Sunday at Glastonbury 2024: tiny crowds, triumphs and plenty of fatigue

Posted On July 1, 2024July 1, 2024

There’s nothing quite like a Glastonbury Sunday. Exhaustion is at an all time high, a high that is impossible to truly explain unless you’re there and feeling it. But it’s a distinct type of tiredness; one that dips into pure silliness as ticket-holders attempt to muster what is probably their thousandth wind and go again.

Lime Garden sang it best as they opened up The Park Stage for the final day; “I’m sick and I’m tired, need to find a way to get back up and wired.” Still, the Glastonbury revellers found a way. All using up the dredges of whatever booze they had left. In fact, the kitchen-sink concoctions led to some of the most high-energy and exciting acts of the whole weekend.

However, once again in what emerged as a pattern for the 2024 lineup, that excitement was not delivered by the headliners. While SZA walked out to an embarrassingly small crowd – too small to adequately provide any vibes at all – the other stages beyond the Pyramid once again led the way. On the Other Stage, Avril Lavigne proved that she probably could have handled the top slot better, while Soft Play more than blew away the cobwebs for their enamoured audience with a wild early afternoon slot before The National delivered a career-spanning headline set.

In the world of new music, Sunday showed the promise of names like Lime Garden and NewDad, while legends like Kim Gordon, Baxter Dury and, of course, Shania Twain, showed the world how it’s done despite many slipping off to watch the football somewhere.

The festival was never going to go out with a bang. But it seems that bang came sometime around early evening, and was nothing but a little fizz by the time the Pyramid headliner walked out…

Lime Garden deliver polished promise

Levelling up from their Left Field slot last year, Brighton’s Lime Garden hit the Park Stage. Despite the 12:45pm early doors time slot, the crowd gathered excitedly, clutching coffees but swiftly changing to tinnies by the closing numbers. But when watching a set that slick, it was impossible to not be swept up and away in the festivities once more.

Major highlights came in the form of ‘Nepotism (Baby)’, complete with it’s call out to Kate Moss’ daughter Lila and the various other rich kids making the rounds of the festival. ‘I Want To Be You’ also sounded incredible out of the big speakers, putting in a solid bid for an even bigger stage next year. From start to finish, there wasn’t a note out of place, a dip in quality or a song the crowd would have skipped.

Avril Lavigne makes her overdue Glastonbury debut

When it comes to the ultimate set of the weekend, there will be plenty of people handing that honour to Avril Lavigne. The Canadian rocker who soundtracked many people’s childhood angst made her long-awaited UK return and Glastonbury debut with her first greatest hits record around the corner. Sales can’t have been harmed.

Oh boy, are there some great hits. Opening up with ‘Girlfriend’, the whole, huge crowd seemed to go into hyper mode, using bottles of mystery drinks as karaoke microphones, wasting no time getting up on shoulders, and flashing the BBC cameras on the big screens. As the singer ripped through hits like ‘What The Hell’, ‘Complicated’ and ‘I’m With You’, the energy only seemed to build and build. Delivering far better vibes than any of the headline slots and a crowd that seemed utterly locked in from the front rows to the back, Lavigne put in a case for maybe being the best loved act of the whole weekend if the sheer amount of flares set off is a good measure to go on.

Shania Twain welcomes you to the Twain Town Saloon

For her legends slot, Shania Twain went full campy country. As she transformed her stage into an old time saloon, the audience clearly got the memo as the Pyramid stage looked like a cowboy hat convention. Musically, it wasn’t the finest moment of the weekend, but the wellspring of goodwill just about saw it over the line.

Sadly, despite Shania arriving on stage at 15:45pm, the crowd would never get any bigger at the Pyramid Stage as some flocked to the football, others decided that they’d had their fill and headed home, and many made their way to more enticing prospects elsewhere. So, while there were question marks surrounding parts of Shania’s display, she certainly fared best on a tricky day over at the main stage.

Soft Play bring punk energy to the Park Stage

‘Punk’s dead’ was the track that Soft Play opened their blistering Other Stage set with but, alas, punk was very much alive today at Worthy Farm. The ruthlessly energetic, aggressive performance delivered by everybody’s favourite Kent duo. There was some scepticism when the band remerged with a new name last year; people wondering whether the duo could retain the same spark that made their early material special. Well, their performance at Glastonbury certainly suggested that the band have still ‘got it’.

Soft Play managed to pack a lot into their 45 minute set – though, admittedly, one of their songs is only 15 seconds long. Across the setlist, the band treated the crowd to a real mixture of material, ranging from earlier tracks like ‘Beauty Quest’ or ‘The Hunter’ to the heartfelt most recent release ‘Everything and Nothing’, which was a particularly emotional moment in the set for drummer and vocalist Isaac Holman. Notably, though, there was a distinct lack of material from their third record Acts of Fear and Love.

Regardless of the setlist, the audience at Other Stage seemed to equally receptive to every tune. A particular highlight within the sat came towards the middle, when the duo brought out fellow punk duo Bob Vylan for a particularly raucous rendition of ‘One More Day Won’t Hurt’, which Bob Vylan remixed in 2020.

