Charli xcx and Neil Young to Juan Atkins and the Asian underground: what to see at Glastonbury

The Guardian

3 hours ago

'Not a vintage year,' came the usual grumbles about the Glastonbury lineup when it was announced in March – and it's perhaps only in England where people would moan about the lack of quality on offer at a festival with more than 3,000 performances across five days. In reality, Glastonbury remains stacked with varied, progressive, boundlessly vital artists, and the real challenge is picking your way through them: here are some of our tips.
At 79, Neil Young is as irascible and fired-up as a man a quarter of his age, and seems to steel-tip his laurels so he doesn't rest on them: after reuniting with Crazy Horse in 2024, he's swapped them out again for new backing band the Chrome Hearts (featuring 81-year-old legend Spooner Oldham on organ). You rather hope Young will get the same memo Elton John did in 2023, stating that the Pyramid crowds need more hits than most, though he may well ignore it. Even if he does, an ornery and obscure Neil Young set is still a thrill.
Olivia Rodrigo delivered a bracing set on the Other stage in 2022, naming the supreme court justices who overturned Roe v Wade that weekend and telling them 'we hate you, we hate you' – and she has splenetic pop-punk and heart-rending balladry to match that venom. And kicking off these three Pyramid headliners on Friday night, there's no doubting the pop heft of the 1975's quite considerable catalogue, their lyrics rooted in the weirdness of the way we live now.
Outside the headliners, Alanis Morissette – anthemic, ubiquitous in the 90s – is the kind of artist the Pyramid crowd unites behind: songs such as You Oughta Know and Ironic will be big moments. Noah Kahan's Stick Season will be another huge Pyramid singalong, and Rod Stewart back-to-back with Chic is about as crowdpleasing as it gets. Raye plays her biggest show to date before Young – she pairs old-Hollywood glamour with genre-surfing, propulsive pop and will put on a sumptuous show. Former Little Mixer Jade brings bug-eyed personality to her solo performances, as do the Prodigy, who still sound unhinged three decades after their peak. In the field and at home on TV, all eyes will be on Kneecap – cabinet ministers and indeed our prime minister have voiced their distaste at this set going ahead, but you hardly imagine they'll dial down their political fury, or indeed ketamine-referencing rap-rave intensity. And Charli xcx's current power-walking, phlegm-licking, Brat-heavy live show is the work of a pop star operating at the highest level.
It's worth trying, but you'll be lucky to get in the Woodsies tent for Lola Young in her breakthrough year, showcasing global hit Messy and more – and the Avalon stage will probably be even more oversubscribed for Paris Paloma's dramatic, Florence-esque songcraft and Orla Gartland's maximally emotive pop, any of whom could have commanded a decent Other stage audience. It feels as if Aussie indie-poppers Royel Otis are one song from pan-Glasto awareness and are shamelessly populist, with their big singalong choruses ('you're so fucking gorgeous!') and bigger cover versions (Linger, Murder on the Dancefloor) making them a very reliable bet in a mixed-taste friendship group.
Anyone unable to wait for the Prodigy's industrial-jungle onslaught can enjoy a similar vibe from showboating duo Alt Blk Era. Rapper and singer Lemfreck, winner of the Welsh music prize, is turning heads with his versatile vocalisations: one minute offering a croaking, conversational flow, the next soaring Sampha-like soul songs. And any Kneecap fans should check out hot drum'n'bass producer Mozey – he did their latest single, and you can imagine there might be a mania-inducing guest spot during his set.
If there is a criticism to be made of the lineup it's that there's a relative dearth of rap names – possibly a reflection of its waning position in mainstream pop culture – but there's a scattering of masterful MCs, including arguably the hottest on earth right now: Doechii, whose preening brilliance, undercut with radical and self-lacerating honesty, makes for a series of miniature soap operas, dark thrillers and situation comedies. Her delivery, almost like dotting words on to the mic rather than speaking through it, is almost as superhuman as fellow performer Busta Rhymes, whose brain and embouchure continue to operate in a completely different gear.
Don't miss Bawo, whose funny and ruminative lyrics make him one of the UK's most underrated MCs, followed straight after by beautifully melismatic R&B singer Sasha Keable and socially conscious veteran UK rapper Bashy.
Glastonbury's unofficial 'no mosh' policy continues to fray at the edges, with some of their heaviest bookings to date. Powered as ever by Chino Moreno's nape-tickling groans and nu-metal chatter, Deftones have rightly become lauded as true greats and this set could promise some cross-generational circle pits, helicoptering dreadlocks and airborne pints. Ditto Turnstile, who – especially live – remain totally wedded to the hardcore punk scene even as they expand their sound.
