Glastonbury 2025 Day 2 review: Neil Young, Pulp and Charli xcx

Time Out

30-06-2025

Our heads are sore today after spending last night dancing next to Harry Styles at the legendary NYC Downlow into the early hours, but it was totally worth it.
Saturday showed no let up for Glasto-goers from the scorching late-June heat, or from the momentum of performances during the festival's second day. We kicked things off with a bright and early midday set: a proper throwback seeing Kaiser Chiefs on the Pyramid Stage. It was a riot. Meanwhile JADE took the roof off at Woodsies, and later on, the weekend's most controversial booking Kneecap almost actually incited a riot, before swiftly taking it back (we're sure their lawyers were in their ears during that one). As for the headliners, all the Gen Z fans headed to Charli xcx and Doechii, while old rockers flocked to Neil Young.
Across Glasto 2025, Time Out has writers on the ground. India Lawrence and Liv Kelly round up all the best performances below, but you can have a read of all our other stuff (including headliner previews and guides to this year's full schedule, secret sets and how to watch online) in our Glastonbury hub.
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Neil Young and The Chrome Hearts on the Pyramid Stage: no-fuss headline set from a living songwriting legend
Neil Young's journey to his headline slot at the Pyramid Stage has been somewhat rocky. Before the announcement of his performance Young made the claim that the festival was now under too much 'corporate control', and that was more recently followed by confusion about whether his set would be available to watch on TV (as of Saturday afternoon, it is). But as soon as Young and his band The Chrome Hearts took to the Pyramid Stage, all the chaotic events from the run-up to his show were forgotten.
The Canadian-American has a whopping 40 studio albums to his name, and hit after hit was rattled through with a skill that can be attributed to his sprawling, 60-year career: 'Sugar Mountain' and 'Cinnamon Girl' cropped up early, and 'Harvest Moon' was lovingly strummed out, lulling the crowd into a dreamy singalong. His wrists were wrapped with pink support bandages, but he still played extended, complex guitar riffs and the harmonica magnificently, and his voice sounded just the same as always. While Young kept his cap low over his eyes for most of the set, he broke into the occasional grin and asked the 'folks' in the modestly-sized crowd how they were doing regularly. It was a fuss-free set with the energy depending almost entirely on whether Young was peacefully playing an acoustic, or frenziedly strumming on an electric, giving any superfans a comprehensive run-through of his massive catalogue. Liv
Charli xcx: 365 partygirl doesn't need special guests for a killer headline show
'Does this mean that Brat is over?' read the text across the screen at the end of Charli xcx's Other stage headline show. 'Probably… NOT.' She teased. 'Brat summer is forever.' And the crowd breathed a sigh of relief. Thank goodness for that.
An absolutely mammoth horde, dressed in hotpants, sunglasses and bright green shirts congregated at the Other Stage this evening, filling the newly expanded field all the way to the back. After a brief montage, Charli xcx stormed onto the stage in a flurry of strobe lights. She partied through '365 featuring shygirl' and '360' before the Brat sign, now distressed and covered in black marks, went up in flames. For the next hour and a half she ricocheted between bolshy, preposterous confidence, strutting up and down, whipping her hair, swearing into the camera during 'Von Dutch'; to melancholy, vulnerable and contemplative, like when she was on all fours and writhing during sad banger 'party for u'. She delved into the back catalogue for the OG fans, playing 'Vroom Vroom', 'Unlock it (Lock It)' and 'Track 10'. Some of the crowd was aghast at her brash stage presence. Every now and again the mask came down: 'I'm known to have a heart of a stone, this is very f**king emotional right now,' she said, breathless after an energetic 'Speed Drive'. 'You're f**king cool as f**k... But not as cool as me, b*tch.' And Gracie Abrams did the 'Apple' dance.
The set ended somewhat abruptly with 'I Love It', which got everyone on the floor jumping. The punters were waiting for a surprise guest, but none came. Were fans disappointed not to see Lorde, Billie Eilish or Addison Rae? Definitely. But for me, it didn't matter. It was also classic Charli – pure ego, and throwing out the rule book of the typical Glasto headline set that requires glitzy guests and special extras. No, there were no outfit changes, no surprise performers, no gimmicks. It was pure Charli, at her very best. India
Kneecap on West Holts: mosh pits and a call to 'f**k Keir Starmer'
'The BBC editor is going to have some job [cropping those],' Mo Chara (real name Liam Óg Ó hAnnaidh) joked, referring to the hundreds of Palestine flags filling the skies at the West Holts stage this afternoon. Because despite calls from celebrities like Sharon Osborne, music industry professionals and Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer for Kneecap to be removed from the lineup, and an upcoming court case for terror charges for co-lead Liam Óg Ó hAnnaidh, the Irish rap group showed no signs of backing down this afternoon as they performed to a shoulder-to-shoulder crowd that saw the area shut down an hour before they came on stage.
As expected, Kneecap's performances flitted between political calls to action (they led chants of 'F**k Keir Starmer' and 'Free Palestine') and raucous rap, backed by brash, bass heavy production. As for the music, frontmen Mo Chara and Moglai Bap had excellent flow, and truly hyped the onlookers, commanding the rapt crowd to open up mosh pits when they wanted, and listen to their political rhetoric at other times. Being at this performance felt like a genuinely exciting, radical moment for the festival, and was a real palate cleanser after Matty Healy's anti-politics talk on Friday night. India
Pulp on the Pyramid Stage: are you ready for Pulp summer?
