Saturday at Glastonbury 2025: A seismic day in the festival’s history

Posted On June 29, 2025June 29, 2025

Saturday at Glastonbury 2025 was a day for both togetherness and division. While political statements and protests united the crowds for a common cause, there was ultimately a big choice to make: team Charli XCX or team Neil Young.

Every friend you bumped into asked you that as the lines were drawn and the camps were split. It’s iconic booking, but it would have been even more iconic had Deftones not pulled out, originally meaning that the Other Stage crowd would have transitioned directly from the metal band into Brat. But either way, the two sides each delivered exactly what was expected of them. The only slight let down was that they delivered exactly what was expected in the surprise-free sense, too.

However, much more pertinent surprises unfurled elsewhere. The theme of the day was undeniably political. West Holts was the epicentre of that as Kneecap’s controversial set went down while the BBC refused to show it live. Throughout the weekend, artists from all genres on all stages have used their platform to speak out about the genocide happening in Gaza but as Kneecap are facing first-hand terror charges for exactly that, their set felt more like a protest than a performance, bringing a huge crowd together that went far beyond fans of the band.

Prior to their performance, Bob Vylan made up for the lack of Kneecap live broadcast with a set that saw them yell, “Death to the IDF” and “Free Palestine”. This has swiftly been condemned by festival organisers, marking a momentous turning point in Glastonbury’s history. While it might not have fully been reconciled on the ground as revellers enjoy the sun and relative calm of a sunny Worthy Farm, it seems certain that this controversy will be spoken about for years to come.

And that sun has certainly also had a sapping effect. It’s boring to talk about the weather, but it has been a scorcher throughout. However, the crowds have still defiantly powered on. As Patchwork was revealed to be Pulp, not a second was spared before people were up on shoulders and the whole field was dancing. It was the same excitement to be found around the whole site as the festivities continued. 

Kneecap

Waking up on Saturday meant one thing, and everyone knew it. Go back a few weeks ago and I’d bet a million, billion, trillion pounds that the 55-year-old guy from Essex who stood in front of me at the Cider Bus wouldn’t have a clue who the Irish language rap trio, Kneecap, were. But now, given the controversy of a band member being hit with terrorism charges, the prime minister calling for their set to be cancelled, and even Sharon Osbourne getting up in arms about them – he’s telling everyone that they need to be there. 

The band were set to appear at 4pm for the set that the BBC were refusing to show live. By 3pm, the West Holts area was so packed that they had to shut it off. Palestinian flags were waving as everyone waited to hear what political statement the band would make, and they weren’t shy with them, calling the Israeli authorities war criminals, chanting “fuck Keir Starmer” and calling for even more people to come down and support outside their next court date. In terms of the music, the people watching on the outskirts didn’t really care about that. But given the genocide going on, and the way artists are now being silenced for speaking on it, there are bigger things at hand than that. 

Amyl and the Sniffers

However, the best speech of the day didn’t come from them. It came from Amy Taylor, the front person that truly never misses. Touching on everything from colonialism, education and the way the current state of the world will only worsen with the growth of AI, her comment was short, sharp and clearly the in-the-moment spontaneous articulation that can only come from a genuinely in-tune and intelligent artist.

Follow that up with an absolute rager set of all their finest hits and it was clear that not only had fans had their fix, but new ones had been won as, just like at any Sniffers set, you could look around and see people watching on with awe as there is something so utterly hypnotic about Taylor’s power and energy as she quipped, “I wanna say, its such a crazy time to be alive right now, its so fucking weird, the left and the right politicians don’t believe in anything at all between the two of them,” she said. “They believe in nothing. I’m thinking about the people in Palestine. All our governments — we’re from Australia — they’re doing jack shit, and I know yourds are doing jack shit.”

She continued: “I think about schooling and I think about media, and we don’t know learn anything about colonisation. We don’t learn nothing about sex education. We don’t learn any of the right things, and we don’t see any of the right things in the media.”

Father John Misty

Only Father John Misty could play a nine minute long slow jam and get away with it. He closed his Woodsies set with ‘Mahashmashana’, the opening title track from his recent album, and it was so beautiful that seemingly no one had an issue.

