All the action from Friday at Glastonbury 2024 

Walk around Glastonbury and there's one name on everybody's lips. Once every few minutes you'll spot someone in a homemade bit of lime green merch; around the campsites, groups of mates discuss whether something is or isn't 'Brat' (breakfast margaritas - very Brat; early nights - so not Brat). Unsurprisingly then, there's an absolutely heaving queue when the woman of the hour takes to the far-too-small Levels stage for a late night Partygirl DJ spot. Most people can't see anything and yet the entire field dances like they're front row. Though it's a club set and not a live show, Charli knows how to make it a moment, and so we get Robyn appearing to deliver 'With Every Heartbeat' and 'Dancing On My Own', which is remixed live by Romy. In a just world, we'll be painting the Pyramid Brat green next year for an XCX supremacy.

To say that Dua Lipa got the headlining memo is an understatement. As the star takes to the Pyramid Stage tonight, she offers up a masterclass in how to top a festival, all while delivering one of the most impressive pop displays that the Pyramid has seen in years.

Kicking off with the darkly kinetic ‘Training Season’ (after a nod to Primal Scream’s ‘Loaded’ via their Wild Angels sample), her set moves deftly from massive hit to massive hit, with her full-blown choreography looking effortless and slick And even while the set itself is perfectly executed (save for a moment during a cover of Tame Impala’s ‘The Less I Know The Better’, when her special guest Kevin Parker stumbles over the words to his own song), it’s still fused with a sense of gleeful Britishness. She spends several minutes revelling in the crowd’s glow while explaining how long she’s dreamed of this moment, while several songs see her dive offstage to join fans at the barrier; for her full-blown performance of ‘Levitating’ (which boasts the first of several firework displays) there’s a glorious moment where lyrics “dance my arse off” appear in towering letters behind her, to further seal her reign as the UK’s premier pop icon.

For all the spectacle is an outstanding watch - in moments the packed Pyramid Field feels more akin to a club, while for her Silk City collab ‘Electricity’, the Pyramid itself crackles with electrical lights - it’s also proof that Dua really can belt it out with the best of them: ‘Radical Optimism’ closing cut ‘Happy For You’ gets its first live outing and shows off her brilliantly gutsy vocals, while her hair whips around in a full blown 80s rock moment. Capping off a set that’s sure to solidify her as modern pop royalty, those at Worthy Farm won’t be forgetting this performance for a long time to come.

At this point, more than 20 years into a treasured career, LCD Soundsystem have pretty much done it all, but a spot this high up the Pyramid - warming up the Friday crowd for headliner Dua Lipa - marks their biggest slot yet. It's a fittingly slow and steady trajectory for a band whose breakthrough hit 'Losing My Edge' was an musing on getting old and irrelevant; served up today in it's eight-minute, slow-building glory, it makes for perhaps the most gloriously weird banger to grace the stage all weekend but such is the beauty of James Murphy and co's canon. These are songs that disregard all the rules of conventional hit-making - they're lengthy and elongated, with sprawling beginnings that gradually creep up the energy scale. But from an early 'I Can Change' through the squelching grit of 'Tribulations' to the ultimate 'wait for the the drop' moment in 'Dance Yrself Clean', the band are masters of their craft - a craft imitated by many but perfected by few. They end, as is custom, with 'All My Friends': a perfect, joyful moment at any festival, but one that's in its element in the golden hour glow of the Pyramid. 22 years ago, Murphy feared he was losing his edge - he couldn't have been more wrong.

In terms of surprise guests, you don’t get much better than a former Pyramid headliner serving up one of their biggest hits. Bringing on Damon Albarn for collab track ‘Heaven’ was already a glorious early evening coup from Bombay Bicycle Club during their Other Stage set; that he treated the crowd to a bit of ‘Tender’ following a pro-Palestine, pro-voting speech was a fully fledged Glastonbury Moment.

If you engineered a machine to pump out the perfect festival band, you still probably wouldn’t get close to the level of vibes that Confidence Man bring to an absolutely heaving Other Stage. Absolutely ridiculous in the best possible way, their balance of party bangers and deadpan, silly choreo is like a one-band mash up of everything an afternoon crowd entering into drunken giddy evening territory need. Complete with matching outfits (exaggerated Madonna cone bra included), a DJ wearing essentially an enormous face-covering lampshade, and able to hit the exact sweet spot of irony, they’re an easy early contender for set-of-the-weekend. They do the robot, they douse themselves in water, they’re hot and stupid and brilliant. As ‘Cool’ states: “It’s the party of the year.”