Mdou Moctar puts all other guitarists to shame

Perhaps the most iconic moment in guitar music came in 1969 when Jimi Hendrix played Woodstock. While nobody could ever hope to match the genius of the psych rock pioneer, Mdou Moctar came very close over on the Park Stage – they even had a left-handed white Fender Stratocaster too. Mahamadou Souleymane (the man behind the Mdou Moctar moniker) has grown a reputation among the finest modern Tuareg guitarists, but his talents must be viewed in a live setting to really be believed.

Moctar managed to make the most complex guitar compositions appear as easy to play as a kazoo; to the suspected annoyance of any budding guitarists in the audience. Journeying through the vibrant, ethereal world of Tuareg guitar music and his home country of Niger, Moctar managed to get a fatigued Sunday afternoon crowd moving at the Park Stage. Initially, the audience was fairly sparse for the band, as their set clashed with Shania Twain, but as they went on more and more punters were drawn in by the captivating sounds of Moctar’s guitar playing.

By the end of the 45-minute set, everyone within The Park Stage vicinity was on their feet. People were dancing, clapping along and embracing each other in a mutual love of great music, as Moctar stood at the front of the crowd barrier, treating the front row to a close up of his incredible guitar playing. I don’t know about you, but I think that sounds heaps better than standing in a packed-out Pyramid audience, watching Shania Twain perform one of her many hit. 

Kim Gordon reaffirms her legendary status

Officially, this year’s legends spot was taken up by Shania Twain. However, Sunday also played host to a legend of the alternative world: Kim Gordon. From her early days within the no wave scene of New York, to the incredible discography of Sonic Youth and the brilliance of her recent solo work, the quality and breadth of Gordon’s musical talent has always been clear. As is to be expected, then, her live performance at the Woodsies tent was equally as impressive. 

Initially, Gordon was met with a undeservedly small crowd, which certainly did not reflect her reputation nor her performance. Despite major line-up clashes putting something of a dampener on the atmosphere of her set, Gordon seemed largely unbothered, putting on an expectedly incredible performance regardless.

Delivering a variety of tracks from her most recent record, The Collective, as well as 2019’s No Home Record, Gordon reaffirmed her powerful stage presence and songwriting talents – bookending the set with the fantastic track ‘BYE BYE’. Despite the somewhat sparse crowd, the songwriter seemed to have those who were in attendance in some sort of trance, which will likely last longer than the festival itself.

Nia Archives gets the crowds moving

Dance music has been an unavoidable aspect of Glastonbury this year, and quite rightly too. You can’t seem to walk more than ten paces without hearing the energetic sounds of drum and bass, garage, techno, jungle, and everything in-between. However, the ultimate dance moment came just before Sunday’s headliners, as Nia Archives treated audiences at the West Holt Stage to a fist-pumping, jaw-swinging dance set. 

Featuring some of her best-loved tracks, like ‘Mash Up the Dance’ as well as remixes of Charli XCX and Sophie Ellis-Bextor, the Bradford-born DJ and producer seemed to have the hoards of peoples at West Holt wrapped right around her finger.

The crowds on Sunday night can often be weary after a long weekend of trekking up to Strummerville and The Park Stage, but you would never guess by the dance moves being showcased at Nia Archives’ set that most people in the audience were nursing sore legs and blistered feet.

SZA gets beaten by rock

“I feel sorry for her,” I messaged the editors during SZA’s set. That’s not something that should be said about any set across one of the most joyous weekends in the musical calendar, but to be saying it about the headline slot proves that something has gone very, very wrong. In general, 2024’s festival was marred by an insane schedule of clashes.

Every hour of the day demanded serious decisions to be made and priorities to be considered as some of the most exciting or beloved names all fell into the same time slots, across opposite ends of the expansive park. SZA was one of the victims for sure as her Sunday Pyramid slot clashed with not only The National on the Other Stage, but Justice on West Holts and James Blake on Woodsies, and a certain football game a few hours prior. After two other pop headliners in the form of Dua Lipa and Coldplay, it’s easy to see why it seemed like the majority of festival-goers went elsewhere.

But has there ever in the history of Glastonbury been a headliner so badly attended? Even as the American singer stepped onto stage, people could have wandered right up to the front. It was so quiet that there was actually phone service in the arena. It was so quiet that people were whispering that they hoped she’d be okay, that the shock of walking out and seeing only a few thousand people in contrast to Coldplay’s 100,000 plus crowd didn’t upset her too much.

It’s a genuine shame. Musically, she sounded stunning, despite technical teething problems with muffled vocal effects, and her stage dressing was by far the best out of all of the headliners, but the bottom-line is that SZA simply isn’t big enough in the UK to have warranted that slot. Last year they put Lana Del Rey, a far bigger name who headlines plenty of other festivals, on the Other Stage, so it’s confusing as to why the Eavis’ decided SZA could handle this slot. Hopefully, it’s a lesson learned for next year to have a more diverse spread of headline genres and consider the breadth and diversity of their attendees’ tastes, but it’s a shame that the lesson came at the expense of what should have been a major moment for the singer.

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