
Watch Olivia Rodrigo bring out The Cure's Robert Smith for surprise Glastonbury duet as fans call it ‘incredible'
Click to share on X/Twitter (Opens in new window)
Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
OLIVIA Rodrigo brought out a British music icon for her Glastonbury headline performance.
The talented US singer, 22, surprised fans midway through her set by introducing The Cure's Robert Smith, 66, to the stage.
Sign up for the Entertainment newsletter
Sign up
4
Olivia Rodrigo wowed Glastonbury viewers tonight with her headline set
Credit: AFP
4
She brought out The Cure's Robert Smith
Credit: BBC
4
The pair played two tracks together
Credit: BBC
The wild-haired romantic wordsmith walked out with a shy smile to a relatively muted response, before launching in to his band's anthem Friday I'm In Love.
A true Glasto legend, Smith's band are tied with Coldplay for the most headline appearances with four - their latest coming in 2019.
And the frontman showed he still has what it takes to command the biggest festival of them all, a year on from The Cure's latest release - the dark, brooding, five-star Songs of a Lost World.
If Rodrigo's audience weren't quite familiar with him at first, it wasn't long before they were singing along to his genius.
Those at home revelled in the unlikely collab, with one writing on X: "As if Olivia Rodrigo's brought out Robert Smith ffs. Heaven!!"
Another said: "Robert Smith still has one of the most magical voices ever, incredible musician."
A third wrote: "Robert Smith on with Olivia Rodrigo. Now that's a proper moment."
A fourth said: "I didn't have Robert Smith on my Olivia bingo card!!"
The duo finished their partnership with another Cure track: Just Like Heaven.
It was an accomplished headlining debut for Rodrigo. Surrounded by quality young musicians who know how to rock, she belted out her catchy hits and commanded the stage like a much more experienced performer.
Incredible moment Olivia Rodrigo brings out Ed Sheeran at huge sold out BST gig ahead of Glastonbury
For her encore, Rodrigo returned to the stage in a pair of sparkling Union Jack hotpants and launched into a raucous Brutal followed by All-American B*tch.
While eyebrows were raised when she was unveiled as the second youngest headliner in Glasto history, behind Billie Eilish, the signs were there that it was an inspired choice.
Her headline performance at BST on Friday night left no doubt that she was ready to perform on the iconic stage.
During her set at London's Hyde Park she invited Ed Sheeran to the stage to perform his track The A Team, with the Brit troubadour another of her A-list fans.
But the sell-out show belonged to her and she signed off with her anthems Good 4 U and Got Him Back!
Tonight, as inflatable balls were released into the crowd, Rodrigo truly arrived as a global headline force.
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles

South Wales Argus
22 minutes ago
- South Wales Argus
On-screen warnings on Bob Vylan set ‘not good enough' says minister
The BBC 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. Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has said there is 'no excuse' for the chanting, and the corporation said it showed a warning during the set's stream about the 'very strong and discriminatory language'. The Bob Vylan set was shown live on an iPlayer stream. Baroness Jacqui Smith was asked on Times Radio whether she thought the BBC has a bias. She told the station: 'I don't think the BBC has a bias, but I think it made a mistake here. 'It's not good enough simply to say on screen that, you know, 'this is dodgy language'. 'It was far beyond that, and it shouldn't have been broadcast live. And I think it would have been possible for the BBC to stop that.' The education minister also told Sky that she was 'surprised' that the BBC continued broadcasting the set. Bob Vylan's performance on the West Holts Stage on Saturday drew significant criticism (Yui Mok/PA) Over the weekend, the BBC said that viewers would not be able to access the performance on demand. A spokesperson for the broadcaster said: 'Some of the comments made during Bob Vylan's set were deeply offensive. 'During this live stream on iPlayer, which reflected what was happening on stage, a warning was issued on screen about the very strong and discriminatory language.' Kneecap also performed on the West Holts Stage on Saturday (Yui Mok/PA) A former BBC editor has said that the broadcaster should have the ability to 'cut the feed' whenever there 'is a hint of hate speech'. Sir Craig Oliver – who also served as director of communications for Lord David Cameron in Downing Street – told Radio 4's Today programme: 'I suspect at next year's Glastonbury there's going to have to be a senior editorial figure who does understand the sensitivities and is going to cut the feed.' Sir Keir Starmer led the criticism from across the political spectrum over the weekend, and also referenced Belfast rap trip Kneecap, who had faced calls to be cut from the festival after a member was charged with a terror offence. The performer led crowds on the festival's West Holts Stage in chants of 'death, death to the IDF' (Yui Mok/PA) Responding to the chants from Bob Vylan, the Prime Minister said: 'There is no excuse for this kind of appalling hate speech. 'I said that Kneecap should not be given a platform and that goes for any other performers making threats or inciting violence. 'The BBC needs to explain how these scenes came to be broadcast.' Bob Vylan, who formed in Ipswich in 2017, have released four albums addressing issues to do with racism, masculinity and class. Bobby Vylan's real name is Pascal Robinson-Foster, 34, according to reports. In a statement posted to Instagram, Vylan said: 'Teaching our children to speak up for the change they want and need is the only way that we make this world a better place. 'As we grow older and our fire starts to possibly dim under the suffocation of adult life and all its responsibilities, it is incredibly important that we encourage and inspire future generations to pick up the torch that was passed to us.'


