Glastonbury 2024: SZA closes festival amid technical issues as attendees face huge queues to leave site

Performance artist Marina Abramovich, given a brief slot on the Pyramid Stage ahead of PJ Harvey, claims she wants the entire field to engage in seven minutes of silence while she stands onstage dressed as a giant peace symbol because “the world is a really s***** place”.

Bombay Bicycle Club, seeping over from the Other Stage, clearly didn’t get the memo, but the contemplative break also gives Glastonbury pause from Sugababes’ “Round Round” to recalibrate itself to Harvey’s enthralling modern-ancient aesthetic.

As Emily Eavis bangs a gong to mark the end of the silence, Polly Jean seems to rise from the leyline itself dressed as a haunted crow tree, and in these fittingly mystical environs, the latest stage in her career-long, Bowie-esque evolution reaches its immersive conclusion.

This is a pivotal set for The Last Dinner Party, on the Other Stage on Saturday afternoon at Glastonbury under a blazing sun. The London-based female five-piece’s rise has been meteoric – 15 months ago I saw them play in a windowless room above a pub in Camden, while last summer they performed in a far-flung tent at breakfast time on the Sunday. And here they are today, playing to a crowd of tens of thousands, with a No 1 album and a Brit Award under their collective belts.

I’d slightly expected their set to be this year’s Fred Again.. moment: a confluence of big crowd energy and beautiful weather during the DJ’s set on the same stage last year made it a fabled “Glastonbury moment” – a weird bit of Somerset alchemy that renders a performance bigger than the sum of its parts. Do The Last Dinner Party achieve this? No. It’s close at times and they brim with confidence. But too often, their set hovers where it could soar.

If archaeologists ever excavate the leyline reputed to flow beneath the Pyramid Stage field, it will likely look like this. A shimmering ocean of 200,000 luminous neon specks, undulating across the vale to the sound of twinkling synth rock.

Tonight’s spectacular preview comes courtesy of the vast array of LED wristbands handed out across the site and waved aloft for 2024’s reluctant record-breakers. As much as Chris Martin copiously thanks “the greatest city on earth” for the chance to play, Glastonbury is lucky to have him.

Coldplay’s Music of the Spheres tour hits Glastonbury almost three years in, having been through the UK twice already. The band reportedly had to be talked into a record-breaking fifth Glasto headline show that might reasonably be considered overkill. The Elton-rivalling crowd who make the utterly glorious “Viva La Vida” one of the most unifying and celebratory moments ever to emanate from this hallowed stage, though, are very much up for being overkilled.

This will mark SZA’s debut performance at Glastonbury. The 34-year-old R&B artist, whose real name is Solána Imani Rowe, began her music career in 2011, after co-writing hits including “Consideration” for Rihanna’s 2016 album Anti. SZA will close the festival on Sunday with her performance from 9:30pm-11:15pm. Her set on the Pyramid Stage will follow Janelle Monae from 5:45-6:45om and Burna Boy from 7:30-8:30pm. Country-pop legend Shania Twain will perform that afternoon in this year’s Legends Slot from 3:45-5pm.

Hello, it’s the Number One Shania Twain fan here. Obviously I’m gutted not to be on site for the country-pop queen’s long-overdue Legends Slot, but I’m consoling myself with the thought of seeing her at British Summer Time festival in July, instead.

If you are down at Worthy Farm, though, you’re going to have one hell of a time. Twain is the consumate entertainer and has an unmatched catalogue of bangers, from “Man! I Feel Like a Woman” to “That Don’t Impress Me Much” and “Honey, I’m Home”.

My pal Nicole Vassell says there is a LOT of leopard print on site right now, along with plenty of cowboy boots, hats and fringed denim jackets.

Giddy’up!

Shania Twain has attracted an absolutely enormous crowd for her anticipated Legends Slot, and this has to be the campest thing Glastonbury’s Pyramid Stage has seen in a good while, I am LIVING for this.