Even if they did, no one would ever dare suggest it to the band’s enduring cult-leader type energy. Some artists just have a presence and Tillman is one of them, whether he’s playing seductive songs or sweet songs, you feel hooked in, captured, indoctrinated whether you like it or not and even on an afternoon full of incredible options of people to see, like a HAIM secret set going on elsewhere, that was no different. 

Charli XCX

A decision had to be made: Charli or Neil. Brat or the old man. Far Out divided and conquered and I landed in the Other Stage crowd, doing the ‘Apple’ dance with an audience to big that there was rumours that the festival had literally expanded the arena just for her, not letting people camp as close as they normally do for fear of how many people were about to be there, doing the ‘Apple’ dance too.

It was a great set, don’t get me wrong. It was flawless and fun. But it was the exact same set that Charli has been delivering at festival after festival for a while now. If you’ve seen it once, you’ve seemingly seen it all. Given how energetic it is, it’s hard to truly tire of that, but surely Glastonbury deserved something special?

Fcukers

Darting briefly from the Pyramid stage to the sweat-box that is Woodsies’ tent, New York City’s Fcukers were raising the energy on a sticky morning in Somerset. Delivering a commanding performance to the growing crowd in the tent, the electronic outfit curated the perfect introduction to their unique brand of indie house electronica.

Their final track ‘Bon Bon’ was, inevitably, the highlight of the set, succeeding in getting even the most hungover and sunburnt of audience members on their feet and dancing to the rhythm. By the size of the crowd for what was a relatively early set, it seems as though more and more people are being turned on to the unique brilliance of the NYC outfit. 

John Fogerty

Glastonbury has seen its fair share of legends, yet John Fogerty still seemed like a pretty special inclusion in this year’s line-up. The Creedence Clearwater Revival songwriter defined the sounds of swamp rock back in the 1960s, providing a soundtrack to the emergence of the hippie age and anti-war movement over in the States. At Glastonbury, he appeared before the crowd as an 80-year-old man, still with a beaming smile on his face at the act of sharing his music with the world.

Joined onstage by two of his sons, Fogerty fostered a beautiful atmosphere within the Pyramid crowd, treating audiences to a deluge of his most beloved tracks – highlights coming in the form of ‘Bad Moon Rising’, ‘Fortunate Son’, and, of course, ‘Proud Mary’ – and more than a few improvisational jams alongside his sons. At one point, the songwriter used the very same guitar that had been with him at Woodstock back in 1969, reflecting his incredible legacy and making him one of two Woodstock alumni to take to the Pyramid stage on Saturday. 

Pulp

By Saturday afternoon, the cat was well and truly out of the bag when it came to the mysterious ‘Patchwork’ slot on the Pyramid stage. On the 30th anniversary of their iconic Pyramid performance, how could it be anyone other than Pulp? Declaring a ‘Pulp Summer’ at the top of the set, Jarvis Cocker guided the band through a blistering, unrelenting set which incorporated Pulp anthems both new and old.

A stripped-back ‘Something Changed’ caused a few tears to be shed in the crowd, many of them from yours truly, while the triumphant finale of ‘Common People’ saw the packed-out Pyramid crowd erupt into absolute euphoria. As far as secret sets go, they don’t come any better than this; Pulp easily could have headlined the festival. 

Neil Young

As the sun set over Worthy Farm, the crowd was divided by the clash between Charli XCX and Neil Young. On the Pyramid stage, Young amassed a smaller crowd than the standards for a Saturday headliner, but the legendary songwriter seemed to use that more intimate atmosphere to his benefit. In a bare-bones set, with no light show of video accompaniment, Young placed ultimate focus on his music and songwriting, fostering an incredible atmosphere of togetherness and unity within the crowd.

‘Rockin’ in the Free World’ felt particularly poignant as the encore track, taking Glastonbury back to its noble roots and doing away with all the superfluous inclusions of the modern age. The set was plagued with miscommunications and uncertainty since before it was officially released, with Young engaging in a continued battle with the “corporate control” of the BBC but, in the end, he pulled off an utterly unforgettable headline performance.

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