It’s not surprising that West Holts is so busy this afternoon: a double bill of Chicago rapper Noname and UK pop royalty Sugababes is enough to entice the best of us in that direction. It’s the former’s set that we manage to squeeze in for though (the field is officially declared at capacity right before the ‘babes take to the stage), and her rare UK appearance doubles as a glorious - if somewhat understated - run-through of her back catalogue, that sees her somewhat taken aback at the crowd’s size. Cuts from her recent album ‘Sundial’ even manage to finally coax the sun out from behind the clouds, so it’s a win on all fronts.

Making history as the first K-pop band to grace Worthy Farm, SEVENTEEN’s crowd may be small but it’s dedicated. In the middle are a hardcore throng who relish the booking; on the edge a lot of curious bystanders. Though it marks a new choice for the festival, the group have a show worthy of the Pyramid - if a big festival set can be measured by the visual smorgasbord it presents, then they’re a 13-piece, highly-choreographed unit with a show that never bores. It’s tightly managed and practiced like a pop show but there’s a looseness and riffy edge that’s perhaps surprising to the uninitiated. If N-Sync tripled in number and upped the wholesome factor, you’d get somewhere close. To illustrate the point, one track finds the crowd bouncing to chants of “very nice”. Props, also, to the woman fist pumping with a carton of oat milk - a fitting analogy.

Having spent the spring supporting Olivia Rodrigo, Remi Wolf finds her true people on the Woodsies stage: people who’ll give ‘Toro’’s saucy climax (in all versions of the word) the uproarious cheer it deserves. A true performer in every sense, she serves up a cover of ‘Valerie’ and spends its musical break twirling joyously like a kid that’s had too many e-numbers; at other points, the tone gets far more PG-13, Wolf fully leaning into the cheekiness of her lyrics and dropping in a chorus of Shaggy’s ‘It Wasnt Me’ for good measure. She’s part liberated child energy, part overtly horny adult woman. Blessed with truly world class vocal range, it’s all dished up in an effervescent package that deserves to be on the Pyramid before too long.

While Glastonbury’s Pyramid is, of course, renowned for the outstretched crowd that gathers for its headliners and secret sets, it’s equally an undeniably special place for its performers. Much like RAYE’s performance last year, Olivia Dean’s set today may be early in the day, but it’s clear to see just how much it all means to the singer. “I’ve been dreaming about playing on this stage since I was 8 years old so this is a really big moment for me,” she grins, in the midst of airing cuts from her 2023 debut ‘Messy’ to gorgeous effect. Whether through the more slow-paced love song that is ‘UFO’ or in her infectiously upbeat moments like ‘Ladies Room’ or ‘Dive’, she’s a performer that oozes charisma and confidence, but still bears an excitable streak. It’s ‘Carmen’, however, that stands out most today; with a photo of her grandmother stitched in the middle of the heart-shaped bodice she’s wearing, she dedicates the track to the woman herself, and others from the Windrush generation. It’s an emotional conclusion to a stunning outing from the Londoner.

“Welcome to drag brunch! Why are you all awake?!” hollers Lynks, in a perfectly cheeky introduction to Glasto’s first day proper. Taking to the Park Stage after the fitness antics of Joe Wicks, the bemasked icon offers up a very different kind of HIIT workout, swapping lunges and squats for outrageous outfits and perfectly coordinated dance routines with their dance group Lynks Shower Gel. Predictably in-your-face and on the nose, their set is a glorious way to start the day, with tracks from their debut ‘ABOMINATION’ packing in even more sass on stage. Older cut ‘How to Make a Béchamel Sauce in 10 Steps (With Pictures)’ provides a saucy highlight (in both ways), before a particularly high octane rendition of ‘Str8 Acting’ closes their set with the kind of giddy dance party that’s got no right taking place this early doors.

Dua Lipa photo: Anna Barclay

Tags: Dua Lipa, Glastonbury, Festivals, Reviews, Live Reviews