Pulp, Charli xcx, Neil Young, RAYE & more: highlights from Saturday at Glastonbury 2025

It’s tricky to point to another year in Glasto history where two Saturday night headliners have been as disparate - sonically and culturally - as Neil Young and Charli xcx. One, a classic, legacy songwriter who’s famously tech-averse; the other, a thoroughly modern electro-pop artist who’s mastered the art of a viral moment and made social media her playground. While there’s a good argument to be made for her topping the Pyramid tonight, in a way, her billing on The Other Stage feels strangely apt: a star that has always been slightly outside the mainstream, it’s only right that her crowning moment is, too.

Since last year’s ‘BRAT’-mania - at the peak of which was Charli’s area-shutting ‘Party Girl’ DJ set in these same fields - the world (or the internet, at least) has been watching her every move, the lore around her zeitgeist-creating latest album growing with each remix, guest appearance, and TikTok dance. It’s with a knowing wink, then, that she opens this evening’s hugely-anticipated headline set by blaring Britpop classic ‘Bittersweet Symphony’ through the stage’s speakers - an acknowledgement that this neon-green splashed moment in time is both her pinnacle, and a potentially inimitable era. Having spent the past few months wrangling with how best to move beyond ‘BRAT’, teasing its demise via an increasingly-tattered curtain backdrop, tonight Charli opts to - quite literally - take a match to the whole thing, rejecting fireworks or traditional pyro in favour of her very own flag-burning ceremony.

And that’s not the only thing she destroys, either: all weekend, rumours and speculation about who’ll be joining Charli on stage abound - will Lorde follow her own secret set by duetting on ‘Girl, so confusing’? Will the HAIM sisters be our trio of ‘Apple’ girls? Will fiancé (and The 1975 member) George Daniels make an appearance? The answer to all of the above, as it turns out, is an emphatic ‘no’: aside from Gracie Abrams’ 30 seconds of ‘Apple’ dance screen time, she commands the overflowing field entirely alone. It’s a move that is perhaps, for some, disappointing - given how heaving her little black book must be, expectations for all sorts of A-list appearances were sky-high. But in refusing to share her spotlight, Charli actually makes even more of a statement: yes, star-studded collabs and this sudden surge of popularity are great. But she’s been doing this for a decade already, and it’s not her problem if the rest of the world are only just catching up. To paraphrase the woman herself: “this is really fucking cool. But not as cool as me, bitch.”

It doesn’t matter where or when RAYE seems to perform, she always manages to be utterly spellbinding. Returning to the Pyramid Stage this year for the Saturday sunset slot, her performance tonight is a true masterclass in being an artist, made even more powerful when you recall her backstory. To think that she was ever put on the back burner by her former record label feels truly baffling, especially during a moment as grand and gorgeous as this.

This evening - backed by a fully suited-and-booted band and appearing against a red, glitzy backdrop that feels more suited to a residency in Vegas, or ‘60s TV show than Worthy Farm - she’s equally parts impressive and irreverent, moving swiftly from belting out the high notes to giggling at people in the crowd and running around the stage bare-foot in her sequinned black dress. Her energy is infectious throughout and there’s not an ounce of inauthenticity to be found here. From her on-stage arrival (in a box marked with the message ‘caution: contents may be fragile’), to the heartbreaking introduction of ‘Ice Cream Man’ (which has an array of crowd members welling up) via the giddy dance-centric back end of her set (which nods to her former self as a featured vocalist), each of her moves are so compelling and truly human that it’s impossible not to fall for her. She's a super star in so many ways.

When it comes to Glastonbury, Pulp have a history with surprises. Today is, Jarvis Cocker tells us, 30 years and four days since the Sheffield icons first headlined the festival, filling in last minute for The Stone Roses after John Squire broke his shoulder blade and collarbone in a mountain biking accident. Today, though, the Britpop-era band’s appearance on the Pyramid Stage is - supposedly, anyway - even more of a revelation, as they fill the slot that’s been advertised under the moniker ‘Patchwork’. Walking onstage shielded by a rain poncho-clad, line of people, any remaining doubts as to who this pseudonym could belong to (names as disparate as Chappell Roan and Mumford & Sons have been swirling, after all) are immediately dispelled: what else could these archetypal campers precede but opener and Pulp’s astute festival anthem, ‘Sorted For E’s & Whizz’?

What follows is - as evidenced by the field-full of people in attendance - another headline-worthy performance, full of references to an intertwined past (“you could say these songs were born at Glastonbury”, Jarvis says of both ‘E’s & Whizz’ and ‘Disco 2000’, which had their live debut on this very stage), as well as nods to a thriving present, courtesy of choice cuts from this month’s ‘More’, an album barely three weeks old.

