Kylie, Stevie Nicks and Stray Kids close BST festival, with help from Harry Styles – BBC News

Stevie Nicks, Kylie Minogue and K-pop band Stray Kids have closed London’s BST festival – with a little help from Harry Styles.

The pop star made a surprise appearance during Nicks’ headline set on Friday, paying tribute to her late Fleetwood Mac bandmate Christine McVie.

Together, they duetted on Stop Dragging My Heart Around and Landslide, while Styles wore an embroidered songbird badge, referring to McVie’s track Songbird from the 1977 album, Rumours.

Nicks told the audience in London’s Hyde Park that the performance marked what would have been McVie’s 81st birthday.

“At the end of the show, since the end of last year and since Christine passed away, I would say something about her, and I asked Harry to do this with me and it’s a lot to ask someone to sing a heavy song about a best friend that died so suddenly and so sadly,” she said.

“What I want to say to you is that Christine was Harry’s girl, she was my girl, she was your girl, and she loved all of you, and today would’ve been her birthday.”

McVie died of a stroke in November 2022. She had previously been diagnosed with cancer.

During her show, Nicks also paid tribute to former collaborator Tom Petty, with a cover of his hit Free Fallin’. Her set also included a mixture of her solo hits and Fleetwood Mac classics, including Dreams, Edge of Seventeen and Rhiannon.

She was followed on Saturday night by Kylie Minogue, giving her only British concert of the year.

The Aussie star arrived in an explosion of pyrotechnics to perform Tension, beneath a giant, glistening, stage-straddling crown.

“I never thought I’d be in front of thousands of people singing, ‘Touch me right there’, ” she laughed, referring to the song’s earworm hook.

Her set spanned 37 years of hits, from her debut single The Locomotion to last year’s summer smash Padam Padam.

She even took requests, singing a capella renditions of Je Ne Sais Pas Pourquoi, Got To Be Certain and I Should Be So Lucky, backed by an audience of 65,000 fans.

“Hyde Park is just like [a] huge hug. Hyde Park just gives,” she delcared.

Not to be outdone by Nicks, the star also brought out a number of guests, including Brazilian pop icon Anitta, who joined her for a special performance of Can’t Get You Out Of My Head; and Bebe Rexha and Tove Lo, who performed the new single My Oh My.

With five costume changes, including a red latex jumpsuit and a silver-tasselled black bodysuit, it was a pop masterclass – and one that left the star surprisingly emotional.

At one point, she disappeared backstage to mop away a tear. And as the show drew to a close with a euphoric version of Love At First Sight, Kylie declared: “I’m on cloud nine.”

While Kylie performed on Saturday, a queue was already forming for the Sunday night headliners, Stray Kids.

The South Korean band may never have had a top 40 hit in the UK, but they were the third biggest-selling act in the world last year – and fans travelled from around the world to see them.

The eight-piece have a grittier sound than you might expect, fusing elements of hip-hop, EDM, spit-fire raps and heavy metal to their pop melodies.

And their festival set focused on their harder material – opening with a riotous salvo of pulse-quickening bangers: S-Class, Freeze, Super Bowl, Topline and Thunderous.

They augmented Domino with the riffs from Led Zeppelin’s Kashmir, and mixed Kanye West’s Jesus Walks into Topline, amplifying the stadium-ready sonics of their (self-produced) music.

“Hello London, we are so excited to be here,” announced Bang Chan. “Did you guys miss us?”

The answer was a resounding, ear-splitting, “yes”.

Many of the songs they played hadn’t been released the last time Stray Kids came to the UK, so fans took the opportunity to scream out the lyrics to tracks like Maniac, Lalala and God’s Menu at the top of their lungs.

And the band responded in kind, racing back and forth across the stage and pulling off perfectly synchronised choreography, while spraying the crowd with bottles of water and making heart signs at swooning teenagers.

They teased out the encore – adding and reprising songs on a whim as the curfew loomed into view – until Australian rapper/singer Felix appeared to lose his voice.

“We’ll see you again soon,” he said, as his raspy baritone suddenly turned to a squeak. His startled expression to the onstage camera was hilarious.

Before the show, the band acknowledged how hard they worked on stage – and the dangers of losing their voices.

“We make sure to [warm up] our vocals because we get so excited,” Han told the BBC. “We give it more than 100% so [we make sure] our vocals don’t get shocked at all the noise that we’re going to make.”

And they acknowledged how far they had come since their last trip to the UK.

“Back then, there was some uncertainty,” said Han. “We didn’t know whether we had fans in the UK. But now we’re hoping to enjoy the atmosphere – the eight of us just making sure we have fun and rip the stage.”

After their final song, Haven, their fans – collectively known as Stays – couldn’t have been happier.

“It’s incredible. I’m speechless. I don’t even have any words,” said Simane, who had flown in especially from Slovakia.

“I screamed all my lungs to all of the songs,” added British fan Lisa. “I just died. Literally, I died,” said Vivian, who had travelled from Germany.

Many fans said that Stray Kids’ lyrics – which often address growing up and finding your voice – had been important to them.

“They really, really helped me in a dark time,” explained Chloe May, whose K-pop YouTube channel has gained millions of views.

“I didn’t love myself. I got bullied for having freckles and I was ashamed to have them. But if it wasn’t for Stray Kids, I don’t think I would love myself as much.

“Even on my dark days they have just been there for me.”

“They understand us, we understand them,” agreed German fan Imran. “Stray Kids come to you at the lowest stage in your life and they literally help us. If you’re sad and you want to be happy, just listen to the Stray Kids.”

British fan Cat, who managed to grab Bang Chan’s hand at the end of the show, said the band was “where I found my friends and family”.

“This is the second time I saw them,” she told the BBC. “The first time was in Paris and I didn’t have a passport. My friends bought the ticket and, within six months, they got me a passport and got me there.

“K-pop fans unite as a family, regardless of whether you’re a girl group fan or a boy group fan.”

Stray Kids were the second K-Pop act to headline the BST Festival, after girl group Blackpink last year.

Along with BTS headlining Wembley Stadium and Seventeen playing Glastonbury’s Pyramid Stage, it marks the continued rise of the genre in the UK.

BST also saw headline performances this year from Shania Twain, SZA, Robbie Williams and Andrea Bocelli. It will return again in July 2025.