Billie, Sir Paul, Kendrick, and Phoebe: Missives from Glastonbury 2022

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Billie, Sir Paul, Kendrick, and Phoebe: Missives from Glastonbury 2022

Olivia Rodrigo, IDLES, Jack White, HAIM, St. Vincent, and more from the iconic UK festival.

Photos: Joshua Mellin

June 28, 2022

What festival is the best in the world? Most of the time you hope it’s whichever one you happen to be at. This past weekend the music festival gods turned their gaze to the ley lines of Glastonbury and delivered one of the most incredible in the festival’s history for the Worthy Farm faithful.

Perhaps the first hint of something epic brewing came while passing Stonehenge en route to the festival. Located between the prehistoric monument and Glastonbury Tor—which legend claims to be the site of the Holy Grail, near King Arthur’s supposed resting place—the festival site at Worthy Farm is believed to be located along a place of spiritual alignment, and after this past weekend that was hard to argue with.

Founded in 1970, a year after Woodstock, Glastonbury has grown to long outlast its American counterpart, and has no true stateside comparison. Having remained a constant gathering, celebrating its 50th edition after a scheduled gap year (usually once every five) and two years of COVID cancellations, Worthy Farm was primed for a historical weekend and did not disappoint.

Given the demand for passes, as more than 2.4 million requested for fewer than 200,000 spots, it creates an immediate level of intimacy, even in one of the most sprawling masses of humanity, where people’s first question upon meeting is often “How did you manage your ticket?" The process is somewhat strict, too, with tickets individually assigned and identity checked against a submitted photograph. Given the commitment, there's essentially no resale market—even if you can’t make it for some reason, the ticket remains bound to you, a rite few relinquish.

On Friday, 20-year-old American singer-songwriter Billie Eilish became the youngest headliner in the festival’s history, a fact she celebrated backstage with fellow Pyramid Stage headliner alumni Stormzy. After admitting that for her previous performance at the fest in 2019 she “didn’t know how big of a deal it was," this time was definitely different. Her set, though triumphant, lacked some of the exciting moments of her stadium shows, and an overhyped Harry Styles guest appearance failed to materialize.

Eilish referenced the Supreme Court's ruling to overturn Roe v. Wade that day as a “really, really dark day for women in the US,” seemingly breaking the news to the mostly UK crowd. Opting only to open the conversation other artists would carry on throughout the weekend, she briefly elaborated: “I’m just going to say that because I can't bear to think about it any longer.”

Later, American singer Olivia Rodrigo expanded on the sentiment with British singer Lily Allen who joined her for a take on Allen’s classic song “Fuck You,” directed at the Supreme Court Justice’s members by name.

Lorde {in the middle) with Arlo Parks and Clairo

New Zealand's Lorde was equally direct, simply stating “Fuck the Supreme Court” during her Pyramid stage set, while Clairo and other artists proudly sported Bans Off Our Bodies shirts.

Wet Leg at Glastonbury 2022 / photo by Joshua Mellin

Wet Leg packed The Park stage Friday afternoon, a stage too small for their meteoric rise, as has become a commonplace treat so far this festival season. The same went for Phoebe Bridgers who you could barely hear over her adoring fans screaming along to every word at the John Peel stage.

By the time Mel C (a.k.a Sporty Spice) made a special appearance toward the end of Blossoms' Friday set, they already had the crowd buzzing—but an unexpected “Spice Up Your Life” in the middle of the day seemed to propel the whole festival into the rest of the weekend.

St. Vincent and First Aid Kit both came to the Other Stage sporting their Glastonbury finest, with Annie Clark flaunting a custom Gucci Daddy’s Home body suit and Swedish sisters Johanna and Klara Söderberg in colorful suits. But it was IDLES's Joe Talbot in a rain poncho who brought the most intensity, sending guitarist Lee Kiernan to surf the crowd to start their set.

Saturday belonged squarely to Sir Paul McCartney, after playing a warm-up gig at nearby Fromme, Somerset on Friday, at a 1,500-cap venue called Cheese & Grain, Macca was ready to celebrate his 80th birthday with 100,000 friends and a couple very special guests.

The first of which was a complete shocker, as Foo Fighters’ Dave Grohl made his emotional return to the stage for the first time following the death of drummer Taylor Hawkins back in April. Joining for The Beatles’ “I Saw Her Standing There” and Wings’ “Band on the Run,” the pair seemed to share a heartfelt moment with McCartney announcing his friend from the West Coast of America.

The surprises weren’t over, though, as the East Coast was represented with none other than The Boss. Bruce Springsteen came out to wish Paul a happy 80th birthday with his own “Glory Days” and The Beatles’ “I Wanna Be Your Man,” with the three sharing the stage to close the set jamming out to The Beatles’ "The End." McCartney’s epic 38-song, three-hour-plus set will go down as a jewel in the crown of one of Glastonbury’s all time-greatest editions.

The next morning, the Glastonburgers, as Paul McCartney called the fans, were treated to yet another major surprise, with unannounced sets from George Ezra and an announcement in the on-site daily newspaper Glastonbury Free Press calling for an “Exciting opportunity in the field of audience science,” as none other than Jack White put out a classified ad looking for “10,000 lively and loud individuals to participate in a top secret experiment of musical concertry.”

White's surprise performance took place at the Park Stage at 6 p.m. with an absolutely had-to-be-there, seat-of-our-pants, no-set-list, pure-excitement surprise set of an hour of blistering classics from his entire catalog spanning The White Stripes, Raconteurs, Dead Weather, and his solo work.

Kendrick Lamar closed out the weekend at the Pyramid Stage presenting the premiere of his new stage show, adorned with a Tiffany & Co. crown of thorns with over 8,000 diamonds. Backed by dance crews, the highly conceptual set paired his past discography through the lens of his newest double album, Mr. Morale and the Big Steppers, ending his performance with an encore including "Savior" from that album and the chant "They judge you, they judge Christ, Godspeed for women’s rights" as fake blood dripped down his forehead and across his shirt.

As the weekend ended, I made my way back to the Park Stage to Worthy View, the highest point overlooking the grounds, for the burning of a 40-foot-tall wooden lotus sculpture by artist Joe Rush, meant to mark “a cathartic experience of reflection and release.” Find that and more highlights from the weekend below.