Woodsies on Sunday lunchtime offers a brace of smart, sardonic post-punk turns, first from Gurriers, then from Irish quartet Sprints: powered by the withering vocals of Karla Chubb, they went Top 20 with their debut and they'll no doubt be touting new material here. Also worth an earlyish start is Horsegirl, the Chicago indie-pop trio whose second album, produced by Cate Le Bon, is among this year's very best, full of head-turning contradictions: naive yet world-weary, doleful yet brightly melodic. Having sloughed off his Black Midi bandmates, Geordie Greep is a maximalist prog-pop showman, while Rachel Chinouriri's own alt-pop stagecraft has been honed by a spell supporting Sabrina Carpenter, and the reformed TV on the Radio, fronted by the ultimate Dilf in Tunde Adebimpe, remain magnetic.
It started with a trickle of acts including Underworld and Orbital, and three decades on Glastonbury is essentially the UK's best dance festival. One of the people from which today's entire dance culture flows, Juan Atkins, is doing two polar opposite sets: as the bodypopping Cybotronas well an ambient set under his own name. Another Detroit icon, Richie Hawtin, is followed by similarly austere gear from Amelie Lens, while Mathew Jonson is another class act in the pure techno realm.
Easing us in on Thursday evening are Major League DJz, one of the biggest names pushing South Africa's calm yet sensual amapiano sound. Of the back-to-back sets, Kettama b2b Interplanetary Criminal has the potential for the most T-shirt-stripping, lizard-brained pandemonium of the weekend, while Confidence Man b2b Job Jobse will be chirpily cheery. In the bass zone, Skream and Benga will hurl wobbling dubstep boulders and HiTech will booty-shake through witty ghettotech, while Calibre tops an awesome daylong lineup of drum'n'bass and UKG at Levels on Friday. And kicking open the doors of perception with mini strobes in hand are two world-class, mind-expanding producers questing to the coalface of dance culture: Verraco and Avalon Emerson.
At 80, reggae legend Burning Spear is still devoted to uplifting Black consciousness and some gentle skanking for his mid-afternoon Pyramid set will limber you up nicely for the evening ahead, while there's similar depth of heritage from his compatriots Black Uhuru. Argentine rappers Ca7riel and Paco Amoroso may not be widely known in the UK but if their live set here is anything like their phenomenally popular Tiny Desk concert, they'll create one of those crowds that swells and swells – get there early.
For a blast of pure emotive musicianship check out South African cellist Abel Selaocoe, while Ichiko Aoba's pretty yet profound ambient pop will be equally spellbinding, and Italian pop-Afrobeat troupe Rumba de Bodas are the kind of group to get multiple generations out of their folding camping chairs. And in what is fast becoming a great tradition at Glastonbury, the vibrancy of the global south Asian underground is given its fullest expression across multiple areas, including new stage Azaadi which hosts UK legends such as Bally Sagoo and Panjabi Hit Squad alongside new-school names including US duo Baalti and Mumbai techno DJ Rafiki.
The Guardian is hosting three Q&A events at the Astrolabe theatre, at noon each day. On Friday, the perma-fabulous drag legend Bimini joins us, on Saturday we have illusionist Steven Frayne (formerly known as Dynamo), and on Sunday it's those boys in the band, Carl Barât and Pete Doherty from the Libertines.
Lemfreck – BBC Introducing, 16.00HiTech – Lonely Hearts Club, 18.00Major League DJz – Lonely Hearts Club, 21.00Confidence Man b2b Job Jobse – Levels, 21.00Baalti – Babylon Uprising, 2200 (also Azaadi, Friday, 02.00)Calibre – Glade Dome, 2130 (also Levels, Friday, 01.45)Avalon Emerson (9000 Dreams) – San Remo, 01.00
Horsegirl – Park stage, 11.30Bimini – Astrolabe theatre, 12.00Ca7riel and Paco Amoroso – West Holts, 13.00 (also Shangri-La stage, 01.15)Rumba de Bodas – Avalon, 14.10Burning Spear – Pyramid, 15.00Paris Paloma – Avalon, 15.35Bawo – Lonely Hearts Club, 16.15Lola Young – Woodsies, 16.30Sasha Keable – Lonely Hearts Club, 17.45Alanis Morissette – Pyramid stage, 18.15Orla Gartland – Avalon, 18.35Bashy – Lonely Hearts Club, 19.00Alt Blk Era – BBC Introducing, 19.30Busta Rhymes – Other stage, 20.30Kettama b2b Interplanetary Criminal – Glade, 20.45Bally Sagoo – Azaadi, 22.00The 1975 – Pyramid stage, 22.15Skream and Benga ft Sgt Pokes – Levels, 00.00Cybotron – Iicon, 01.00Amelie Lens – Lonely Hearts Club, 0130 (also Glade, Saturday, 01.30)Rafiki – Azaadi, 03.00
Steven Frayne – Astrolabe theatre, 12.00Ichiko Aoba – Park stage, 12.45Jade – Woodsies, 15.15TV on the Radio – Woodsies, 18.00Raye – Pyramid stage, 20.00Rachel Chinouriri – Avalon, 20.10Deftones – Other stage, 20.30Neil Young and the Chrome Hearts – Pyramid stage, 22.00Panjabi Hit Squad – Azaadi, 2200 (also Stonebridge Bar, Sunday, 19.30)Charli xcx – Other stage, 22.30Doechii –West Holts, 22.45Juan Atkins (ambient set) – Tree stage, 23.50Mozey – Lonely Hearts Club, 01.45
Carl Barât and Pete Doherty – Astrolabe theatre, 12.00Gurriers – Woodsies, 12.30 (also Left Field, Friday, 17.35)Abel Selaocoe and the Bantu Ensemble – West Holts, Sunday, 12.30Geordie Greep – Park stage, 12.45Sprints – Woodsies, 14.00Royel Otis – Park stage, 15.15Black Uhuru – West Holts, 15.30Rod Stewart – Pyramid stage, 15.45Turnstile – Other stage, 16.30Chic and Nile Rodgers – Pyramid stage, 18.00Noah Kahan – Pyramid stage, 19.45Olivia Rodrigo – Pyramid stage, 21.45The Prodigy – Other stage, 21.45Verraco – Assembly, 01.00