A parade of people in black and white rain ponchos traipsed onto the stage, forming a wall to shield the enigmatic 'Patchwork' as they walked out. Really, the thousands of unshowered people gathered at Glasto's main stage already knew it was going to be Pulp (with many a band t-shirt spotted throughout the day). And when Jarvis Cocker emerged, dressed in a brown suit, with '70s-sque square glasses to match, they were not disappointed. He launched into 'Sorted for Es and Whizz' and then straight into 'Disco 2000', which was superb as ever. Then we were treated to the recently released song 'Spike Island', which was euphoric and emotional. There was a lot of talking during the set, with Cocker stopping to have a little chat with the audience in between almost every song: eventually he was told to hurry up, but it was pretty endearing. Swaggering around the stage, Cocker was like the eccentric uncle you never had but always wanted. Despite his many asides – which fed us tidbits about Glastos gone by, and their songwriting process (including a shout out to Charli xcx) – Cocker was leading a masterclass in crowd engagement: during 'O.U. (Gone, Gone)' he was conducting a 50,000-strong choir; before the finale he asked how they should spend their final 10 minutes – playing 'Common People', obviously. India
Haim on the Park Stage: Trio surprises Glasto-goers with cheerful, slightly clumsy set
Confirmation that rock band Haim would be performing this Saturday secret set came a couple of hours prior, when they posted an image of the Park Stage on their Instagram. After the three sisters, who hail from California, filed onto stage aggressively rallying and hyping the crowd, they dove straight into 'The Wire', a hit from their first album Days Are Gone, and youngest of the trio Alana nostalgically told the punters that The Park was where they performed during that era of their career. But three albums (and a 2022 performance on the Pyramid Stage) later – the newest release being 'I Quit', which came out on June 20 – they're obviously thrilled to be back on the hillside. Haim took the crowd through new single 'Relationships' with the scandalous backstories of said relationship scrolling across the top of the screen in bold red letters in a gossip-y way, as well as top tracks 'The Steps' and 'Now I'm In It', flexing their proficiency as instrumentalists and performers. There is no denying that Haim are masters of crowd engagement: Danniele got a huge cheer when she asked 'is it okay if I step on the drumset for a little bit?', and Alana bolstered a raucous singalong, stating she was 'addicted to [the audience's] beautiful voices'. Their set was far from smooth – what seemed like minor tech issues and a handful of awkward pauses reminded lookers-on that this was far from a well-trodden tour show, but the cobbled-togetherness was overshadowed by Haim's excitement to be back at Glasto. Liv
JADE on Woodsies: Former girl-bander solidifies path as pop's next It Girl
Donning a Brat green Choose Love hoodie, Ncuti Gatwa, whose voice features on 'Midnight Cowboy', sashayed onto stage in front of a crowd of almost exclusively girls, gays and theys to announce 'the performance is about to begin'. What followed was a set that acted as JADE's coronation into pop royalty. She's obviously a confident and self-assured performer, having spent a decade in one of the world's most successful girl groups, but the metallic-heavy set design, choreography, slick transitions, command of the crowd and catalogue of seriously good pop music proved she was right in backing herself as a solo artist – all while remaining endearingly humble. Despite no debut album, JADE easily filled her slot, straight into singles like 'It Girl' and 'FUFN' from her EP Plastic Box, before a crowd-pleasing medley of Little Mix hits. She sweetly acknowledged 'the girls' (her former bandmates) before confessing that she's keen to move away from the 'old [her]', and that none would be making an appearance – instead, she brought out Confidence Man. One cover of Madonna's 'Frozen', a soulful, saxophone-backed take on 'Fantasy' and a teary rendition of 'Angel Of My Dreams' later, JADE's set left the crowd riding a high. Liv
Kaiser Chiefs on the Pyramid Stage: a silly throwback with plenty of indie bangers
The Kaiser Chiefs don't care if they are 'past it'. The show, which gathered a pretty massive crowd of middle-aged folk and millennials, where many a shit shirt abounded, was prefaced with the theme to Jurassic Park, followed by 'Walk the Dinosaur'. Ricky Wilson emerged in tight jeans and a green pinstripe blazer that was sort of giving Beetlejuice, before roaring into 'Every Day I Love You Less and Less'. Martin seemed like he was having a great time as he leapt and ran about the stage. At one moment he rasped, 'Put your hands in the air if you've heard of the Kaiser Chiefs,' like a children's party entertainer. Not all of these indie landfill tunes are great hits: the high pitched 'na na nas' of the very cleverly named 'Na Na Na Na Naa' were grating as hell, and I wanted it to be over. Still, for 12pm on Saturday this throwback set was enough to get the tired crowd reared up for another day on the farm. For the grand finale, flare smoke filled the field from front to back during 'I Predict a Riot'. India
Good Neighbours on The Other Stage: indie-duo newcomers eased us into Glastonbury day two
Snagging a Saturday lunchtime slot on Worthy Farm's second-largest stage is pretty nifty work from this British indie-rock duo who only officially formed in 2024, but as frontman Oli Fox notes, the pair have been 'grinding for over a decade'. Good Neighbours gained a decent following when their debut single 'Home' won them a number 26 place on the UK charts last year, and an anthemic rendition of it helped them close up this set. But it's by no means their best song — in fact, the 45-minute performance, where the small crowd of loyal fans steadily and substantially grew by the finale, enabled them to do their much lesser-known tracks justice. 'Starry Eyed' was a cheesy but super catchy, slower-paced love song which Fox described as the 'boring one,' but that the crowd loved, and 'Ripple' saw the duo and their band freeze like statues for just enough beats to confuse viewers, before launching back into the song with proper welly. Is this stuff original? Well, the relatively pedestrian lyrics and Dalston-y uniform of trendy sunnies, bleached hair and pearl necklaces said otherwise (shocker: they are in fact based in East London), but Good Neighbours were a fun, easy watch, and they deserve a load of credit for warming everyone up for Glasto's second day. Liv