Glastonbury 2023 – latest: Elton John says thank-you to festival audience after farewell UK performance

... the musical equivalent of a “ludicrously capacious bag”.

Here they are, the UK’s sulkiest rock band! Kidding, Royal Blood are sounding very good this evening, and no surprise. When they’re not throwing tantrums, I reckon they’re probably one of the best live bands around, and they’re proving that right now. I’m enjoying drummer Ben Thatcher’s Arctic Monkey’s shirt, more so than the cheesy schtick where he pretends to be intimidating. He’s actually very chill in person.

Those chugging riffs frontman Mike Kerr grinds out are going down a storm. I would have loved a few more women on the main stage (headlining, preferably), but I’d never say Royal Blood were a poor choice for this slot. So far they’re absolutely smashing it.

“You guys f***ing knew it was us this whole time!” Dave Grohl jokes with the audience. “We’re not good at secrets.”

Telling the audience they look “beautiful”, he remarks: “We got one hour so we’ve gotta pack it in.”

My well-placed source tells me after “My Hero” we’re gonna get “Show Me How”, “Best of You” and “Everlong”.

A well-placed source tells me Paul McCartney is watching the Foos from the wings on the Pyramid Stage...

The sheer obviousness that Glastonbury’s mystery Pyramid Stage band The Churnups were, in fact, Foo Fighters, was such that I almost convinced myself it was all a big red herring. Was Rick Astley about to Rick-Roll us all? Were The Churnups another band entirely?

But no, it was the Foos, led by a beaming Dave Grohl as they rushed out onto the main stage at Worthy Farm, Somerset, and blasted through an adrenaline-pumping set of their biggest hits, including “Learn to Fly” and “The Pretender”.

Whatever you might think of the Foos, you can’t deny they put on one hell of a show. And kudos to their new drummer, Josh Freese, who is going hell-for-leather in his UK festival debut with the band. I imagine everyone will be thinking of the late Taylor Hawkins tonight. I reckon he’d approve of this.

I reckon we’re going to be REALLY surprised... naaaat. We all know who it is. RIGHT?

Tom Grennan has gone and bagged his second No 1 album with What Ifs and Maybes, right before he performs his first ever set at Glastonbury Festival tomorrow (Saturday 24 June).

“Number 1! Honestly, this means the world,” Tom told OfficialCharts. “This is an album that looks forward to the future, forward to life. I want this to be your album that you listen to, an album that gives you the determination and power to be who you want to be and do what you want to do. Thank you so much to everybody who’s bought and listened to the album, it means the world to me. I could cry, I’m so happy. Thank you so much, here’s to many more!”

Hopefully you caught my newsletter this morning, which included a brief natter with Tom about what to expect from his set tomorrow. If you missed it, shame on you, sign up to Now Hear This https://www.independent.co.uk/independent-premium#newsletters

I love a good pun, me, and there are few better places to spot them than on the flags waving at Glastonbury Festival.

My fab colleague Annabel has done a roundup of the best ones so far:

Sharleen Spiteri, frontwoman of the Scottish rock band Texas, appeared to address the controversy surrounding the all-male headliners at this year’s Glastonbury. When she revealed Guns N’ Roses and Arctic Monkeys as the headliners joining Elton John on the Pyramid Stage this weekend, Eavis told The Guardian that there was a “pipeline problem” preventing women from making it to headline status.

“We’re trying our best so the pipeline needs to be developed,” she said. “This starts way back with the record companies, radio. I can shout as loud as I like but we need to get everyone on board.”

She said the 2024 festival should see two women headline, including one already confirmed and one “close” to being confirmed.

Performing on the Pyramid Stage, Spiteri said Eavis was a “huge supporter” of women and suggesting anything otherwise was “not cool”.