatures around average for June, dropping to 18C on Friday before rising to 19C and 21C on Saturday and Sunday respectively.
The festival comes amid planned industrial action by junior doctors, with NHS Somerset sharing tips on how to ‘stay well’ during periods of hot weather to help ‘ease pressure on health and care’.
‘We know that services will be under pressure this week,’ Dr Bernie Marden, chief medical officer for NHS Somerset, said.
‘With Glastonbury Festival also taking place this week and expected warm weather, we are sharing a few reminders about simple steps people can take to look after themselves, and stay healthy and well.’
This year’s event will see headline performances from global stars including pop singer Dua Lipa, British rock band Coldplay and American soul singer Sza, while Canadian country star Shania Twain will play the coveted legends slot.
However, music fans travelling to Glastonbury Festival by train today have also experienced disruption.
Great Western Railway (GWR) said all lines are blocked at West Ealing in west London due to ‘the emergency services dealing with an incident near the railway’.
That is affecting services to and from London Paddington, which is on the route serving Castle Cary, the nearest station to Glastonbury Festival.
Passengers are being warned to expect disruption until midday.
Dozens of people sat on the floor at London Paddington near the boarding area for Castle Cary services.
Hannah Yates, 28, from north London, who was booked on a train with four friends, said: ‘I went up to (a member of staff) and they said there’s been a fatality on the line and to wait for 45 minutes, so we’re waiting for the next announcement.
‘It’s frustrating, I would say. This was a day that’s already quite stressful so this adds to it.’
Another festivalgoer, who gave their name as Zac, said: ‘We took the Elizabeth line here and they had cancelled the Elizabeth line to Heathrow so we had a suspicion.
‘We’re still looking forward to it – a couple of hours won’t make a difference to the whole weekend.’
GWR said earlier this month that it planned to provide more than 28,600 seats on trains from London Paddington to Castle Cary between Wednesday and Friday for festivalgoers.
It warned that early and mid-morning trains on Wednesday and Thursday were almost fully booked.
Other attractions at the festival, which runs from today until Sunday, include speeches, film screenings and Q&As, circus performances, comedy sets and more.
Hundreds of acts will perform on Thursday with various smaller stages across the site hosting acts including singer and DJ Shygirl and electronic musician Joy Orbison, who will both appear at dance stage Levels.
Fellow DJ MJ Cole will perform a set at Stonebridge Bar, while London-based artist Shy One will appear at the Glade stage.
Also happening on Thursday, fitness expert Joe Wicks will lead a group exercise session for festival-goers – raising their heart rates at the Gateway stage.
Rock band Squeeze will open the Pyramid Stage on Friday at midday, followed by rising star Olivia Dean, K-pop group Seventeen and singer Paul Heaton.
Later on, PJ Harvey and LCD Soundsystem will warm up for Dua Lipa as she headlines the main stage on Friday night – her Pyramid Stage debut.
The 28-year-old pop star is expected to treat festival revellers to a selection of her hit songs, including Houdini and Training Season from her third studio album, Radical Optimism, released earlier this year.
Other highlights on Friday will include D-Block Europe and Idles playing the Other Stage, while Jungle top the bill on West Holts and Fontaines DC head up the Park Stage.
On Saturday, the main stage will welcome Nigerian stars Femi Kuti and Ayra Starr, followed by US 80s chart-topper Cyndi Lauper and rock band Keane.
Mercury Prize winner Michael Kiwanuka and British rapper Little Simz will also play on the Pyramid Stage in the evening before Coldplay top the bill.
Meanwhile, Glastonbury founder Sir Michael Eavis is expected to do his traditional musical performance, covering a series of classics with his band.
Last year, hundreds of fans chanted ‘Michael’ as the veteran organiser, 88, was wheeled on to The Park Stage on an office chair to perform as he recovered from an operation on his leg.
It comes after Glastonbury Festival goers complained of being left for hours in queues without water in the sweltering heat yesterday.
As temperatures hit 28C in Somerset, festival attendees warned there could be ‘mass strokes’ as they moaned about the lack of available water stations while queueing for hours to enter Worthy Farm.
Videos showed thousands of people lined up carrying rucksacks and mats and wearing sun hats, as they waited to get into campsites.
