Glastonbury Festival rocks as 177,000 music fans party all night long

Glastonbury Festival rocks as 177,000 music fans party all night long

Lionel Richie led a 100,000-strong karaoke session on Sunday as Glastonbury festival-goers sang along to a string of his hits, including Easy and Dancing On The Ceiling.

The former Commodores singer deployed his charisma to full effect in the Sunday afternoon slot filled by Dolly Parton a year ago, showing mock horror at the enthusiastic participation of the audience and saying the enormous crowd was "out of control".

Richie, 66, only had to sing half the lyrics to his hit song Hello as the audience filled in the gaps, while All Night Long turned a muddy field soaked with in south-west England into a carnival.

"It was pure entertainment," said Ms Lauren Lindsay, who had perfected her Richie moves at a festival newspaper-organised "flash mob" dedicated to the star a few days earlier.

US singer and songwriter Patti Smith preceded Richie on the Pyramid Stage, some 40 years after the release of her ground-breaking punk rock album Horses.

She was joined on stage by the Dalai Lama, whom she said inspired with "all his love of humanity".

The Dalai Lama received a rendition of "Happy Birthday" to mark his 80th birthday next month.

"Dear brothers and sisters, I really appreciate so many people's expression of warmth," he said.

Before and after the Dalai Lama's interlude, Smith's intensity and passion burned as brightly as ever in a show that included Smith's Beneath The Southern Cross and ended with My Generation by Sunday night's headliners, The Who.

On Saturday night, Kanye West gave a defiant performance, challenging critics who said he was unsuitable for the event by declaring himself the "greatest living rock star".

The US rapper delighted many hardcore fans with a 100-minute set that included big hits and new material, but did little to win over festival-goers who had turned up out of curiosity.

Wearing blue denim with a white splattered paint effect, West spent most of the set alone on a bare stage under a ceiling of hundreds of powerful spotlights, although he took a trip above the stage in a crane for Touch The Sky.

"Thank you all for coming out tonight, thank you for coming to see me," he said in a rare moment of engagement with the crowd.

At one point, West sang part of Queen's Bohemian Rhapsody - a bold move - before declaring: "You are watching the greatest living rock star on the planet!"

PETITION

The decision to give West the coveted Saturday night slot caused controversy among fans of the festival, which is better known for its rock and folk music.

Ms Emily Eavis, Glastonbury's co-organiser and daughter of founder Michael Eavis, said she even received death threats over the booking, but insisted that he was an artist "making the most exciting music at the moment". There was certainly huge support for West, who repeatedly went silent to allow fans to sing along, and won cheers when he dedicated one song to his wife, Kim Kardashian, who was in the audience.

But he got a dose of his own medicine at one point when he was Kanye-d by English comedian Simon Brodkin, who jumped onto the stage and had to be removed by security.

The Glastonbury Festival ended on Sunday after three days of music, performing arts and good-natured mayhem attended by 177,000 revellers.

Mr Eavis, a 79-year old farmer and organiser of the event that started 45 years ago, said: "It's been another amazing year."

 


This article was first published on June 30, 2015.
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