Telegraph
27 minutes ago
- Telegraph
US government could ban Bob Vylan over Glastonbury ‘death to IDF' chant
British rap duo Bob Vylan could be banned from the US after the group's frontman called for the death of all Israeli soldiers in a Glastonbury performance broadcast live by the BBC. The US State Department is 'already looking at revoking' the group's visa ahead of their twenty-city tour through the country, a senior official told the Daily Wire. 'As a reminder, under the Trump Administration, the US government will not issue visas to any foreigner who supports terrorists,' the senior official said. Bobby Vylan, whose real name is Pascal Robinson-Foster, repeatedly chanted 'death, death to the IDF [Israel Defense Forces]' in his Glastonbury performance on Saturday. 'Free, Free Palestine,' the rapper chanted with the crowd at the music festival. 'But have you heard this one though? Death, death to the IDF! Death, death to the IDF!' After repeating the chant several times, Vylan then shouted out another anti-Semitic chant: 'Hell yeah, from the river to the sea, Palestine must be, will be, inshallah, it will be free.' StopAntisemitism, a watchdog organisation based in New York, called for Vylan to have his visa revoked ahead of upcoming concerts across the United States. The group is scheduled to play in New York City, Boston, Los Angeles, and Nashville for its 'Inertia Tour' in October and November. They were previously forced to cancel shows in 2023 owing to 'visa issues' but managed to tour a year later. 'The antisemite must have his visa denied/rescinded – his hate is not welcome here,' the StopAntisemitism wrote. Section 3B(bb) of the Immigration and Nationality Act said visas can be denied if applicants are part of 'a political, social, or other group that endorses or espouses terrorist activity'. Another section of the act that could be examined by the State Department centres around applicants potentially causing 'serious adverse foreign policy consequences' for the United States. Leo Terrell, the chairman of the department of justice's anti-Semitism taskforce, said his 'first call' on Monday would be to Marco Rubio, the US secretary of state, to ensure Vylan cannot enter the country. 'These abhorrent chants, which included calls for the death of members of the Israeli Defense Forces, are abhorrent and have no place in any civil society,' Mr Terrell said in a statement. 'We understand that Mr Vylan is planning to travel to the United States as part of the Inertia Tour. In response, Mr. Terrell's Task Force will be reaching out to the US Department of State on Monday to determine what measures are available to address the situation and to prevent the promotion of violent antisemitic rhetoric in the United States.' Avon and Somerset Police in the United Kingdom said they were investigating the performance and said they would determine 'whether any offenses may have been committed that would require a criminal investigation'. The incident has drawn comparisons with the case of Lucy Connolly, who was jailed for 31 months last year for inciting racial hatred after publishing a racist social media post. Chris Philp, the shadow home secretary, said: 'It seems very clear that this man was directly inciting violence. He should receive the same treatment under the law as others, such as Lucy Connolly. 'He should be arrested and prosecuted immediately. A failure to do so would be a clear example of two-tier justice under Sir Keir Starmer and his attorney general, Lord Hermer.' Connolly posted a message last year amid public outrage in the wake of the Southport attack, in which Axel Rudakubana stabbed three young girls to death. Sir Keir Starmer condemned Robinson-Foster's 'appalling hate speech' and warned that the BBC had questions to answer. The Prime Minister told The Telegraph that the corporation urgently 'needed to explain how these scenes came to be broadcast'. The corporation is under growing scrutiny over why the performance was streamed unedited in the first place and why, when the offensive chants began, it failed to cut the feed or bleep any offensive language. Vylan responded to the controversy in an Instagram post on Sunday saying that it is important to 'encourage and inspire future generations to pick up the torch that was passed to us.' 'Let us display to them loudly and visibly the right thing to do when we want and need change,' he wrote. 'Let them see us marching on the streets, campaigning on the ground level, organising online and shouting about it on any and every stage that we are offered.'