Although music could be heard blaring, revellers reported there was no water available for those standing in the snaking five-hour queue.
Visitors branded the lack of water amid the sizzling temperatures a ‘joke’, adding that coach companies had also failed to hydrate passengers while bussing them to the festival.
Fans also say they are ready to have their ‘minds blown’ by a new fire-belching dragonfly installation at Arcadia, a prime destination for late-night dance music at Glastonbury.
The Dragonfly, a reimagining of the flying insect built from an ex-military Royal Navy helicopter – turning ‘a weapon of destruction into a unifying symbol’, according to organisers.
They said its design is inspired by the arrival of the first dragonfly and the Aboriginal First Nations of , and the stage will be opened each evening by a ‘spectacular’ ceremony called Warraloo alongside Aboriginal representatives of the Wadjuk Noongar.
It replaces a giant metal arachnid which was a showpiece at the festival for well over a decade.
For most of that time, barring the installation of a giant crane called Pangea in 2019, Arcadia DJs have performed into the early hours in the Spider which allows fans to gather beneath the artist and is surrounded by a dance lighting system and pyrotechnics which belch flames into the sky over the farm.
Festivalgoer Henno Tamms, who has travelled from the Netherlands for his third Glastonbury since 2017 and shared fond memories from the festival’s famed dance area, said he was excited by his first sight of the new installation despite some fans’ sadness about the change.
‘A lot of people really loved the Arcadia spider … a lot of people online were grieving like ‘oh no the spider’s dead again,’ said the 27-year-old, who is currently unemployed, as workers made the final touches to the new installation behind him.
‘But it looks promising, so we’ll have to see … maybe it’s a birth of the new thing.
‘They’ve blown our minds before, I’m sure they can do it again.’
Mr Tamms’ friend Nam Goldstein, from New York, who he met through the festival in 2017, was similarly effusive about the dance offering at Arcadia, which finishes as late as 3am over the Glastonbury weekend.
‘Even when they’re testing the fire, you’re like ‘this is the place to be’,’ the 35-year-old IT worker told PA.
‘Even if I like the performers or not, there’s something so magnificent about the ritual (at Arcadia)… with the music and when it’s connecting together – it’s incredible.’
Hundreds of acts will perform on Thursday with various smaller stages across the site hosting acts including singer and DJ Shygirl and electronic musician Joy Orbison, who will both appear at dance stage Levels.
Levels:
Levels is situated in the Hayes Pavilion in the North West section of the festival area.
It is the main stage associated Silver Hayes that unites ‘unite future-facing design with musical talent’.
Ok Williams B2B Tai Lokun 18:00 – 19:30
Dr Banan x Lucas Wigflex 19:30 – 21:00
Joy Orbison 21:00 to 22:30
Mia Koden B2B Tash LC 22:30 – 00:00
Shygirl presents Club Shy 00:00 – 01:30
Dove 1:30 – 03:00
Lonely Hearts Club:
Lonely Hearts Club is second the four Silver Hayes stages.
Skream & Banga 18:00 – 19:30
Taylah Elaine [Taylah & Friends) 19:30 – 20:30
Lady Shaka (Taylah & Friends) 20:30 – 21:30
Sonique [DJ] [Taylah & Friends] 21:30 – 22:30
Almass Badat B2B Arthi [Dialled In Takeover] 22:30 – 23:45
Gracie T B2B Shivum Sharma [Dialled In Takeover] 23:45 – 01:00
Ahadadream B2B Nikki Nair B2B Raji Rags [Dialled In Takeover] 01:00 – 03:00
Assembly:
Assembly is the third of the four Silver Hayes stages.
Dar Discu B2B Nabihah Iqbal 18:00 – 19:30
Red Lazer Disco 19:30 – 21:00
Sugar Free B2B Fonte 21:00 – 22:30
Dave Harvey B2B Felix Dickinson 22:30 – 00:15
Dresden [Ivan Smagghe & Manfredas] 00:15 – 01:45
Decius [Live] 02:00 – 03:00
Firmly Rooted line-up for Thursday:
Firmly Rooted is the final of the Silver Hayes four stages
Scarlett O’Malley [Foundation FM Takeover] 18:00 – 19:30
Emma Korantema 19:30 – 21:00
Lagoon Femshayma 21:00 – 22:30
Nadine Noor 22:30 -00:00
The Information:
The Information offers music and ‘a space for discussion & debate, with a theme focused around imagination & a positive future’, according to the Glasto website.