Between the archive footage and photos projected on the stage’s backdrop, the noticeably intergenerational crowd (people who were likely here then, and are here with their children now) and Jarvis’ perfectly circular decision to rip up the shopping list/manifesto he originally read out on that now-iconic night in 1995, Pulp’s ‘surprise’ set comes loaded with one overarching messaged: “History is now.” Apparently, this is the best they can do - and it’s more than enough.

For anyone who wondered what a Weezer crowd might look like at Glastonbury in 2025, the answer is very different to what you might expect. Despite having last appeared in Pilton all the way back in 1995, the Los Angeles quartet are met with an eclectic but dedicated audience of all ages - a chunk of whom likely hadn’t even been born when they last played - primed to lose their minds along to their iconic offerings. The band - while fairly quiet in terms of on-stage banter - return the favour with what equates to a glorious greatest hits set, running through breezily familiar cuts from the ‘Blue Album’ and ‘Pinkerton’, which sound storming in today’s blazing sunshine. Unsurprisingly, it’s ‘Buddy Holly’ that causes the most fuss though, with people clambering up onto their mates’ shoulders for the guitar anthem in what’s a very tangible hit of serotonin.

Now, Jade Thirlwall is no stranger to big crowds, nor big shows. As part of Little Mix, she played stadiums up and down the UK; just earlier this year, she delivered a jaw-dropping, night-stealing performance at the 2025 BRITs. But, despite their astronomical success and record-breaking accolades, Glastonbury was one career milestone the group never ticked off. And it’s a CV omission that makes JADE’s performance today all the more special: though she earnestly acknowledges how much she owes her former bandmates, her admission into the extended family of Worthy Farm feels like an acknowledgment that, now, her ever-intriguing solo career is operating on a whole new level.

Take the fact that Ncuti Gatwa is here at Woodsies to introduce the set (because, well, why not?), or her admirable dedication to donning a comically large fur hat; look at the inspired appearance of Aussie party-starting duo Confidence Man (who perfectly match her freak on yet-to-be-released collab track ‘Gossip’), or her no-holds-barred cover mashup of Madonna’s ‘Frozen’ and N-Trance’s ‘Set You Free’: every move here is considered, yes, but still refreshingly free from the constraints she worked under for so long. And what’s even more uplifting is just how open to this evolution her fans seem to be - obviously, a mid-set Little Mix medley is met with ear-piercing screams and avid enthusiasm, but it’s for epic closer ‘Angel Of My Dreams’ that the loudest cheers (and more than a few tears, Jade’s included) are reserved. The embodiment of everything that modern pop should be - experimental, authentic, and emotive - it’s only a matter of time before she conquers the Pyramid, too.

While much has been said of Kneecap’s appearance today, there’s something apt about placing Bob Vylan on the bill immediately before them. Undeniably one of the most potent forces in UK punk right now, the duo utilise their slot on the West Holts stage - which is already considerably full ahead of Kneecap’s slot later on - to their full, politically potent advantage, all while keeping one eye on the fact they’re being live-streamed on telly. Now, with the gift of hindsight, the story of this set is a very different one, dominated by headlines regarding their ‘Death to the IDF’ chant, which took place after DIY had left the arena. But, in an era where it's so easy to focus on 90 second soundbites and context-lacking clips, it’s equally important to highlight the rest of their performance, and the other powerful messages at play.

Opener ‘I Heard You Want Your Country Back’ is a full throttle explosion of a track, while their backdrop changes continuously to display different messages of solidarity (‘Women’s rights are human rights’) and outrage ('It’s been 8 years and still no justice for Grenfell’). Later on, new offering ‘Slam Dunk’ comes named for their recent rumoured tangle at the event last year. It’s not all in-your-face energy, crowd-surfing and outspoken chants though; in a perfect illustration of their multi-faceted nature as an outfit, vocalist Bob welcomes his daughter onstage for a performance of ‘Dream Big’, before hugging her and assuring her that she can do anything she puts her mind to. Regardless of the headlines that have come since, it's important to remember: this is a band that care deeply about the entwined tangle of the personal and political, and that’s why today - for better or for worse - is likely the biggest moment of their career so far.

[This review was edited on Tuesday 1st July.]

Blowing away any lingering Friday night cobwebs, Nilüfer Yanya’s turn on West Holts comes just days ahead of the release of her ‘Dancing Shoes’ EP - and, although they might still be slightly jaded, that’s precisely the energy the crowd require this sunny afternoon. Zipping through her collection of expansive alt-rock offerings, she keeps stage chat to a minimum in favour of letting her latest album - 2024’s ‘My Method Actor’ - do the talking. At points grunge-flecked and gnarly, at others all ethereal vocal effects, meandering sax lines, and skittering beats, it’s an eclectic set that feels entirely in line with the genre-spanning programming Glasto so prides itself on.

Tags: Charli XCX, Neil Young, Raye, Glastonbury, Festivals, Reviews, Live Reviews