Coldplay to break record with Glastonbury performance

Coldplay are set to become the first act to headline Glastonbury Festival five times.

The Saturday performance marks the British band’s first Pyramid Stage appearance since 2016, and it will see them overtake The Cure, who have headlined the slot four times.

Frontman Chris Martin, guitarist Jonny Buckland, drummer Will Champion and bassist Guy Berryman will follow pop superstar Dua Lipa, who headlined the festival on Friday with a string of hits, impressive choreography and several outfit changes.

The singer described the experience as “the maddest night of my life” as she treated revellers to a selection of her popular tracks, including These Walls, Break My Heart, Hallucinate, Electricity, Physical and Don’t Start Now.

“This has been a massive dream come true,” Dua Lipa said before adding, “Glastonbury, I love you.”

Earlier on the Pyramid Stage, Paul Heaton and Norman Cook reunited to perform a Housemartins classic.

Heaton surprised festival-goers by bringing out his former bandmate Cook, better known as Fatboy Slim, to perform their 1986 hit Happy Hour.

Damon Albarn also made a surprise appearance at the festival, asking the crowd whether the war in Gaza was “unfair” and suggesting Joe Biden was too old to be US president when he was invited on stage by Bombay Bicycle Club’s Jack Steadman.

Neo-soul singer Olivia Dean dedicated her song Carmen to her grandmother and other members of the Windrush generation while wearing a T-shirt with her grandmother’s face on it.

The festival also saw British actress Florence Pugh reveal she is “tiptoeing” towards directing and producing films, as she appeared during a Dune: Part Two Q&A.

Meanwhile, Charlotte Church sang ‘Free Palestine’ with a crowd of hundreds as she led an improvised number during an intimate and politically charged appearance at Glastonbury.

The Welsh singer’s performance at Worthy Farm comes months after she needed police protection after attending a pro-Palestine march in London, with her family also threatened.

Other festivities have included a tribute to the late DJ Annie Nightingale, the first female presenter on BBC Radio 1, who died in January at the age of 83.

And mere days after the birth of his fourth child, Joe Wicks led a mass fitness session on the Pyramid Stage.

On Sunday, American R&B singer SZA will headline the festival, with country music star Shania Twain to play the coveted Legends slot.

Source: Press Association