SSADCHARLIE 18:00 – 18:20
Rellz & YB Micz 18:30 – 18:50
Marns 19:00 – 19:20
Laure Dia 19:30 – 19:50
Ava Zarate 20:00 – 20:20
Sambee 20:30 – 20:50
Mensah 21:00 – 21:30
Bryte 21:30 – 22:15
Songer 22:30 – 23:30
The Wishing Well:
The Wishing Well is situated in The Park area of Glastonbury, hosting DJ sets from Wednesday through to Sunday.
On Glasto’s website, it is described as ‘a place in which to ignite your deepest desires and unfurl your wildest wishes.’
Taliesin 13:00 – 13:45
Team Pickles 13:45 – 14:45
Caleb Kunle 14:45 – 15:30
Mossman 15:30 – 16:45
Tors 16:45 -17:45
The Beatles Dub Club 17:45 – 18:45
Olivia Nelson 18:45 – 19:45
Ross Wilson 19:45 – 20:45
Lekiddo – Lord of the Lobsters 20:45 – 21:30
Us 21:30 – 22:30
The Menendez Brothers 22:30 – 23:30
Jayahadadream 23:30 – 00:30
2Fox 00:30 – 01:30
Bryte 01:30 – 02:15
Regan 02:15 – 03:00
Scissors:
Scissors is ‘An utterly delicious femme-queer venue where anything can (and does!)’ happen.
Zerya 21:00 – 21:30
Opening Ceremony: Everyone’s Choir by Xoph 21:30 – 21:50
Holly Roxanne 21:50 – 22:15
Wonderment Presents: Elevate 22:15 – 23:15
Daisy Doris May 00:30 – 00:45
Mela Sounds & Queer House Party 00:45 – 01:45
He, She They Presents Fancy Shews! B2B Maze & Masters
HMS Sweet Charity:
An undercover stage for all your disco needs that has been running for nine years in The Park.
Tina Edwards 19:30 – 21:00
Sonido Tupinamba 22:00 – 23:00
Flamingods 23:00 – 00:00
Existential Dress 00:00 – 01:00
Doctor Barnardo and Sue Ryder 01:00 – 03:00
Glade:
The Glade Area has ‘been pioneering electronic music blended with roots music.’
Kurupt FM 18:00 -19:00
Lauren Lo Shung 19:00 – 20:15
Love Remain 20:15 – 21:30
Desiree 21:30 – 23:00
Mall Grab 23:00 – 00:30
Shy One 00:30 – 02:00
Glade Dome line-up for Thursday
Paper Dragon 13:00 – 14:00
The Nextmen Ft Kiko Bun 14:00 – 15:30
King of the Beats 15:30 – 17:00
The Ord 17:00 – 18:30
Fish56octagon 18:30 – 19:15
Natty Lou 19:15 – 20:15
Girls Next Door 20:15 – 21:15
Mozey 21:15 – 22:15
Friction 22:15 – 23:15
Kanine 23:15 – 00:25
K Motionz 00:25 – 01:40
DJ Rap 01:40 – 02:55
Genosys:
Demi Riquisimo 20:00 – 21:30
Nyra 21:30 – 23:00
Lance Desardi 23:00 – 00:00
Eliza Rose 00:00 – 01:30
Heidi 01:30 – 03:00
NYC Downlow:
Nat Wendell 20:00 – 21:55
Bress Underground 22:10 – 23:35
Greg Belson 23:40 – 00:55
The Carry Nation 01:00 – 03:00
The Temple line-up for Thursday
Come this way for the best rave energy.
Jungle & DnB, Kleu & Resist at 21.00 -22:00
Disrupta B2B Sota at 22.00 – 23.00
10 years Jungle cakes Deekline, Burt Cope, Ed Solo & Maddy V from 23.00.
Arrivals:
This is Glastonbury Festival’s first dedicated South Asian space.
DJ Ritu 21:00 – 22:00
Conviktion 22:00 – 23:00
Bobby Friction 23:00 – 00:00
Anil 00:00 – 01:00
Pxssy Palace 01:00 – 02:00
Thempress 02:00 – 03:00