Glastonbury’s most iconic acts to ever grace the stage

David Bowie, 2000

The late and great Ziggy Stardust performed twice at Glastonbury, once in its first ever year in 1971, and again in 2000. Though Bowie himself is known for weaving characters and musical masks intermittently throughout his discography, he looked strikingly vulnerable as he walked onto stage for the closing set of that year.

Bowie had been waning from relevance throughout the nineties, with several underwhelming albums that paled in comparison to his work of yesteryear. Glastonbury was outside of his comfort zone, but was an ideal opportunity to reaffirm his status as one of the best songwriters to ever live.

The BBC weren’t authorised to televise his full act, however, meaning much of it was left unseen by most until recently. Playing a night of hits and career-defining bangers, Bowie’s 2000 performance is often cited as his best ever, and one of the strongest headliners in the event’s history. Plus, look at that magnificent mane.

Radiohead, 1997

Speaking of bands who took to the stage straight after dropping a banging album, Radiohead’s 1997 headline came after the release of the era-defining OK Computer. Riddled with technical issues and nervous energy, several members of the band have since said they thought it was the ‘worst performance of their lives’.

https://youtu.be/15kZdLaIU7I

Most who heat it would disagree with that, though, with many people pointing to this performance as the best the festival has ever produced. Glastonbury founder Michael Eavis has even stated that its his favourite performance ever. Not bad.

Radiohead would return two decades later, with Thom Yorke looking a little more long-haired and weathered. They’d play a set of well-established bangers and close out with ‘Creep’, their breakout hit the group notoriously avoid playing live. Glastonbury is all about crowd-pleasing and we’re glad the song got some love.

Arctic Monkeys, 2007

Alex Turner’s Sheffield guitar-based band have become a staple of British music, but in 2007 they were the plucky wide-eyed newcomers. At the ripe age of 21, Alex was singing out to a massive headline-sized crowd about club bouncers and slot machines. The band would return again in 2013 to reel off some of their ‘AM’ material, an album that saw them find new waves of success oversees.

You’ll be hard pressed to find another band who have the same intense energy as early Arctic Monkeys, and there’s an amateurish charm to this first performance that hasn’t quite been replicated by the band since.

https://youtu.be/yDgbt4SAjIc

Many of the tracks on this original setlist are rarely heard live anymore, as the Arctic Monkeys tend to gravitate toward their more recent, slower sound. It’s lucky we’ve got this to watch back, so we can relive 2007 whenever we please.

Jay Z, 2008

The criticism that surrounded Jay-Z’s Glastonbury set in 2008 was, in hindsight, pretty ridiculous. Just the idea of an American hip-hop star being put at the forefront of a British music festival was enough to make some rise up in uproar, most notably Oasis guitarist Noel Gallagher.

Jay-Z put all the critics to shame when he performed, however, poking fun at the conservative critics who’d decided that Glastonbury was rooted exclusively to guitar music. He opened his set with a tongue-in-cheek cover of ‘Wonderwall’, Oasis’ most recognised song, and proceeded to tease those who ‘aren’t fans of hip-hop’.