The Guardian
28 minutes ago
- The Guardian
BBC response to Bob Vylan's IDF chants at Glastonbury ‘not good enough', says minister
On-screen warnings issued by the BBC about discriminatory language during Bob Vylan's Glastonbury set are 'not good enough', a minister has said. The BBC is facing questions after the musician Bobby Vylan – of the rap punk duo Bob Vylan – led crowds at the festival's West Holts stage in chants of: 'Free, free Palestine' and: 'Death, death to the IDF (Israel Defense Forces)' on Saturday. Keir Starmer has said there is 'no excuse' for the chanting, and the corporation said it showed a warning during the set's stream about the 'very strong and discriminatory language'. The Bob Vylan set was shown live on an iPlayer stream but the footage has since been removed from the BBC's streaming services. The equalities minister Jacqui Smith said that, while she did not believe the BBC was biased on the war in Gaza, a line had been crossed during its Glastonbury coverage. 'These were clearly comments that overstepped the mark. I'm surprised that the BBC carried on broadcasting them live when it was obvious what was happening. I think the BBC also have questions to answer about how they continued to broadcast this for the time that they did,' she told Sky News on Monday. Bob Vylan, whose two members go by Bobby Vylan and Bobbie Vylan, played immediately prior to Kneecap on Saturday. The BBC had decided not to broadcast the latter's set live amid controversy over the band's support for Gaza at previous gigs. Describing himself as a 'violent punk', the duo's frontman, Bobby Vylan, said: 'Sometimes we have to get our message across with violence because that's the only language some people speak, unfortunately.' He led chants of 'Free, free Palestine' and 'Death, death to the IDF [Israel Defense Forces]'. The BBC's warnings were 'not good enough', Smith said on Monday. She told Times Radio 'I think it [the BBC] made a mistake here. It's not good enough simply to say on screen that, you know, this is dodgy language. It was far beyond that and it shouldn't have been broadcast live. And I think it would have been possible for the BBC to stop that.' Smith added that she thought there would be 'lots of people' at the festival who 'were also remembering the music festival in Israel on the 7 October 2023, where young people got grabbed from that music festival, kidnapped and murdered, and will want to reflect on that as well'. A former head of news and current affairs at Channel 4, Dorothy Byrne, said that, had the BBC wanted to act more decisively on the broadcast, it would have been technically possible. She told the BBC Radio 4's Today programme there were questions to answer about the research it had done into Bob Vylan, adding: 'They should really have had a politics producer in the gallery ready to advise them when and if something went wrong. 'I would have expected them to have an alternative feed available anyway because things can go wrong and there were lots of other acts on at the time. I'm surprised they just left it on with a warning rather than cut away because it's wrong to call for anyone to be killed.' She said the Glastonbury coverage should not be held to the same standard on impartiality expected of news programming. But she added that the BBC's coverage meant it was the focus of controversy 'when we should be discussing events in Gaza'. Bobby Vylan stood by his actions, posting on Sunday on Instagram: 'I said what I said' and calling for a 'change in foreign policy'. He added: 'As we grow older and our fire possibly starts to dim under the suffocation of adult life and all its responsibilities, it is incredibly important that we encourage and inspire future generations to pick up the torch that was passed to us. 'Let us display to them loudly and visibly the right thing to do when we want and need change. Let them see us marching in the streets, campaigning on ground level, organising online and shouting about it on any and every stage that we are offered.'